Robot vacuum's cleaning ability will floor you

Neato's robot cleans the floors, works when we tell it to, and keeps the cats entertained. Really, what's not to love? The robotic vacuum cleaner has to be the best home-appliance invention since the microwave oven. Robovacs have been around at least since 2002, when Roomba released its first model. But until the Neato XV-11 arrived a couple of weeks ago, we've never had one at our house. That's not because we don't have a use for one. With three dogs and two cats — one of them a long-haired Persian — our carpets can always use some extra attention. Like other robotic vacuums, the XV-11 combines a brush and suction collection system with battery-powered propulsion and hands-off navigation in a disc-shaped gadget. The robot draws power from a base station that sits against a wall and transfers power over matching metal bands. When its main control button turned from orange to green, indicating the XV-11 had a full charge, we sent it off to work. The whole family, including kids, dogs and cats, watched in amazement as the Neato began working its way around the living room. It starts by finding the perimeter of a room, then methodically moves back and forth until it covers the entire surface. The device uses a laser to identify walls, furniture, and other obstacles, and it creates a room map that's stored in its memory. As it moved through the room, it hugged walls and vertical barriers, threaded its way around floor lamps, chairs and table legs, backed up when it met an obstruction and determined a route around the roadblock. It moved easily from rugs to hardwood to tile and didn't get tangled in carpet fringe or power cords. After the robot completed its cleaning cycle, there was more amazement in store when we emptied its collection bin. Even though our floors had been vacuumed only two days earlier, the container was full of carpet lint, pet hair and other debris we were happy to be rid of. Neato says its robot has stronger suction than upright vacuums and will collect deep dirt that they miss. The robot can be contained in a designated area by closing doors or laying down a strip of boundary tape that Neato provides. You can place the robot in a room and let it go to work or program it to wake up and start cleaning on a schedule. If the robot gets tangled or trapped, it stops and begins beeping until you rescue it. That happened several times when we took the XV-11 to the second floor, where it had to negotiate items stored under the beds. But when we gave it an uncluttered floor to clean, it did the job better than most humans. My wife offered this succinct review of the XV-11: "I want one." And even the cats voted to keep it.