How does Roomba detect when I leave home?

Answered by Michael Wilson

Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner, uses a combination of sensors and technology to detect when you leave home. One of the primary ways it does this is through the use of the iRobot Home app, which allows you to connect your Roomba to your smartphone or tablet.

To set up Roomba to detect when you leave home, you will need to go through a setup process in the iRobot Home app. During this setup process, you will be prompted to grant the app permission to access your location services. By enabling location services, the app can determine when you are within a certain distance of your home or when you leave the designated geofence or defined zone around your house.

Once you have granted permission for location services, you will be asked to set up a geofence or defined zone around your home. This is done by specifying a radius or boundary around your house within which the app will consider you to be at home. You can customize the size and shape of this geofence to suit your needs.

When you leave the geofence or defined zone, the app will detect that you have left home. It will then send a signal to your Roomba to start cleaning. This allows Roomba to begin its cleaning cycle automatically when you are not at home, ensuring that your floors are clean and tidy when you return.

It’s important to note that Roomba’s ability to detect when you leave home relies on the accuracy and reliability of your smartphone’s location services. If your phone’s location services are not functioning properly or if the app does not have the necessary permissions, Roomba may not be able to accurately detect when you leave home.

In my personal experience, I have found Roomba’s ability to detect when I leave home to be quite reliable. The setup process was straightforward, and the app consistently triggers the cleaning cycle when I am not at home. This has been a convenient feature as it allows me to have clean floors without needing to manually start the Roomba each time I leave.

To summarize, Roomba detects when you leave home by utilizing the location services on your smartphone or tablet. By setting up a geofence or defined zone around your house in the iRobot Home app, Roomba can determine when you are outside of this designated area and initiate the cleaning cycle automatically.