Little Shirley & the Litter Robot
Alibaba and OUR Champion-Litter Robot
jasper fetching and using litter robot
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More Litter-Robot Video Entries Part II
Earth Day Winners Announced!
Thank you for all the great comments. It was really refreshing to read about all of the creative ways used to lessen the impact of you and your pet on the environment. I feel sorry for the companies making cat toys since so many of you mentioned that you make your own out of scraps around the house! — and I didn’t realize so many folks were growing their own catnip! Many of you also mentioned spaying and neutering which also is really important. Overall some great ideas shared.
Ok, so we numbered the comments sequentially and then used a random number generator to select the winner. We were so pleased with the overall response that we decided to select an additional (10) 2nd place winners who will receive a free Litter-Robot Ramp.
1st Place Winner:
Katie
2nd Place Winners:
Lisa and Dan
FridrihLop
Laura
Kelly
Laurel Krahn
Amber Wentz
Danny
Cris Bonuso
Miriam
Elena
All winners above will receive email notification as well. Congratulations!
Litter-Robot Celebrates Earth Day!
Celebrate Earth Day and enter to win a FREE ECO Unit Litter-RobotTM made from 100% recycled plastics!
Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. At the time (and of course, still today) there was growing concern about population growth and its effect on the environment and April 22nd was chosen as the day to celebrate the Earth and the environment.
Here at Automated Pet Care Products, Inc., we build our products in Juneau, Wisconsin, USA (county seat of Dodge county). Building and buying locally helps to reduce carbon emissions from costly transportation from overseas – not to mention keeping jobs here in the USA. Using recycled materials and designing products for longevity and repair are also big steps toward reducing environmental impact.
To celebrate Earth Day we are giving away a FREE ECO Unit Litter-RobotTM. Simply write a paragraph or two (by commenting on this article) on how you and your pet are trying to reduce environmental impact. Or, if you have any tips or advice on how to be more ‘green’ with your pet, that would be great too.
The winner will be randomly selected from all the comments. Only pertinent comments will be considered for the drawing. Make sure to use a valid email address so we can contact you. Deadline for all comments will be June 1, 2009. The winner will be announced on this blog (www.litter-robot.com/blog) by June 8, 2009.
True Green
So What Makes a Product ‘Green’?
Most agree that using recycled materials (like our ECO Unit) constitutes a green product. While using recycled materials is great, it’s only part of the story. It has become the norm to buy cheap throw-away, land-fill clogging products. If a product is cheap enough, why worry about how long it will last – just buy another one! And if a product malfunctions or breaks, forget about repairing it – products are rarely designed for repair.
If manufacturers want to be ‘green’, they also have to make quality products that last. Products also need to be designed for repair and disassembly at the end of their useful life for recycling. This does not necessarily mean that products have to cost more. Often, a simple design change can prevent failure and then a consequent trip to the garbage can. Just imagine the energy and material savings achieved if products lasted longer? While this philosophy may be in conflict with what some consider economic ‘progress’, the throw-away product model is not sustainable in the long run.
Let’s build clever, durable products, allowing for repair if necessary – and recycling at end of life. That’s what we call GREEN!
New Product Enhancements!
New Bubble Globe and Lip Extender
Due to the many requests for a larger Globe we are pleased to introduce our latest enhancement……the Bubble Globe.
A skylight-type window mounted to the back wall of the Globe adds about 3 inches in the front-to-back depth of the litter chamber and provides natural lighting to the litter chamber. If you already have a Litter-Robot II and want to upgrade you can also just purchase the Bubble Globe alone.
In conjunction with the Bubble Globe, we have introduced an add-on accessory called the Lip Extender
Sometimes larger cats, or cats that have not mastered turning around in the Globe will ‘miss’ their target. The Lip Extender catches these ‘misses’ and redirects the errant liquid back into to the litter. The clever design provides for self-cleaning of any tracked litter on the Lip Extender. During the clean cycle, tracked litter is fed back into the Globe during the rotation. Note that Lip Extender is included with Bubble Unit or Bubble Globe.
Lip Extender shown assembled
Litter-Robot Tip #1: Adjusting the Cat Sensor
Have you ever found your Litter-Robot stopped in mid rotation and possibly with the red light blinking? This could be a sign that your cat sensor needs adjustment. Sometimes after adding litter or replacing litter in the globe, the total weight of the globe becomes high enough that during the rotation or even while stationary (without cat inside) the cat sensor is triggered. If the Cat Sensor is triggered continuously for more than 2 minutes then the red light starts to blink. This problem can be easily fixed by simply adjusting the Cat Sensor. Here are recommended steps for adjusting the Cat Sensor:
1. Turn off unit and remove Globe.
2. Turn on power with Globe removed. Does gear turn?
3. If NO go to step 4. If YES, turn off power and go to step 5.
4. Try ‘exercising’ the Safety Line in the Base – push and release it several times such that you hear the clicking noise of a switch. Turn the power off then on again. Does the Globe now turn? If NO try repeating, but if still no rotation of the gear, then you will need to contact Customer Service. If YES, you are done. Re-position Globe and verify that it completes a clean cycle (in this case adjustment of the cat sensor was not needed).
5. Turn the Base upside down so you are facing the bottom surface. Find the round black adjustment foot and simply turn it Clockwise (2) full complete turns (720 degrees).
6. Replace Globe and turn the unit ON. Verify that the Globe completes the clean cycle – if YES you’re done. If not, repeat step 5. If you are still having trouble, contact Customer Service .
Gear Diary Review with Video Demo
The Litter-Robot Review
By Judie Lipsett
Gear Diary
March 20th, 2008
Of all the gadgets which I have ever reviewed, I think that the Litter-Robot would definitely win the title of most offbeat, but it was well worth doing. In late January, I unboxed the Litter-Robot, set it up, and then sat back to see whether Avah would accept this “spaceship” as her litter box.
It will have been two months tomorrow, and we have both lived to tell about it, so that should immediately tell you that things went well.
But lets go back to the beginning…
As a refresher, you can watch this video of the Litter-Robot’s unboxing…
…and this video of its easy set up.
You’ll notice that the bag used in the bottom tray during setup is nothing special, just a typical kitchen bag. The Litter-Robot came with five or so of them, and when those included were gone (at the rate of about one per week), I started using plain old white tall kitchen garbage bags.
When I first set up the LR, I couldn’t put it in the same spot where her old box used to be, because I needed access to a wall socket. I also needed a larger spot to accommodate the approximately 30? tall x 24? deep robot. Furthermore, it was important that nothing be right next to the top half, because it had to be able to spin without dragging against anything. Fortunately I was able to place the Litter-Robot in our middle bathroom.
I purchased a brand new 35 pound bucket of the cheapest clumping kitty litter sold at Sam’s, which happened to be their store brand. It took a little less than a third of the bucket to fill the Litter-Robot, or approximately nine pounds. After two months of use, I still have over half of the bucket left. Every time I empty the drawer, I look to see if I need to add anymore – usually it’s still just fine.
So right there, you see that there are no special or proprietary supplies which need to be purchased to keep the Litter Robot working from the first day of purchase. Because of that, there is no fear that you might one day be unable to find special solutions or accessories based on where you live or the company’s circumstances. I’m just saying…
There are several tricks listed to help you acclimate your cat to this new system, but from the beginning, getting Avah to use the Litter-Robot was surprisingly easy. I took one piece of solid matter from her old litter box, put it in the new one, and then threw away her old box.
After her initial photo set, in which she was exploring her new space, Avah understood that the Litter-Robot was not a playpen; she never again used it for anything but how it was intended.
Here’s the important thing to remember before trying to use a Litter-Robot: your cat must weigh at least five pounds for safe use. If you have kittens or a really petite chatte, then you should stick with a regular litter box until they are larger. But if you have a cat who weighs over five pounds you’ll be good to go. Their site says “The Litter-Robot accommodates cats up to 15 lbs, but according to our customers larger cats have adapted to the Litter-Robot without problems.”
Before we watch the video of Avah demonstrating the Litter-Robot, I want to tell you about the Cat Sensor, which is built into the front step. The basic purpose of this sensor is to let the LR know that a cat has been in the drum, and that the drum needs to tumble. The minute your cat leaves the Litter-Robot, a seven minute countdown starts. As you will see in this video, cats sometimes come back to check “their business,” and the seven minute window gives them time to do this as well as time to get away. If the cat steps on the Cat Sensor again, the seven minute sensor is once again tripped, and in this manner there is no chance of the cat being inside the drum when it starts to rotate.
Okay, here is Avah, ready to give a demonstration of the Litter-Robot…
I thought about adding some cool background music to this video, but in the end I decided that it was best to leave the audio alone; I thought it important for you to be able to hear the mechanical sound made as the globe rotates in an otherwise perfectly quiet room. We have ours set up in the middle bathroom, and we have grown used to the sound it makes when tripped. Realize that this is a room with no carpet and very little furniture (other than porcelain, heh!), so yours may sound quieter if it is in a different environment. If the tumbling sounds are going to bother you, then the robot might be best placed in a laundry room or basement.
So when the Cat Sensor has been tripped and the globe’s rotating, I bet you are wondering what’s actually happening, right?
Here’s a video showing it in detail…
If you are truly worried that your cat won’t take to the Litter-Robot, you can give one a try, basically risk free for 60 days. Right now they are offering FREE shipping, so the worst case scenario is that if things don’t work out, you’ll only be short the $40 or so it will take to send the huge box back. After seeing how quickly Avah took to her Litter-Robot, my mother bought one for her older Persian; mom will not be taking advantage of the return policy. 
According to their site, “The Litter-Robot waste drawer was designed to prevent mold growth, eliminating that typical cat box smell. However, we do recommend that you empty the waste drawer at least once a week – after all, there are limits.”
Well…yeah.
Worth noting before you take a good hard look at the picture coming up – I have gone as long as a week and a half without cleaning out the drawer, and not once did the Litter-Robot start to smell. To be honest, I just forgot to clean it because it didn’t. 
Granted, I only have one cat; those of you with more than one will have to figure out for yourself whether you can go a few days or a little bit longer. But no matter what, I guarantee the cleanup will be preferable to scooping…period.
Anyway, here’s a look at what one cat can produce in a week; I hope you haven’t just eaten.
Scary, huh?!
What I noticed is that unlike Avah’s old box, where…how can I say this delicately? Okay, I can’t. She had this spot where she would pee, and it would just create the nastiest, smelliest, wettest mess – even with the clumping litter. I absolutely dreaded cleaning her box because of that mess. This no longer happens with the Litter-Robot. Because her waste is not allowed to sit, and it is instead immediately rotated, coated in gravel, and dumped, there are no “toxic spots” in the drum.
One other thing I should mention is that while you might think that a spinning drum would kick up unwanted litter dust (after all, scooping certainly seems to), I have not found that to be the case at all. The Litter-Robot rotates so slowly and gently that dust is not expelled.
I can’t begin to express how spoiled – yes spoiled, I have become since using this device. Cleanup is a breeze, and the little bit of litter that gets tracked off the step is nothing near what used to be tracked out of Avah’s old box. The Litter-Robot is an appliance that I can’t imagine owning a cat without having; I would like to say that the Litter-Robot was for Avah, but the truth of the matter is that it was for ME.
Any questions? Check out the FAQ or ask me in the comments section. 
The Litter-Robot is available in black or beige, directly from the manufacturer and other retailers. It comes with an 18-month full warranty*.
MSRP:$329.00 (3 Payment Plan option available)
What I Like: Easy to set up; uses ordinary trash bags and clumping litter – no special supplies needed; no fear of cat being caught inside; you never touch the nasty stuff; no sifting; no nasty smells…no worries!
What Needs Improvement: The tumbling action is a bit noisy if you have to keep it in a main room of the house
* “During this warranty period [they] will repair or replace your Litter-Robot at no charge. Customers outside the lower 48 US states may incur some shipping charges.”
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