Roomba Leaving and Docking At the Home Base

Only some of the Roombas have the ability to dock automatically at their home base. These include the Discovery, Discovery SE and Scheduler models.

The Roomba will leave its home base to begin cleaning in three different situations. First, it'll leave when you hit the big CLEAN button on its top. That of course is pretty easy and obvious :). Second, it'll leave when you hit the CLEAN button on the remote control.

The third option is with a scheduled cleaning. This comes built in with the Scheduler model, or you can buy an add-on for the Discovery models to do this.

When the Roomba prepares to leave the docking station, it plays a little song. This is a series of four ascending notes, followed by six steady beeps.

The Roomba will return to its charging unit in three different situations. First, it'll return when it is running low on batteries. Second, it'll return when you press the "dock" button on the remote control. Finally, if you are running on a schedule, the Roomba will return when the schedule is complete.

The Roomba of course plays a song when it docks to charge. Amusingly, this song is sort of like the trumpet blare "Da da da DA da DA" that you hear at football games, where everybody yells "CHARGE!!" afterwards.

Note that some people say the Roomba docks its butt into the charging unit. Clearly, if you watch it, it is the Roomba's NOSE that goes in :)

Starting Up Video - 4.4mb
When the Roomba starts up to do its cleaning job, it sings a little "I'm awake!" song, backs up and then begins its cleaning. Here's a video showing all of that, including its happy little song.

Shutting Down - 3.8mb
When the Roomba is done cleaning, it automatically returns back home to its base to charge up. When it does this, it sings a little "I'm done for the day!" song. Here's the video of this happening.

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