Roomba has made cleaning a lot easier, especially to pick small dust particles. It makes sure to clean the whole location as well as to do it better. That is why in many homes Roomba has become a necessity. The different lights indicate the type of cleaning and mode of Roomba.
Roomba is an electronic machine and like many other machines or devices, it can be out of order. When it is out of order you need to check yourself before bringing it out to a mechanic or company for repair. Typically, you can solve the problem at home if you know about few things.
Of course, it is not always true. Sometimes you have to take it out for a repair. There can be different kinds of issues that a Roomba can face. For example not moving at all, sudden decline in speed etc. However, in this article, our main focus is to try to understand the different factors that can cause a Roomba to keep rotating in circles.
Reasons for Roomba to keep rotating in a circle
Before providing detail about the different types of errors that occur to Roomba to keep rotating in a circle. Let us talk about intensive cleaning. Intensive cleaning is a process when the Roomba found an excess of dirt on the surface. Then it keeps rotating over a one-yard area. However, after some time or by placing some obstacle in its path Roomba start working normally. It is not an error it is just intensive cleaning. Now we come to few points that what can happen to Roomba it keeps rotating in a circle.
Stuck Bumper
The top of the list is the stuck bumper that causes the Roomba to keep rotating in a circle. Sometimes it happens that a good amount of dirt is stuck in the bumper and hence jammed it. It affects the Roomba motion and hence it becomes difficult for Roomba to work properly. In this situation, the Roomba start rotating in a circular path.
Another reason is that the bumper sensor can get dirty. Once the sensor gets dirty, it is capable of sending the wrong signal. This can easily impact the navigation of the Roomba. Mostly in this situation, the navigation is more of a circular type. The Roomba keep rotating in a circular path. Even on a restart.
What exactly happens is that the bumper or bumper sensor when got dirty. It feels like an obstacle for a Roomba. So, Roomba at every cycle feels an obstacle and try to rotate. Overall, this motion becomes a circular path. To overcome this situation you need to clean the bumper and bumper sensor as well so that Roomba can work properly.
Wheels Malfunctioning
The motion of most of the devices depends upon the wheel. So, this is true for the Roomba. If it keeps on rotating in the circular path you need to check the wheel. There could be some excessive amount of dirt most probably on the one wheel. The dirt on the one wheel implies that it is stuck and not the Roomba will keep rotating around this wheel. This is one of the most common reasons after bumper stuck. The stuck will created a point for a circular motion. Hence, Roomba keeps rotating in a circular path.
Nevertheless, a stuck wheel causes a circular motion around it. If it happened. What you need to do is to pick up the cleaner turn it upside down and clean the robot. Then try it again. Hopefully, it will work very fine.
Another reason could be that the uneven surface. One wheel stuck to the bumpy area and hence it feels like an obstacle. Hence the Roomba start rotating around it. It is one of the reasons that it is highly recommended to use the Roomba on flatter surfaces. The solution to this problem is the easiest pick it up and place it on the flat surface and place the clean button. It will start working properly.
Overall, the malfunctioning of the wheels is not a big issue to resolve only thing matter is that you should be clever enough to guess what is happening with your cleaner. Once you got to that wheel the rest is easy.
Cliff Sensors
The cliff sensors are there to recognize the cliff. For a Roomba, the stairs are considered to be a cliff. When Roomba reaches near the stair the cliff sensors recognise it and send a signal to stay away. Hence the Roomba move back from it. If the sensor got dirty it may not be able to recognise the stairs or edges, properly. The Roomba may act like it is surrounded by the cliff or edges all around hence it keel rotating along a circular path. It is hard to act on it because you may not recognise that it is due to the cliff sensors. It could be your third or fourth option to test the cliff sensor. This is how dirty cliff sensors affect the motion of the Roomba.
Another problem is with the darkness. If you are working with the Roomba in a dark area it may not work properly. The reason is cliff sensor has also a light detector when it reaches close to a stair the darkness bneath the stair make the sensor recognize that there is a cliff. Hence, Roomba moves away from the stairs. Similarly, in darkness, Roomba feels like it is surrounded by the stairs all around so it keeps rotating in the circular path. To tackle this issue keep the cliff sensor clean and don’t use the Roomba user dark conditions. It will help the Roomba to work properly.
Software Issue
Software issues are also known as the drunk state for Roomba. In software issues, Roomba can misbehave in any way. It may start hitting the wall. Jump from stairs, as well as keep rotating in a path. In this case, you cannot do anything. You have to wait for a software update. If it doesn’t work properly. You need to take it out to the mechanic for a better solution.
Conclusions
The Roomba extended circular motion can indicate many problems. Including the stuck bumper and dirty sensors of a different kind. Most of the problems can be solved by the cleaning process. So, the regular cleaning of the Roomba along with its components is very important. However, for software issues, you need to bring it out to repair or wait for a better-updated version of the software.
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