Welcome, new robovac parents. Set good expectations for your robot adoptees and you’ll live a happier life together.
With Prime Week in the rearview window, thousands of new robots are landing on doorsteps. Whether this is your first robot or your latest one, these tips will help you form a positive relationship with your new housemate.
Save the box
Floorbots, for the most part, come in very large, heavy boxes. No one feels the pain of a giant box inhabiting your space the way I do. My dining room is a wall of boxes, and everytime I get to chuck one to the recycling bin, an angel gains their wings. But don’t break down that box just yet. Keep the box and all the packing elements around for a month.
You usually have that month to decide if you want to keep your robot, and while I wish you both nothing but happiness together, it doesn’t always work out. That box is the time machine to get your machine back to Amazon, so you can get a no questions asked refund. If it comes to that, my secret hack for getting the robot back in the box is to watch an unboxing video of the robot on Youtube, and work in reverse.
Clear the floor
Your robot, inevitably, has object avoidance (some, better than others). Regardless, you will find yourself editing the rooms the robot inhabits over time. The emptier the room, the cleaner a robot gets it. While you can move or shift floor lamps and fans and coffee tables while manually cleaning, a robot can’t do that. Only keep items on the floor that deserve the spot, otherwise, they’re just an obstacle.
Cords are an especially ornery nemesis for your robot, but have no fear. There are solutions. The answer is your wall. If you’re using powerstrips, wall mount them, so cords can be up, off the floor. Command strips are perfect for this.
For the cords themselves, I love cable clips. Place the cord against the wall, hold the clip against the wall and use a quick tap with a hammer to nail the clip down. These are such a low profile, easy solution that do very little damage to the wall. Of course, there are no-damage versions for renters.
Remember, just because you can’t see the cords under the couch doesn’t mean the robot can’t see them. Your robot will encounter those, too, so wall mount them behind the couch to keep them off the floor. Same for long, dangly cords for your blinds.
Lift furniture
Most robots are between 3 and 5 inches tall. While robots get slimmer all the time, ultimately some of your furniture may be too low for the robot to slip under. Your choices are to have the robot ignore that space (booooooo!) or to lift the furniture. Sometimes, lifting makes a lot of sense. For instance, I added casters to my coffee table, and it was just enough for the robot to now get clearance under. More than that, it turns out, casters make moving my rug or cleaning under the table 100x easier.
I’ve added casters to bookshelves, as well. This means the robot can get underneath, but also I can more easily get behind the bookshelves if I need to. There are tons of very good looking casters to be had.
Locate the robot
Edit your map
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