The iRobot Dirt Dog offers an interesting twist on the shop vacuum. As a member of the iRobot family—a line of robotic cleaning machines—the Dirt Dog has rotating brushes that automatically sweep your shop floor. The Dirt Dog maneuvers under workbenches and other hard-to-reach areas to clean up. When it bumps into walls or other objects, it simply changes directions. Its robotic brain tracks its progress to ensure that the entire floor gets swept.

The Dirt Dog does a pretty good job of picking up debris. I found that it worked well picking up sawdust, wood chips, leaves and small twigs. The iRobot web site says that the Dirt Dog also works on patios and decks. When I tried it on my patio, the Dirt Dog didn’t distinguish between the edge of the concrete and the mulched landscape. This caused the robot to get stuck in the mulch. If you’re going to use it in an area without defined borders, you’ll need some type of barrier to force the robot to change direction. iRobot sells a Virtual wall ($40; item No. 4960) that keeps the robot from crossing into areas where you don’t want it.

The Dirt Dog is available on the company’s Web site, starting at $130 plus $15 shipping.
iRobot, (800) 727-9077. store.irobot.com

--Jim Stapleton, field editor