Geek Alert! Psychedelic LED Light Paintings Are Created Using Roomba Robot Vacuums

Some people really do have too much time on their hands and the creators of these incredible Roomba light paintings are a great example. These photo-crafty geeks take their Roomba robot vacuums, strap on colored <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/LED-lights">LED lights</a> and let the little devices go to town in a room, all while taking long exposure pictures. The results are psychedelic (not to mention really clean), and a whole <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/roomba/" target="_blank">Flickr group</a> exists for light painters to post their shots. Here's a roundup of our favorite Roomba light paintings.

The Roomba has quite the following and it's not just because it cleans your house without having to pull out the vacuum.

Roombas are completely hackable serving as an open source robot that can be turned into a pacman, be controlled by your cell phone, or even be turned into a musical instrument.

Then there's a whole other group that is using the robot to create eco-art with LEDs.

Process shot 1 of 3 from Reconscious.

Process shot 2 of 3 from Reconscious.

Process shot 3 of 3 from Reconscious.

Users are attaching LED lights to the top of the robot and taking a long exposure photograph of the vacuum in action in a dark room.

The resulting picture is a trace of the robot's activity sometimes in wild psychedelic colors.

Some users are going to such extremes to program light color changes or specific robot movements to create their patterns, while others like the IBRoomba group set up obstacles in the middle of the room to create blank spots, like the initials IBR.

The trace pattern left from a Roomba while vacuuming a room.

Colored Roomba's waiting to begin.

A yellow colored Roomba bounces off the walls and furniture in bartlec's room.

We're totally entranced though - LED lights become the power player in this robotic dance that leaves your room that much cleaner.