How to Tell a Roomba to Go Home

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Roomba helps a lot in cleaning our home and being an Artificial Intelligent Assistant, it does its work efficiently with a precise mapping of our home and all of its rooms. But, how your Roomba goes home is the most generic query you must know if you also own a Roomba iRobot device.

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Roomba usually goes ‘Home’ when its charging is low or its ‘Cleaning Cycle’ has been completed. 

Note: Always make sure that Your Doc (Charging Station) is plugged in Because otherwise, your Roomba won’t be able to detect it and won’t reach its Base.

In this Article, We will explain in detail the following points:

  1. How to Tell Roomba to go Home
  2. How To Send Roomba Home From App
  3. How to Teall Roomba to go Home with Voice Control
  4. How To Send Roomba Home with Alexa
  5. Does Roomba go to its Home Base by itself
  6. Errors and Troubleshooting

How to tell Roomba to go Home Base (Without App)

You just need to press the ‘Home’ ⌂ button on your Roomba. You can find this button right on the top of your vacuum robot which may be on the left or downside of the main ‘Clean’ button. You will also hear a beep when it’s successful.

If no error occurs in your Roomba, it will be successfully docked and will be recharged on its base.

Note: You must leave 1.5 feet of space on the right and left of the base and 4 feet in front of it.

iRobot Roomba 675 Robot Vacuum

Works with Alexa, Good for Pet Hair, Carpets

iRobot Roomba 675 Robot Vacuum

How To Send Roomba Home From App

If you are away from Roomba and you want to send it to its Dock (Home Base), you can do it with the iRobot app on your Smartphone which is available on both Android and iOS devices.

  • First of all, install an iRobot app on your Phone.
  • (You may need to register and set up your device if you haven’t done already).
  • Now, Press on ‘Clean’ button.
How-to-send-iRobot-Roomba-To-home-base
  • Click on ‘Send Home’
  • Now, a command will be sent to your Roomba to come back to its charging station Doc.
  • Roomba will be on its Doc in a few seconds successfully.

Note: You must have an active internet connection because otherwise, unstable internet will distract Roomba from its destination. Roomba won’t work properly if it’s creating issues in connecting with internet.

How To Send Roomba Home with Alexa?

If you have upgraded your home and made it a Smart Home, you definitely want to enable your Roomba to work and take commands through Alexa with mere voice control. Roomba has introduced a feature ‘Smart Home’ to support this automation.

You just need to sync your Alexa device (Echo) with your Roomba iRobot app which will take your voice commands through Alexa from onward.

  • Just follow the steps below:
  • Open your iRobot Roomba app.
  • Go to ‘Menu’ from your app.
  • Now, click on ‘Smart Home’
  • Click on ‘Connected Accounts and Devices.’
  • Now, you can set up Amazon Alexa here.

You just need to ensure Confirmation by the link which you will verify through the Alexa app and after its successful connection, it will completely connect your Roomba device with Alexa.

Now, you can say the following statement to Alexa to guide Roomba to go Home.

 “Alexa, tell Roomba to go home,”

How to send roomba go home with voice command

How long does it take Roomba to return to its Home Base?

Roomba’s official support has suggested from its user experience that an average of almost 40-60 minutes are enough for Roomba to come back home. But, it also depends on the distance between the Roomba and its charging station.

Where does the Roomba Home Base go?

Make sure that Roomba Base is on a hard level surface against a wall where Roomba has a clear path.

Do not put the Home Base within 4 feet a little more than a meter of the staircase. Prepare a path, so clear away any cluster or loose cables and make sure that the floor is free of anything wet.

What to do when your Roomba fails to dock?

The Roomba Docking problem has been very common and we’ve seen it on multiple forums rumors have been all around that Roomba does dock itself unless it runs off its battery even though the Roomba is closed to its Doc.

Roomba Doc Charging Pins are pushed down over time and the contact points never touch each other. But, before you try to fix Roomba’s charging station. So follow the steps and fix yourself.

1. Check Roomba’s Terminals and Doc’s Terminals:

  • You need to look at your Roomba Vacuum and see if anything is covering the terminal points or not.
  • You can check the conductivity of the terminals when there is no climb on the screen. So, the problem is with your Vacuum robot.
  • Now, you will check your charging base and check which pin is lower than the other one. Either pin is a little squishy or a bit lower to make contact. 
  • Open up your doc and take a masking tape and convert it into a ball and push it into the relevant terminal to make both terminals rise equally.
  • Don’t forget to clean contact points using a clean, damp, lint-free cloth. Clean the infrared ports. 
ROOMBA-NOT-DOCKING-TO-HOME-STATION

2. Check Home Base’s power supply.

You need to check the power supply because sometimes, any wire damaged by fire or a problem in the power outlet can stop the supply of power which doesn’t allow its doc to turn on. 

So, you can unplug Home Base and plug it back again and check whether the light is turned on or not to ensure the power supply. 

Do make sure that the Power cord is connected properly to a power outlet and Roomba Home Base

3. Check any Obstacles around Roomba Doc

There must be a proper pathway that should not have any kind of obstacles around. Because it may block Roomba to reach its destination.

You must inspect Roomba’s home base for any tape or paint which may block its pathway.

Note: Roomba must not place these tapes, paint, or such objects or wet things on the floor which may interfere with Roomba in its cleaning process. Because these obstacles cause Roomba to stuck.

4. Infrared interference

If you haven’t known before that Roomba uses Infrared interference which allows both units to communicate with each other.

What other Things Use Infrared interference at Home?

Roomba gets distracted by Infrared Interference which is used by other devices like Televisions, Microwave Ovens, and Radios. So, always try to keep your Roomba away from these devices.

This is not a usual problem but you may encounter it if you don’t properly place these kinds of devices.

5. Dual Mode Virtual Wall

Make sure that there is no Dual Mode Virtual Wall located within 8 feet of your Roomba Home Base.

Roomba does not go home when it is randomly picked up and moved during its cleaning cycle unless you face it towards its base and keep it within 6 feet from its base.

6. Special Troubleshoot to Fix ‘Roomba won’t dock’

Just take two little washers and put them right underneath the front bearing on the back side of Roomba.

Sometimes, the bearing comes out and that thing sinks down a little bit low. When it goes to Doc at the Docking station, it hits the bumper, turns around, and stops.

With the bearing raised up with washers a bit higher, it doesn’t hit the bumper anymore and it can completely get the Doc successfully. 

7. Install the battery correctly

When you clean the surface of the Roomba charging contacts and wipe the battery points, you may somehow misplace and misposition the battery which causes the Contact points not to adjust correctly. 

  • Make sure that you have tightened the screws of the Roomba back cover.
  • Make sure that the battery charging points are in contact with the power hub.
  • Make sure that there is no obstruction between the charging contact.

8. Always use genuine Battery

Don’t ever buy any cheap products/accessories to use with your original and expensive branded products. They will always harm your device and you cannot get smooth performance consistently for a long time.

Always use genuine parts, batteries, and other accessories recommended by Roomba. Because local or fake batteries may work for you for a while but the Roomba will soon stop detecting non-original batteries and it will not work.

You may face Roomba Charging Error 2 which is discussed and resolved in the article Roomba Charging Error 2 | Fix in Seconds

How to Reset Roomba

If you are unable to get the solution from all the above-mentioned methods, you must try resetting your Roomba which will surely help you.

  • First of all, hold on to Spot and Doc for almost 10 seconds until it gets off.
  • Now, turn it back on without the cover.
  • So, you will experience a bigger light without the cover.

(I have done this reset for my model 560 series but it is almost the same for other models as well.)

  • You should leave the button when you hear a special beep.
  • Now, your reset will be completed.
  • Make sure that you keep the Roomba on the charging base for a little longer time.

iRobot Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum

Works with Alexa, Good for Pet Hair, Carpets

iRobot Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum

Contact Roomba Support

If you have tried all the approaches mentioned above and cannot find the solution, this indicates that the problem is in your device by the factory. You must contact the official support of Roomba. 

They will surely guide you to the best and resolve your problem. Hopefully, You will get a new battery.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Roomba go home by itself?

Roomba goes Home itself when running out of battery or when the Clean work has been completed.

How long does it take for Roomba to map home?

Roomba is an Artificial Intelligent Assistant robot that learns your home mapping by training. It almost takes 3-5 training sessions of your entire home to understand your house mapping completely.

How does a Roomba navigate home?

Roomba uses Infrared technology which identifies different objects with its motion sensors. There are cliff sensors in the Roomba which are used to indicate where are cliffed objects like stairs. So, it avoids it and goes ahead.


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