Photos: Cracking open the iRobot Roomba

Over at CNET News.com sister site TechRepublic, members raved about the iRobot Roomba's intelligent floor-cleaning prowess and expressed an interest in seeing one of these innovative gadgets cracked open. Unfortunately, these same members love their own Roombas too much to risk functionality and void their warranty. So Scott Wolf cracked open a Roomba purchased just for this purpose and learned a few things about how the device works.

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 Scott puts it back in working order. But don't take our word for it--read on.

(CNET sister site TechRepublic runs a regular series called "Cracking Open" in which reviewers take a look inside a variety of electronics. News.com is publishing this excerpt.)