Roomba Archive

  • The Mint Automatic Roboswiffer: Like Roomba but more like Robocop

    The Mint Automatic Roboswiffer: Like Roomba but more like Robocop

    Posted on April 22, 2010 | No Comments
    What the deuce? This looks like some sort of Swiffer/robot cyborg that mated with an Apple power supply. Apparently the Mint floor cleaner is available for $249 and is now on pre-order. The sweeper dusts and wet mops floors and you can add Swiffer cloths to it. It’s much smaller than the Roomba and I’d [...]

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  • Review: iRobot Looj

    Review: iRobot Looj

    Posted on April 15, 2010 | No Comments
    Let it be said that I do not like heights. I also do not like cleaning out gutters. Add those two “dislikes” together and you get the iRobot Looj. The Looj, unlike iRobot’s Roomba, is slightly less intelligent than a broom on the end of a large stick, but it serves a very important purpose: [...]

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  • How did we miss this laser-scanning super robot vacuum?

    How did we miss this laser-scanning super robot vacuum?

    Posted on January 21, 2010 | No Comments
    Not sure how we missed this robotic vacuum but this bugger uses lasers to scan your room and grab dust and lint as it goes. It’s quite cute how this little fellow does everything the Roomba does but, seemingly, it does it better. One more video after the jump. You can pick the robot up right here [...]

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  • Sexy robots could love you long time

    Sexy robots could love you long time

    Posted on August 18, 2009 | No Comments
    Ian Yeoman of the University of Wellington in New Zealand posits that we could soon be heading to charming resorts on the coast where we have rough sex with robotic pleasure bots. He writes:
    "Robotics will become important, because you're going to have labour shortages in the future,'' he said…Even robot "prostitutes'' that would not pass on diseases such as HIV could make an appearance."

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  • What happens when artificial intelligence gets too advanced for its own good?

    What happens when artificial intelligence gets too advanced for its own good?

    Posted on July 26, 2009 | No Comments
    Imagine you're sitting at the dining table reading the latest Wrestling Observer, as you do from time to time. Nothing too crazy, just minding your own business. Then, suddenly—it's always suddenly—the microwave hops off the counter, wielding a knife, and comes charging after you. Oh, dear!

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  • “Mr. Watson – come here! The Roomba’s broken:” Whole home intercoms with Arduino

    “Mr. Watson – come here! The Roomba’s broken:” Whole home intercoms with Arduino

    Posted on June 9, 2009 | No Comments
    This cool system uses an Arduino board and home wiring to turn your local home telephone network into an intercom. When you take the phone off the hook it disconnects from the phone line and rings all of the phones with a different cadence. When you pick up the phone you get an open line so you can talk with loved ones and burglars who have broken in anywhere in the house.

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  • New Roomba coming soon UPDATE

    New Roomba coming soon UPDATE

    Posted on June 1, 2009 | No Comments
    So our original hunch was correct: a new Roomba is currently in beta stage and it will be an evolution of the 550 series. It will be all black with a textured surface and this model, strangely enough, is missing the top handle. It will have a smaller base and lighthouses - the invisible walls [...]

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  • iRobot’s new Roomba patent could clean those hard to reach areas, get stuck there

    iRobot’s new Roomba patent could clean those hard to reach areas, get stuck there

    Posted on May 26, 2009 | No Comments

    When most kids our age were cutting class to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out, the latch key kids over at Robot Stock News were taking apart their step father's vacuum. And as we grew up, all the while developing relationships with cellphone tipsters and eventually becoming successful tech bloggers in our own right, the Robot Stock News kids were also able to take their obsessive geek tendencies and make a name for themselves -- combing the interwebs, paying off high priced vacuum ninjas, and scouring the US Patent database for any and all news featuring many of our country's leading autonomous vacuum cleaners. They must have been really stoked to stumble upon a patent filed in November 2008, entitled "Compact Autonomous Coverage Robot." As far as we can tell, this document (filed by iRobot) details a Roomba with a squared off front, designed to hit those hard to reach corners that the traditional circular device cannot. This design change, while it seems minor, actually lends a level of complexity to the device: a square robot requires more complex programming, lest it get stuck in a niche that its round faced predecessor could never reach in the first place. Of course, there's no telling when (or if) this one will see the light of day, but you'll know as soon as we do. Promise.

    [Via Robot Stock News]

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    iRobot's new Roomba patent could clean those hard to reach areas, get stuck there originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 17:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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