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Roombas
Roombas

Learn English meaning of Roombas

Date: Jul 03 2019

Themes: Pop Culture, Tech, Work

Grammar: It's vs. Its

Intro

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Do you hate cleaning? Do you wish that someone else would clean your house for you? Well, now is your chance. With the Roomba, you will never have to use a vacuum again.

The Roomba is a robot that will clean all of the nooks and crannies in your house. And you don’t even have to move! The Roomba will move around obstacles when you want it to clean, and will go back to its dock to charge when it’s done. It’s much easier than cleaning by yourself.

Brian wants a Roomba, but he doesn’t want it to clean his house. Find out why in today’s lesson about a special vacuum.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Brian

Brian

Marni

Marni

Brian:  Hey Marni, I have a friend who was giving away a Roomba. And I really wanted to take it. But, I actually flew there, and I couldn’t get it back on the plane.

Marni:  Really? I am old-fashioned. I like the vacuum where you actually have to operate it yourself. Roombas are just little robots that do everything for you. I don’t know, it seems weird.

Brian:  It’s great. You can put things on top of them. I wanted to put my speakers on top of it so it would just move around and play music as it vacuumed.

Marni:  Are you a fan of it because of the way it operates? Does it get in the nooks and crannies?

Brian:  Oh, no. I think it’s a sham. I don’t think it can get over obstacles. But it’s a robot, and that’s why I wanted one.

Marni:  How does it work? Does it just dock in a certain section and charge? How does it know where to go and vacuum?

Brian:  Yeah, it has a dock and it charges in that station. And when it hits something it just changes direction.

Marni:  Does it sense what’s dirty, and go into different modes?

Brian:  I don’t know. I’m not sure if it operates on infrared. But, it’s a robot.

Marni:  Well, I’m still going to use my old fashioned vacuum. But I think you should try to get that Roomba.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Brian’s friend was giving away his Roomba. Brian really wanted to have it, but he couldn’t bring the Roomba back home with him. He wants to have a Roomba, even though he thinks it’s a sham. Brian just wants to put his speakers on top of it.

Marni doesn’t think a Roomba would be nice to have. She is old-fashioned and likes to use a regular vacuum. Marni doesn’t want a robot to clean for her, but she thinks Brian should get one.

Do you like cleaning? Would you want a robot to clean for you?

 

Comments

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ola33

ola33

Japan

I think it’s a wonderful idea to have this little robot to help you around with cleaning. There’s always to do sth around the house, so why not to have a little helper. And I like the name  of it. So let it roombas and I will be cha-cha-cha nearby:))

04:01 AM Jun 27 2015 |

1 person likes this

tjyuan

tjyuan

China

I have had roomba for six monthes. It is giving me a lot of helping. Roomba is working when I go to work everyday. I just need clean dust box when it works for 2 or 3 days. It gives me much time to do other things. If roomba works more quiet, I think it will better. It just work about 25 minutes for one group of battery. I hope it can work for more time.

10:46 PM Jun 24 2015 |

Djana

Djana

Algeria

Cleaning the house is sth very difficult,and there are people who don’t appreciate what women do,it’s a tiring work…removing dust,cleaning the toilet,the floor….etc it’s all a hard work,sometimes i feel like i hate doing that,but in some way ,it’s like my duty ,i’ve to do it i can’t escape,so this is how it goes! i don’t think i need Roombas!

10:16 PM Jun 24 2015 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

Dear Shoba,


I hate to admit it, but it seems like some men see women as Roombas! Women are even better than Roombas, ‘cause unlike Roombas, women can remove away the dust piled up on the furniture, also can pick up the toys over the floor, and they won’t need to change battery that may be expensive, which are all considered flaws in Roombas as our dear Julito mentioned..



And not only wives, here our friend Mandzhi said his girlfriend does the cleaning for him. So Scienceboy, you have to take our dear friend Shoba’s suggestion into account xD 


09:13 PM Jun 24 2015 |

mandzhi

mandzhi

Russian Federation

I like cleaning, but i don’t do it often now, because usually my girlfriend does it. But sometimes i have a desire for doing it.
I want to have a Roomba, but i think it can’t clean so good as a man. Maybe when you have an empty room it can be clean well, if it is obstackles, robot will hit and always change dirrection, so it won’t clean good.
I saw one at my aunt’s house. She told me that it did not vacuum-clean good.

08:02 PM Jun 24 2015 |

ScienceBoy

ScienceBoy

Turkey

Haha, dear Shobai buying a wife? Where would I buy a wife? :) 

06:43 PM Jun 24 2015 |

Shoba

Shoba

Sri Lanka



Hello dear Princesse,


You have raised a good question. If Roomba is good why is Brian’s friend giving it away? 


My best guess is Brian’s friend (if that friend is a male) is getting married and he doesn’t need it any longer. His wife will probably do the cleaning for him. Poor women! 


So my kind request to ScienceBoy is, instead of longing for a Roomba our ScienceBoy should think of buying  a wife. LOL



05:20 PM Jun 24 2015 |

julito1

julito1

Argentina

Now that Brian brought up the subject of  being offered a domestic robot  and was unable  to bring it back home, why he didn`t  ask his friend to  have it mailed to him covering himself the cost incurred? . Why i am saying this? then we could have had   a first hand information as to if it is as good as it is marketed. I wish that in the future Brian  would let us know the robot`s performance. 

04:20 PM Jun 24 2015 |

s11211s

s11211s

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I like cleaning! But If there were perfect robot to cleaning, I would prefer not to clean by myself!

I like robots, they are useful in industries and they can be useful in our home, robot is not like human, they can do one thing or more, so robots can do some work better than human.
Technological constraints and market barriers are obstacles to use robot widely in homes.

But I think Roombas looks like a toy! Therefore, it is useful for fun!

04:05 PM Jun 24 2015 |

La Princesse de la vie

Egypt

I don’t like cleaning per se, but I can’t stand the mess around me either that I have to do something about it. 


The idea of having a robot excites me, why not? I have to feel the outcomes of the technology, so it seems terrific to have such thing.


But talking about robots brings to my imagination that huge robot figure having metalic hands, legs and a cubic head, not a black round disc remains on the floor. But the idea of having a Roomba still appeals to me though as long as it will save me any effort cleaning. I just hope it really works well and get into the nooks and crannies as it’s expected. But why Brian’s friend would give it away! Oh! seems not that well after all.

03:20 PM Jun 24 2015 |

julito1

julito1

Argentina

Another engineering wonder on the market that supposedly will  vacuum for us ,but what the dust that is piling up on the furniture ,who is going to pick up the toys that are scatter on the floor. It is an expensive robot , the battery will need to be replaced and surely will have mechanical failures that will be costly to fix. Well, i am a little pesimist today. Why instead of buying a Roomba ,play on our IPOD a rumba while  going around the house doing the cleaning , a good workout and inexpensive.

01:45 PM Jun 24 2015 |

ScienceBoy

ScienceBoy

Turkey

Well, I don’t like cleaning. Not at all. So seems like Roomba is just like for me. Besides it would be cool to have a robot at home. I’d prefer Asimo but anyway.


@S&W, it’s a brilliant idea to do your exercise while cleaning. I liked that.

09:49 AM Jun 24 2015 |

naira71

naira71

Azerbaijan

I think cleaning is exhausting process for everybody,especially when there are noisy kids throwing things around  and you have to pick up everything .Sure, I d like to have some machine doing huge work instead of you  but ,anyway,if you see  an outcome of your productive activity, any work ,even a tiring,becomes a pleasure.So  sometimes I like cleaning.

07:25 AM Jun 24 2015 |

Shoba

Shoba

Sri Lanka



Cleaning without lifting a finger (other than to press the button) sounds attractive to me.


But the biggest question is, will Roomba really meet my expectations and clean the way I would like to?!?


We have a nice saying like this in Tamil, “If you want a work to be done to your liking, just do it yourself!” 



06:59 AM Jun 24 2015 |

foz12

foz12

Saudi Arabia

I do not like cleaning, but in the same time I don’t think so that robort will do it better for me. I tottally agree with Marni old fashioned way it’s the good one.

06:25 AM Jun 24 2015 |

S&W

S&W

China

Yes,i like cleaning and i treat cleaning as exercise in this way cleaning had never become a burden to me.I want to see how a roomba work. I have a doubt that a roomba can get in nooks and crannies.But i like Brain’s idea of putting speaker on the top of roomba while it cleaning with music and what i am going to do is lying on my bed ,enjoying music and watching roomba work.

12:46 AM Jun 24 2015 |

CharmYou

CharmYou

Ireland

I once saw something like a roomba in a Chinese commecial. And it’s really a sham. When people really get to use it, it just doesn’t work as promised. It’s not really as smart as the robots you would see in movies or sci-fi. It just kind of sucks.

03:00 AM Jun 16 2015 |

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