You purchase a Roomba robot vacuum in the hopes that it will automate your household’s cleaning tasks. However, if your Roomba keeps cleaning the same spot or keeps going round in circles, you might start to wonder if it’s not doing what it was designed to.

Why Your Roomba Keeps Cleaning The Same Area

Cleaning the entire house with a robot vacuum that circles around or cleans the same area indefinitely is impossible. So keep an eye out for the following causes that could be making your Roomba act intoxicated.

Roomba Mapping The Area

Your Roomba’s continued mapping of your space could be one reason why it keeps cleaning the same area. Newer Roomba vacuum cleaner models map the floors of your home and store the map in their memory. By doing this, they can clean without bumping into furniture or other obstructions.

Does Roomba perform random cleaning? Roomba 500 and 600 series models from the past have random cleaning patterns. Modern Roomba models in the i series clean your home in orderly, straight lines.

Dirty Sensors

In order to aid in navigation, Roomba vacuum cleaners have a variety of sensors. If dirt builds up on these sensors, Roomba will have a hard time moving around your room.

Roomba can avoid edges such as stairs and other edges thanks to cliff sensors. Your Roomba’s ability to detect obstructions accurately will be compromised if these sensors are dirty.

Your Roomba will steer clear of that area if it thinks something is a cliff or an edge but isn’t.

Virtual Wall Placement

Roomba cannot enter or leave a particular room or area because of a virtual wall. After cleaning the entire room, your Roomba won’t be able to leave it to clean the rest of the house if you’ve installed a virtual wall at the door. To allow the Roomba to clean the entire house in this case, you will need to remove the virtual wall.

Wheels Malfunctioning

A broken or stuck wheel is another potential cause of Roomba’s circling motion. The culprit behind this jamming of the wheel will once more be the accumulated dirt and dust. Roomba will circle around and repeatedly clean the same area if a wheel is broken or stuck.

The reason your Roomba vacuum cleaner keeps cleaning the same spot could be that it has already cleaned one room and is unsure of where to go next. Because they lack mapping capabilities, earlier Roomba vacuum cleaner models are unable to move from one room to another. To begin cleaning, you will need to manually pick up the Roomba and move it to a different room.

Roomba Got Stuck

It’s also possible that the Roomba is stuck if it keeps cleaning the same spot or keeps going around in circles. Furniture like a couch, bed, or dining table is where a Roomba frequently gets stuck. It will also make circular motions in an effort to escape.

To get the Roomba to start cleaning the entire house in this situation, you will need to manually pull it out.

Stuck Bumper

The Roomba bumper could be stuck, which is one of the main causes of your Roomba’s repetitive motions or circles.

The bumper has touch and light sensors that aid Roomba in navigating.

The bumper will become stuck if dirt, dust, fluff, and hair strands are accumulated inside of it.

Presence of Dark Area Rug Or Carpet

The Roombas, or any other robot vacuum cleaners, do not like dark area rugs or carpets, which is something you should be aware of. This is due to the fact that dark rugs or carpets are mistaken for cliffs and edges by the robot vacuum cleaners’ built-in cliff sensors. For fear of tipping over, your Roomba will respond by either becoming stuck on a dark rug or by refusing to go where there are dark rugs or carpets.

Improper Lighting

The majority of robot vacuum cleaners use optical sensors to see their surroundings, identify obstacles, and move about your home. When there is light present, these optical sensors perform at their best. When your Roomba is forced to clean your home in the dark, it will probably start running into obstacles and cleaning the same spot repeatedly.

Dirt Detect Technology

The dirt detection technology in Roomba vacuum cleaners turns on when there is more dirt nearby. Before continuing, this forces Roomba to concentrate on the dirt spot. This could be one of the causes for the Roomba to begin cleaning the same area again because it has found more dust there.

How To Fix It?

Robotic vacuums aren’t perfect, of course, like all technological innovations. AI or machine learning devices have to go through growing pains. Your Roomba or another robot vacuum may occasionally experience problems, such as cleaning the same area repeatedly even after it has already been cleaned.

We’ll discuss how to stop your Roomba from cleaning the same spot repeatedly in this article. The Roomba itself may have problems, so we must first rule those out. There are a number of reasons why it might not be cleaning your home as effectively as it could. An insufficient amount of light, a lot of objects on the floor, broken wheels, or a dirty sensor are a few potential causes of a Roomba that won’t work properly. Let’s go over a step-by-step plan for how to resolve these problems.

Reset The Roomba

You can reset your iRobot Roomba in one of two ways, depending on the model you have. First, if the vacuum cleaner has a dock for charging, turn it off, and then think about pressing and holding the Clean button for at least 10 seconds. Hold the button down until the status light alternately blinks yellow and green.

Alternatively, if you have a model without a dock, you might want to hold down the Clean button for 5 to 10 seconds. Hold the button down until the vacuum cleaner turns off, then press the button again to turn it back on.

Replace The Battery

Your Roomba’s battery needs to be tested if it stops functioning after being reset. Simply remove the battery and then recharge it with a different charger after that.

The only thing you need to do is swap out the vacuum cleaner’s battery for a new one if, after several hours of charging, nothing has changed. The new battery should, however, be the same voltage.

Clean The Bumper Sensors

Remember that your Roomba vacuum cleaner will likely continue to circle if the bumper sensors are dirty. Therefore, you will need to use a soft brush to thoroughly clean the bumper sensors inside the vehicle to remove all dirt.

Simply flip the robot over, unscrew the cover, and then open the bumper to complete the process.

Check for any debris or dirt that might have gotten inside the bumper sensors and caused them to become jammed after removing the cover. Use a razor to remove any tangled debris that has been discovered from the sensors.

Once more, if this doesn’t work, try the following advice.

Tap The Bumpers Gently

To start, lightly tap the bumper a few times. The bumper will be cleaned out if there is any kind of debris trapped inside. then click the clean button to restart.

Just keep in mind that sometimes performing this straightforward action will get your Roomba to run as it did before. Try the next suggestion if this isn’t the problem.

Clean The Wheels

To get rid of any dirt or debris stuck in the wheels, repeatedly push them up and down. When you’re done cleaning, keep gently rotating both wheels to make sure they can spin freely.

Additionally, the wheels used to create robot vacuums are typically made of rubber, which degrades over time due to constant use.

Your Roomba won’t likely be able to maneuver effectively in this situation and will probably keep going over the same ground. Therefore, the state of the wheels should be examined, and if a problem is discovered, new wheels should be installed.

Check The Motherboard

Last but not least, if none of the aforementioned solutions work to resolve the issue, the machine probably has problems with its electrical components. Select now to examine the motherboard.

All you have to do to fix the motherboard is take out the screws, open up the Roomba, and replace them. If your device’s warranty is still active, you should speak with the manufacturer.

Wipe The Cliff Sensors

Furthermore, a dirty sensor on your Roomba may cause it to keep circling the same area. Occasionally, simply gently wiping the cliff sensors with a clean, melamine foam that has been slightly dampened will take care of the issue. Therefore, always make an effort to keep your vacuum cleaner’s cliff sensors as clean as possible.

Conclusion

Obstacles or minor sensor malfunctions are to blame for the majority of Roombas issues. Before beginning your cleaning cycle, it’s a good idea to declutter your home. A lot of current models have extremely sophisticated navigational technology, which is constantly improving. Roombas have changed from their typical circular motions to now moving in straight, parallel lines. It’s all due to technology. Some minor annoyances, like the one mentioned above, can be overlooked when considering the many advantages Roombas provide.