Scooba
Encyclopedia
Floor
A floor is the walking surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many-layered surfaces using modern technology...
washer produced by iRobot
IRobot
iRobot Corporation is an American advanced technology company founded in 1990 and incorporated in Delaware in 2000, the iRobot Corporation designs robots such as an autonomous home vacuum cleaner , the Scooba that scrubs and cleans hard floors, and military and police robots, such as the PackBot...
. It was released in limited numbers in December 2005 for the Christmas season with full production starting in early 2006. The company introduced a lower priced version, the Scooba 5800, in the second half of 2006.
Operation
The Scooba uses either a special non-bleachBleach
Bleach refers to a number of chemicals that remove color, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach , lye, oxygen bleach , and bleaching powder...
cleaning solution nicknamed "Scooba juice" (made by the Clorox
Clorox
The Clorox Company is a US-based manufacturer of various food and chemical products based in Oakland, California, which is best known for its bleach product, Clorox.- History :...
Company) that cleans the floors and prevents rust or skidding, or the newer Scooba Natural Enzyme cleaning solution. The robot prepares the floor by vacuuming loose debris, squirts clean solution, scrubs the floor, and then sucks up the dirty solution leaving a nearly dry floor behind. The robot is safe to use on sealed hardwood floors and most other hard household surfaces, but it cannot be used on rugs. Scooba avoids rugs and stairs, and can clean about 200 square feet (18.6 m²) on a single tank-load of solution.
The Scooba is the second major commercial product made by iRobot, which popularized vacuum robots with the Roomba
Roomba
The Roomba is a series of autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners sold by iRobot. Under normal operating conditions, it is able to navigate a living space and common obstacles while vacuuming the floor...
. The Scooba is available in over 40 countries.
Systems
The Scooba uses approximately 2 USfloz per cycle, mixed with 32 USfloz of water to fill the cleaning solution tank. The Scooba comes with four packets of the new "Natural Enzyme" cleaning solution, which is enough for about four washes. Additional Clorox cleaning solution comes in five- and nine-packs of 32 USfloz bottles, which provide enough solution for about 16 washings per bottle. Polysorbate 20 and tetrapotassium EDTAEDTA
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA , is a polyamino carboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ligand...
are the primary ingredients. It can also use white vinegar in place of the proprietary solution.
Recharge times may vary, but typically take 3 hours.
Models
Generation 1
Scooba 5900 was the first Scooba, it could be used with the Scooba Cleaning Solution, or other suitably conductive solutions, but was discontinued in favor of the Scooba 5800 version (basic floor washing model) which could use plain water in its cleaning tank. iRobot shed several of the 5900's premium features to produce the lower priced 5800 model. There were no changes to the basic floor cleaning machinery.The Scooba 5800 can clean about 250 square feet (23.2 m²) per battery charge.
The Scooba 300 series replaces the original 5000 series robots. They are similar in design to the original Scooba and can use Scooba cleaning solution, vinegar solution, or water. The robots in this series are differentiated by the area they can clean on a single charge and the accessories supplied.
- Scooba 330 can clean 250 square feet (23.2 m²) per battery charge (US version).
- Scooba 350 (intermediate floor washing model) can clean about 500 square feet (46.5 m²) per battery charge (US version).
- Scooba 380 (premium floor washing model) can clean 850 square feet (79 m²) per battery charge. Also includes charging base, storage mat, and an extra virtual wall (for a total of two)(US version).
- Scooba 385 european version of US 380 model, but it doesn't include charging base, storage mat or extra virtual wall (only one included).