Your Roomba does a swell job keeping your floors clean on its own. But sometimes, you do wish you can direct it to take care of spot-cleaning jobs. Plus, what good is a vacuuming robot if you can’t play with it like a remote control toy, right? Well, now you can with the Roomba 790, which includes a Wireless Command Center that lets you slave drive that automaton as your fancy dictates.
Shaped like an old-school Super Famicom controller, the Wireless Command Center puts control of your floor-sweeping robot right in your hands. That means, no need to lean over and program the thing — you can change cleaning schedules and settings right from the console.
More importantly, though, the controller lets you direct the Roomba 790 for spot-cleaning duties. That means, you can beckon it every time you make a mess in the living room and have it clean up right at your feet. Controls are similar to what’s available from the top of the robot vacuum itself, with the addition of a directional pad, which lets you steer that robot around the house as you so please. Once you have it standing right where the mess is, simply tap on the “Clean” button and it will tidy up right where it’s standing.
The controller uses radiowaves for transmission, allowing you to reprogram the Roomba wherever in the house you are. Just don’t try steering it when it’s not in sight — that is probably the easiest way to destroy this $700 piece of robotic equipment.
The iRobot Roomba 790 with Wireless Command Center is now available from Hammacher Schlemmer.