Here's the unsuspecting Roomba intact. Actually, this photo was taken after post-operation reassembly, so you already know how this story's going to end. Fearless device-dissector, TechRepublic's Scott Wolf puts it back in working order. But don't take our word for it -- read on.
You can check out the Roomba 560 in action at CES.
(CNET.co.uk's sister site TechRepublic runs a regular series called "Cracking Open" in which reviewers take a look inside a variety of electronics.)
Caption text by TechRepublic's Scott Wolf
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Here is the underside of the Roomba. You can see the battery hole, brushes, rubber wheels and dirt bin.
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After separating the dirt bin and removing the filter, you can release the brush guards that hold the two brushes by pressing two yellow tabs. The main brush has one square side (large) that plugs into a socket on the underside. The flexible brush has one square side (small) that plugs into a socket on the underside.
This is the underside of the Roomba with the brushes removed. Here you can clearly see the dirt detect sensor (the gold sensor on the right side). This sensor detects areas of the carpet that need a little extra vacuuming. It detects this state and circles around the area, gathering the excess dirt.
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Here you can see the edge-cleaning side brush. It's a simple disc with two brushes. The screw in the middle secures it.
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Cracking the case requires that you remove quite a number of screws: four around the edge of the underside, two by the center wheel, four near the battery cavity, two more under each of those, one in each wheel well, and three near each well.
The entire front of the Roomba serves to detect when the unit hits something. The black semicircular plastic piece that covers the entire front of the machine is a switch that moves inward and informs the Roomba when it has just struck something. The piece removed for this view was the virtual wall sensor. It connected to the white connector you see in the middle of this picture.
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There is not much cable slack, but after a careful plier-pull, the red housing of the Roomba lifts straight off. This reveals the mainboard, mounted vertically in the middle of the unit. Several of these connectors are positioned throughout.
Also worth noting at the bottom of this picture are the motor and rope that cause the brush housing to move up and down.
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After a bit more gutting, you can see the power port. The silver square is the side of the serial port, which you can use to program your Roomba to take over the world or play Roomba Frogger.
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All the wire bundles for the mainboard are keyed so it's impossible to put the wrong bundle into the wrong slot. It took a little work to get the arms for the bumper switch out of their housing, but as soon as they were gone, the mainboard slid out easily.
This is a picture of the front of the mainboard. A single processor sits in the middle.
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