Monday, August 30, 2010

Robot Surgery & Myrtle Beach postcard

A few weeks back I reported on Upstairs Hal's tumble down the stairs. Thanks for all your warm wishes regarding his recovery! Meanwhile Downstairs Hal's right wheel refused to move after I initially fixed it, and DH (I know for you sewing bloggers, DH refers to Dear (darling? dearest? devoted?) Husband but here it's Downstairs Hal) refused to break free of a tight clockwise circle because of this. After contacting the iRobot support team, I bought a new cleaning module for Upstairs Hal and a new right wheel for Downstairs Hal. I think the total for these two items was in the $70 range. The parts arrived before vacay, and yesterday I performed surgery on both Hals.

Here's the interior guts of Upstairs Hal, while in the process of installing his new Cleaning Module which is green (unlike the old one which is red)

cleaning module replacement in progress

Here's Downstairs Hal without his right wheel:
Right wheel roomba replacement in progress

These surgeries were super duper easy--just unscrewing a few screws, popping the old parts out and putting the new parts in. You do need two sizes of Phillips screwdrivers--your standard average size and a much smaller one.

I also replaced the sidebar brush on each because why not...

Then I annotated my Hals with Sharpie marker so I know what surgeries have been performed and the date (and with that I have officially turned into my father). Of course on the one with the Cleaning Module replacement, I wrote that the "bin" has been replaced. Er, it's not the bin...I have a tendency to do that sometimes (write one thing while fully meaning another).

annotated roomba

So what was the success rate:
Downstairs Hal (right wheel replacement): running as smoothly as ever. Surgery was a complete success!!

Upstairs Hal (cleaning module replacement): The good news is he no longer clunks. Bad news is he is still kind of lurching along, and now has a new affectation: he won't go straight across a floor, but rather arcs across in a large sweeping convex curve, like maybe he needs his right wheel replaced too. I think I might just try the new wheel in UH to see if that corrects this problem. So I would say the surgery was a 75% success.

The postcard I wrote to myself arrived today. Does anyone else write postcards to themselves while on vacay?

Myrtle Beach postcard

that I sent to myself...

I had already forgotten the butterflies, so this was a great reminder!!

Len confirmed it is my SI joint that is inflamed and strained. I'm supposed to ice it for two weeks. It sent me scurrying to the internet to read about SI joint pain relief. Note to self: never ever ever read medical message boards again EVER.

Good night!

3 comments:

  1. Welcome home! Feel better soon. Great job with the "surgery". Hope the new wheel is all UH needs.

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  2. Hi Kyle, I'm one of your regular readers who has never posted a comment until now. Thanks for taking the time to share your stories. I signed up to read about sewing, but find your way of telling us about other things like your trips and robots is equally enjoyable to read. Thanks! Carrie

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  3. I send myself postcards too--it's a great way to go back to my happy place!

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