Eufy to Eufena

A few years back, my daughter gifted me a robot vacuum. No. Not a Roomba, so delete that thought. She is the brand Eufy, and that is her name. I love Eufy. She is a delight to me, and I saw no need to change her birth name!

After my knee replacement, when I needed her the most, I couldn’t use her. Why, you ask?

• All the lamp cords have to be unplugged, so she doesn’t get tangled in them

• Other obstructions she might run over have to be blocked or moved  

• I couldn’t get down onto the floor to do that with a newly replaced knee - ouch

My husband used the upright vacuum instead, because:

• He can’t be bothered unplugging lamps from the floor plugs

• The plugs are hidden underneath the couch

• He certainly doesn’t want to crawl around and plug them back in

• It IS a chore to get down on the floor, even with a pillow under one’s knees

• It’s difficult to reach a hand under the couch to find the plug (picture me with a swollen knee and little mobility, or a football-player-sized guy lying on his side trying to squeeze his hand in)Of course, my husband will make it a BIG deal and:

• Get a flashlight and a furniture moving pad

• He will move everything in his way, including the sofa table

  • I consider all of that unnecessary

  • Finally, you must grab the plug and pull it straight up from the outlet, and not yank it by the cord

Eufy can be programmed for each room based on its area and furniture, and there is a magnet guide to keep her from leaving the area. That guide never worked. Or my model doesn’t work with it. Perhaps I just don’t understand how to do it. For most of my life, I’ve taught myself programs such as MS Word, then WordPerfect and Excel. I don’t feel like figuring out how to program my robot vacuum.

Eufy is defiant and has a mind of her own, like many women. I simply block her path out of the room. It’s the lazy Leo method - easier for me, and less stress. As she spins around in circles, she readies herself and figures out the room plan and what direction she’ll head to first.

Eufy is intelligent and reads the room better than a human. She gets tangled in cords, but she knows the way home. When she finishes vacuuming, or if her battery is low, she returns to her home base for recharging. Amazing! If I hit “home” on the remote, Eufy spins around, gets her bearings, computes her route, and heads to her charging station home base.

One time, I put her in the bedroom to vacuum and shut the door. She easily maneuvers under the bed, relieving my arthritic wrist of heavy pushing and my back from bending way down while pushing a heavy upright on the carpet beneath the bed. I went on about my morning, forgetting she was working in the bedroom. When I noticed the door was shut, I went to check on her progress. She was nowhere to be found. I squatted and peered under the bed, then under the dresser, but she wasn’t there. I had blocked access to the nightstands and the space under the loveseat, beneath the bay window. I called out, “Eufy, where are you?” No answer (she can’t talk, unfortunately – or fortunately, I’m not sure?). I didn’t hear her motor running, and I got concerned about my friend’s whereabouts. The loveseat undercarriage is low to the ground, and when I peered under it, sure enough, I found my computerized friend. Stuck and crying softly.

“Eufy, what are you doing under there? I told you not to go under there. How long have you been stuck?” With some effort, I managed to drag her out of the tight spot. She began to get her bearings, spinning in circles, and headed toward the loveseat again. I stuck my toe in front of her to change her direction. The blue light on her “head” told me she still had charge, but I watched her for a while to ensure she had internalized my disappointment for not following directions and for ignoring the blockades I had put down.

Eufy does a great job but sometimes misses tiny crumbs I see after she has gone past. I pick her up, head her in their direction, and keep placing her (she can be quite stubborn; I wonder if she is a Taurus?) until she runs over the area and eliminates them. She would tell you it is not stubbornness; it's the homeowner's (me) fault for not programming her properly.

Eufy is excellent in tight spots but can’t close a door behind her to vacuum behind it. Eufy's blue light in the charging station doubles as a night light if you like a light when wandering your home sleepless in the wee hours of the morning, when your brain won’t stop creating a new story or figuring out some life issue.

I’m saving up money for a humanoid version of Eufy that dusts baseboards, my pictures hanging on the walls, the tops of the doors, corners of high ceilings, and shelves full of knickknacks. That will take some serious programming, so my treasures aren’t chipped by a careless humanoid robot house cleaner. I envision Eufena (her new name for her new model) sending out a tiny hand from a drawer inside her body to dust the treasures, like Thing in The Addams Family, only prettier. The hand will have manicured nails, slim silver rings, and movable fingers. She can extend an arm attachment with a duster to swipe the areas where the walls meet the ceiling. When the newly designed Eufena finishes cleaning, she will empty her dustbin, wash her attachments, then walk into her very own storage closet to recharge. Before she shuts the door, she will ask if I’d like the night light attachment to be on when the house lights go out.

Eufena will make sure my creaky joints and back won’t be stuck in place or aching the next day. It was my idea that an optional room is available with her purchase. She and I both really like that she has a private room to retreat to, instead of a charging station on the floor that people might stub their toes on.

              Copyright © 9/5/2026 by Andrea O. Corwin