About Glidona

March 2024, a Roomba i3 gave up on my basement steps and I started keeping a record.

A couple of years and a lot of returns and refurb deals later, that record covers six robot vacs and three air purifiers. I run every unit through the same house: suburban Indianapolis, 1920s craftsman bungalow, two shedding rescue dogs, one IKEA rug with an aggressive fringe. Dustbin weights go on a kitchen scale. Decibel readings come from the iPhone NIOSH SLM app on hardwood and on the living room runner. Notes go in on the day something happens, not reconstructed a month later.

The dogs are Murph (husky mix, refuses to stay off the couch) and Beans (senior beagle, snoring is the practical decibel reference point in this house). Every bot that runs here has to deal with both of them. The fur load is not theoretical.

I'm a freelance UX writer. Not an engineer, not a smart-home installer, not an IoT consultant. The credential is the dustbin tally, the scale readings, and the growing list of bots I've fished out from under the sectional. More on the author page.

Some outbound links here are affiliate links. I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I don't collect or store any data about which links you click. More detail on the editorial policy page.