If you've been trying to view the webcam the past few days you have probably noticed that it's been down for a good chunk of that time. The reason is pretty entertaining though. This weekend I setup my Roomba to vacuum downstairs instead of upstairs where I've had it since moving. I had all my wires and stuff cleaned up so there weren't any big obstacles any more. Well in my current setup, I have a electronics cabinet that houses my wireless router which gives my computer access to the Internet and allows you to see my webcam. Well the power strip for this cabinet is located underneath it. I thought the power strip was well protected from the Roomba, but it proved me wrong... twice. Yes, both Monday and Tuesday the Roomba managed to turn off the power strip by most likely running over the on/off switch. Yesterday, it also pulled a lamp cord out of the wall. I think it's trying to save me money on my power bill or something. As for today, I don't know why the webcam is offline. There is a good chance that my local IP for the computer controlling the webcam has changed which would make it impossible for the webcam to be seen. However, there is also a chance that the Roomba again found a way to get past my well designed obstacles to prevent it from getting to my power strip. I will check to see what's going on later today.

I am also trying to come up with a good name for the Roomba. I'm thinking it should be from a TV show or movie, since that sort of thing suits me. I thought about "Buffy Bot", but if you've seen Buffy then you know that a Roomba doesn't do the things that Buffy Bot was designed to do. If you have any suggestions, post some comments.

Labels: davecam, roomba