Roomba for my shop?

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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Oct 9, 2007
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iFlyNothing
My shop is big and it’s a shop. It gets oil, dirt, etc on the ground. I am also not fantastic at sweeping/mopping and would prefer to farm that job out to a robot.

I’ve heard generally ok reviews on Roombas but I’m not sure if any exist that are designed for a more… call it aggressive environment. Does anyone know of an option that is designed for shop use? I’d think that would be a good market.
 
Leaf blower on top a Roomba?
 

You know, with some minor reprogramming and a hopper modified for rivets, this could be awesome for an A&P.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Makita makes one:

www.homedepot.com

Makita 18-Volt X2 LXT Lithium-Ion (36-Volt) Brushless Cordless Robotic Vacuum (Tool Only) DRC200Z - The Home Depot

The 18-Volt X2 LXT (36-Volt) Brushless Robotic Vacuum (tool only, batteries and charger sold separately) is a cordless solution that automatically cleans large flooring spaces in commercial environments.
www.homedepot.com

"is a cordless solution that automatically cleans large flooring spaces in commercial environments."
Click to expand...
Shoot, I was hoping nobody had created an industrial Roomba yet and I could use it as a get rich quick opportunity to fund a Cirrus Jet.
 
Well, there used to be the roomba dirt dog.

For me, cordless leafblower + peltors + hoverboard.

They see me rollin', they hatin'...
 
They used to make a yellow roomba that was marketed for that but I think they got discontinued some time ago. I have experimented with the household variety on a few occasions with a couple of different models and I've finally come to the conclusion they're not worth it. You have to keep the floor pretty clear of anything they could get hung up/snag on and even then they seem to find creative ways to wedge themselves into places(the gap under our kitchen cabinets for example). What ends up happening is you're constantly having to rescue the thing, it will miss spots because their vacuuming pattern is mostly random, and the mechanisms are always breaking down. Our biggest issue was pet hair making it into the gear boxes and clogging them up but there were other problems.

You'll probably save time and money in the long run just using a push broom... or bribing your kids to do it.
 
I have 3 Roombas operating, uh....usually operating, in my home. No model I have would be up to snuff in a garage/shop environment, not even close. The rubber 'brushes' would be destroyed in short order by the typical debris found in that environment in my opinion based upon ownership for about 13 years.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
Makita makes one:

www.homedepot.com

Makita 18-Volt X2 LXT Lithium-Ion (36-Volt) Brushless Cordless Robotic Vacuum (Tool Only) DRC200Z - The Home Depot

The 18-Volt X2 LXT (36-Volt) Brushless Robotic Vacuum (tool only, batteries and charger sold separately) is a cordless solution that automatically cleans large flooring spaces in commercial environments.
www.homedepot.com

"is a cordless solution that automatically cleans large flooring spaces in commercial environments."
Click to expand...

I do really like that solution, although it looks like it’s vacuum only and won’t do some level of mopping as well.
 
Ted said:
I do really like that solution, although it looks like it’s vacuum only and won’t do some level of mopping as well.
Click to expand...
RyanB said:
Shoot, I was hoping nobody had created an industrial Roomba yet and I could use it as a get rich quick opportunity to fund a Cirrus Jet.
Click to expand...
Your opportunity still exists, Ryan!
 
Big time farmers often buy ride-on floor scrubbers for their mega shops. Probably overkill for your shop, but it looks like they make walk behind models too.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to automate one.... canabalize a roomba...?
 
The ride-on (and walk-behind) floor scrubbers/vacuums work well but are pretty spendy. They are also pretty bulky so getting next to/underneath cars/tractors/RVs isn't their strong suit. On the bright side, you can often pick up slightly used models that were purchased by commercial companies who found out they didn't work for their purpose, or didn't use them often enough to justify keeping them around. Probably pretty expensive to maintain when something breaks since everything is going to be proprietary.
 
This seems like a perfect situation for "go big or go home".

Our local Sam's Club uses these robots all the time

www.tennantco.com

T7AMR Robotic Floor Scrubber | Tennant Company

Tennant's T7AMR Autonomous Mobile Robot Micro-Rider Floor Scrubber autonomously cleans in complex, real-word environments, freeing your employees to focus on high-value tasks.
www.tennantco.com www.tennantco.com
 
Ted said:
I said I wanted my floor cleaner, not messier.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a work ethic/supervision problem. Turn off the heat in the shop and tell the kids they can't come in the warm house until the floor is clean. Simple.

When you're ready, I'll send you the name of a good family lawyer to help with the child abuse/endangerment charges.
 
The landscapers doing leaf cleanup on the bigger estates near us seem to favor ride-on units like this. It should make short work of a shop cleanup
1701404107812.png
 
I bet you could find an illegal or two in my neck of the woods that would do it.
 
GaryM said:
He could pay the kids $1 for every wrench they find out in the yard after a cleanup.
Click to expand...

It's actually pretty amazing how much junk I find in my yard. Not things I left there, but stuff that's decades old.
 
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