Wednesday, 17 August 2022

Introducing (and reviewing) Robot-kun

Robot-kun (Robot-君 in Japanese) is our favourite helper whose sole mission is life is to vacuum and mop the floor :) 

Ours is a Xiaomi Mijia 1C. I took some time to read reviews and comments from users on this vs. other Mijia models and other brands, before deciding on it. 

After using Robot-kun for some time, I realised that there are various types of product reviews:
  1. Online ratings. Such ratings may not be about the product itself. For example, when I buy things on Shopee, I see many ratings saying that the buyer has not used it yet. I don't know why they bother to rate *.* I use such ratings to tell me if the seller is reliable, whether the plug is a local plug, etc, but I really appreciate reviews of the product by buyers who have actually used it. 
  2. Professional reviews. I think it's wonderful you can review products for a living, ha! Check out this fantastic review by SRR which links to reviews of other robots as well. I referred to this website a lot during my research.
  3. Customer reviews. Most of the reviews online are #2. If there are comments, I would read them to understand the product from real users who have used it for some time. Coz only time will tell 🎵
Today, I'm going to give a customer review of Xiaomi Mijia 1C.

Why did I buy this?

Good professional reviews. Good price point. Can meet my need which is to outsource sweeping and mopping.

Is this really what the professional reviews say it is?

Oh yes!

What more would I like to know before getting this?

1. Tips on how to map the floor. It took two or three tries for me. I had some difficulty as Robot-kun got stuck in my kitchen where the cabinet doors happened to be just a wee bit taller than Robot-kun. When I pulled it out, it said it would reposition itself and moved around a bit. Then I heard this: I detected a new area and will start a new cleaning path. This means no map *.* Another time, it went to the yard and couldn't come up due to a small step. I had to run Robot-kun again, starting from the dock. I had to close the yard door so the yard had to stay out of the map. I can always bring Robot-kun to clean the yard - it will tell me to bring it home when it can't find its way out :p

2. Get more accessories at the same time as buying the robot. At first, I handwashed the mop pad after every use. That was also the time when I started doing all the housework and cooking. The skin on my hands didn't love me much. I bought a set of three mop pads. While I was at it, I found other parts and bought more filters, sweeping tool and roller brush. Later, I bought more mop pads so now I use two each day - one for parquet in the bedrooms and one for tiles everywhere else. I collect the dirty mop pads to wash with floor mats etc in the washing machine every week. Yes, I have a small pail of dirty mop pads lying around in the yard!!

Glad to have spares for this - found the lost arm in the dust box last week. Yes, Robot-kun is a cannibal!!!


3. Grout lines, corners and edges can get dirtier. My grout lines are not even with the tiles and can trap dirt when helper mopped the floor. Same case with Robot-kun but worse as I don't follow it around to wipe up the dirt so it just dries up and leaves grey spots! The same thing happens at corners and edges. Robot-kun turns on itself at corners and dirt can get left behind. Along the edges of cabinets and balconies, Robot-kun will gently hit the edge as it moves, i.e. turn, mop, move, repeat, so it also leaves some dirt behind. No such issues along wall edges. 

Leftover dirt on grout line and corner


4. Area behind doors still need manual mopping. I keep the bedroom doors open for Robot-kun but I don't follow it around so the area behind the doors remain unmopped. Not a big deal as it's not very dirty back there.

5. It takes quite some time to mop. It takes 30 minutes for our four bedrooms and another 30 min for the dining room, living room and kitchen. If I mop myself, it would be much faster. But it's good to reduce manual work on my part! I usually let it clean the bedrooms when I send Monkey to school and iron clothes when it cleans the other rooms.

Would I still get it if I had known more?

I think so. As it stands, I already use a lot of wet wipes for various things. I have never done it myself but I estimate that I would need at least four wet wipes to mop the whole house manually. Not very pocket or environmentally friendly, not to mention having to spend active time mopping it myself.

I might take longer to decide though, as #3 is awful. But since I happened to have a steam cleaner bought separately to sanitise the floors especially the oily parts after cooking and eating, it's not a big deal as it cleans up Robot-kun's trail very nicely. I try to do this once every two weeks.

Anything else?

For my next house:
  1. Cabinet doors must be tall enough to accommodate Robot-kun. 
  2. Any sliding doors must also be tall enough else I would need to mop under the sliding doors every few weeks like what I'm doing now, and this is dirtier than behind bedroom doors.
  3. Marble gum grout the floors to eliminate dirty grout lines situation.
And, some tips on maintaining the machine. I do this once a week. If you vacuum and/or mop more than 60sqm every day, you may need to clean this more frequently.
  1. Put on a mask first. It gets dusty.
  2. Prepare a bag to contain the rubbish.
  3. Remove the dust box, roller brush, sweeping tool.
  4. Use cloth or wet wipes to wipe the body - two big wheels and a removable rotating wheel - and the cavities for the brush and dust box. My white Robot-kun can get scratch marks easily when it gets trapped in the kitchen so I also use a melamine sponge.
  5. Remove hair from roller brush. Be patient if you have long hair like me!
My long hair needs some detangling...



6. Wipe dust off the orange part of the roller brush. You don't want dust to get into your sink.
7. Wipe the roller cover too. I never knew that dust can stick like this!

All the grey/black stuff? Dust!


8. Empty the dust box. Remove the filter and whack it against the floor through the plastic bag to remove dust. Tie the bag before throwing.

One week of dust!


9. Wash everything with water and let dry, especially the filter.
10. Finally, wipe the dock, put back the accessories and dock Robot-kun to charge.

Saturday, 13 August 2022

COVID struck again!

The last man has gone down now. Yup, Sito who escaped the past two times, finally could escape no more... Must have got it in KL as he was visiting various warehouses or something.

I heard Sito cough on Monday, 1 Aug. Not uncommon. Then at bedtime, he said he had a sore throat. Time to whip out the ART. The result was almost immediate as the capillary action (?) happened :(

That was past 11.30 pm, i.e. kids were in school night beds and only the upper bunk was available. Um, no. So I continued to sleep in our bed, but with a mask on.

His symptoms were mild. Sore throat was gone by late morning the next day. But he started feeling cold and developed a fever. The poor guy was mostly in bed on Wednesday. By Thursday, he was on the recovery curve.

Dinner was served at his desk - he said it felt like hospital *.*


His next test was Saturday, i.e. day 6. Still a dark line. That was the last time he tested, ha! By Sunday, he could go out after 12 noon - considered low transmission risk.

But... I tested positive on Monday morning :( I guess it's inevitable since I was still sleeping in the same bed and I woke a few times to find his mask lost in bed *.*

I was so glad I had been wearing a surgical mask around the kids since Sito tested positive, in case I had already caught it from him. In fact, I was surprised it took so many days for me to test positive - kids and I tested every school day so I could bring them to the bus stop.

When I developed a sore throat on Thursday, i.e. when Sito was still positive, I thought I was going to get it. A bad cough started from Friday. No body ache but that could be because I tried out a new massage machine from JY which was so powerful that I was hurting for a day! But nope, negative. So we thought I happened to have caught a nasty bug, since I brought Yu to the NUH PD clinic on Monday.

Then I developed a fever on Saturday after lunch. We all thought that was it. Yet, I remained negative. I even brought Yu to his friend's birthday part on Saturday evening! But I kept my mask on except when eating and taking that one photo. So far, no COVID news from the group haha!

I didn't test on Sunday as I didn't go out. Maybe I was positive then? No idea.

Sito started feeling sick again on Monday. We think I had the bug before COVID and he was having it after COVID *.* My cough when I first got COVID in February was not this bad. I'm still coughing...

Anyway, Sito took over the meals on Monday and Tuesday. He left on Wednesday so we had food delivered until Friday. I was very happy to find 25% off for Dian Xiao Er takeaway on weekdays so I asked Yang to collect it. Plus it was high time they got more vege!

This time, I felt very bored. I switched to N95 mask when I tested positive. So hot compared to February! I watched too much drama the past few days - sounds wonderful but it got boring staying in. 

Yu also felt bored - again, he couldn't go to school. I gave him unlimited access to TV and iPad from Thursday when his brothers returned to school but they became boring soon. The poor kid would stand at my door to tell me he was bored :(

Or roll on the sofa


Or watch Robot-kun


At first I thought it was so sad that he was watching Robot-kun mop the balcony! But right after this photo, he reached out with a leg *.* Bored, maybe; playful, definitely!

I was running low on ART kits so I didn't test after my positive result until this morning. It was a clear negative. So happy - coz we were down to our last bottle of milk so someone had to buy milk :p

We're going to stay in the next couple of days as well. No school for Kai and Yang on Monday and Tuesday due to PSLE orals so I think I'll just keep Yu home. It happens that there's some virus going around in school; two friends are down with high fever.

Will continue to test the kids next week just in case. Hope they stay negative 🤞

Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Start of the second half of 2022

Sometimes, I don't realise it's 2022 already. COVID seems to have caused some confusion in me. Maybe it's the "lost time" - such precious little socialising in 2020 and 2021. Maybe it's what Yu said - why is COVID (20)19 still here when it's already (20)2x?

So we're now in the second half of the year. So fast! I'm determined to get the kids more localised...

On our way to the hawker centre - only the baby got to wear his PJs 


My boys in the playground!


:)


That was a very familiar playground even though the equipment had changed a bit. It was the one near our old place. We went back there for house hunting - well, more on this another day...

Since we were there, we went to Star Vista for dinner. 

Happy with his burger!


Stuffing his mouth with a hotdog bun


He wanted his photo retaken so that he could pose properly


Yu was blowing bubbles into his drink - using his nose!!!


Trying to make lazy GeGe's bed so that they could watch TV


He made a sad face!


I made these signs for my bathroom door - mummies the world over would understand...!


Then, before I could introduce the signs to them, Yang knocked for some trivial thing. When I asked him why, he said I wrote “快敲门”!Ok, an introduction is a must! Read the arrows! Green for yes and red for no!

A few weeks in, I think the signs aren't working too well, haha!

These two like KFC


Yu likes KFC too but he ran off with Yang who didn't like it and who found it too hot! We didn't queue to enter the exhibition coz it was too long.

Went to the playground instead


And had a happy dinner at Bornga!


Kai looked like: Why you steal my show??!


We had a similar shot in 2013 at Bornga at Star Vista :)


Sito showed Yang the receipt for dinner, and...


Yang was appalled to know that a small piece of BBQ meat cost $3 - "we're never coming back here!" So funny!

Love this shot :)


Who's the master mind??


Pool time coz it was hot


We haven't come to this pool for a while and Yu is now tall enough to go without his puddle jumper! He was very pleased and so were we :)

That day, we had steamboat for dinner. Yes, it was a very hot day! But we spent some time in the pool too? :p The kids finished more than a 300g box of beef rolls. I was very happy - eat more!!!

Two weeks ago, Sito came back on a Saturday instead of Friday. So the kids and I went to fetch him, yeah! But we were late and his flight arrived early. In the end, he came to welcome us at Changi MRT station instead *.* 

Oops, Kai was trying to put Papa's arm over his head


Gave them a lollipop as a reward for being (relatively) well-behaved on the long train ride there. It helped keep them (more or less) quiet on our way to Jewel.

... Why so many qualifiers in brackets?! Haha! My kids....

Anyway... We saw DTF the moment we entered Jewel. No one outside so we thought no queue. Wrong. Virtual queue! So we walked on and found Jumbo - why not? :) But we didn't order crabs la. Too much work. Had chilli crab sauce with buns instead.

Looking at the fish outside Jumbo 


Yang and Yu liked the fountain a lot more this time than back in 2020 when we last came here


Helping Papa or playing??


That afternoon, I brought the kids to YX's place for a play date while Sito rested at home. Just as well, coz our new washing machine arrived at 5.30 pm! So much for night delivery...

Must play chess on a play date


DT was there with his family as well, so five boys and two girls in total. But they didn't play together, haha! SF cooked a lot as usual. We had a good chat while the kids played. Finally left just past 8 pm. I think the kids were quite pleased to stay up past their usual bedtime...

Kai was very happy to get and solve a new 8-cube!


But the cube is now lying on my desk, with a few loose pieces *.* So difficult to fix back! Ok, I try later...

While waiting for neighbour popo - Yu had to make and give this card to someone and he chose her


Hurt-my-knee playground struck again - Yu had a bad scrape on his left knee on Saturday as we left the playground. Actually we were nearer the traffic light than the playground when he fell while scooting. So hard to put the dressing on him - always moving or shaking, grrr! Baby, only four months left in kindy!!