Robot Round-up

It's been awhile since I've posted a technology item here, so let's get to it.

Robots in our homes aren't exactly new. We have machines that clean and dry our clothes and dishes, machines that condition the air and water the lawn and so on. I've had a lot of schedule challenges lately and wanted to find a way to get back some free time. I've made two recent key investments in home automation.

Litter Robot LRII

Cleaning the litter box is probably the worst part of owning a cat besides getting clawed by the little devils. If you don't do it every day, the odor tends to build up and quickly become unbearable. Folks walk into your home and instantly know you have a cat.

Enter the Litter Robot. I bought this sight unseen via Amazon (link on the left) a few months ago. The reviews were pretty positive in terms of functionality and build quality. It is definitely NOT cheap, but I was falling behind in keeping it clean and needed some solution.

The packaging it was sent in was high quality. There were no issues opening it and putting a few pieces together. It obviously requires power, so for me I had to run an extension cord to the area that I was going to locate it. The little box itself is quite large so you want to make sure you'll have room. This isn't the type of device that will "tuck" next to the toilet or something similar. Luckily, I had the physical space. I should also note that the cleaning cycle requires the upper sphere to rotate in order to clean so you also need to leave an bit of clearance around the device on an ongoing basis.

The device ships with everything you need to use it right away including some bags that will catch the used litter in the bottom tray. The bags are pretty flimsy though so I suggest using a regular 20 gallon kitchen bag and it should hold up a lot better. The tray is nice and large though and easily keeps up with two cats for a week or more. 

Minor gripes include difficulty in loading the device with litter. There is a "load" mode where two ports rotate to the top so you can pour litter in. However, the ports are covered with spring loaded doors. This makes it very difficult to hold open the lever with one hand and balance the giant 40 pound buckets of littler that I buy. I resorted to picking up a scooper and using that instead.

Lastly, the device rarely triggers the cleaning process on its own. I believe this has to do with the cats jumping into the litter box rather than walking in as the device expects them to step on the lip and then triggers the cleaning cycle later. So, I end up hitting the manual button every day or so to ensure it stays clean and clear.

Would I buy the Litter Robot again? I would. It's not perfect but it does take one more chore off my plate and improves the internal household air. It also seems to be well constructed, includes a good money back guarantee and is pretty quiet as it does its thing.

If this story intrigued you at all, wait until you read about what I did for my floors.