Floor Vacuum Robot for $200

abhikhurana writes "MSNBC is running a review of Roomba, supposedly the first intelligent 'floor vac', as in a cross between vacuum cleaner and a robot. I think its especially suited for lazy bums like me. Just let it loose, sitback and enjoy. There is also a video of how it cleans the floors, which requires windows media player (what else?) to watch it. It seems that the robo cleaner can indeed do that job for which it has been designed. A related article on Techreview has slightly more details about how it works. There is also a website exclusively for Roomba."

Comments

Why is it...

[Skyshadow]

That my Aibo can plug itself back in, but this thing can't? Seriously, how hard would it be to remember a room, vacuum it, and return to a docking station while I'm at work? What good is this thing *unless* it does that? I want my vacuuming to be sort of like setting up a maintainance cron job to run at 3 AM.

Re:Why is it...

[atathert]

Well, let me see. It could be because your Aibo is approximately an order of magnitude more expensive than this. To tell the truth, I am amazed at the functionality you can get for $200 dollars. I saw one of these things at Brookstone, and it just looks like it starts with a basic spiral pattern. It was demoed in the middle of the store, so I am not sure what happens when it gets to things like chair legs and such. Probably just senses them with the bump sensors, and shoots off on another direction.

Family Test - LEGOS!

[BrookHarty]

I love how they never test these in a real American Familys house. This thing wouldnt last a day around my kids.

Legos, flash cards, marbles, mcdonalds toys, stuffed animals with fluffy parts, video games and controllers, dirty clothes.

Now give me a robot that washs and folds clothes, and picks up kids toys, and I can use a Roomba. (And no Honey, you are not a Robot.)

Pre-Vacuum Pick-up

[CutterDeke]

I've got kids. Will Roomba do the pre-vacuum pick-up of all the Legos, money, etc.?

My wife does a lot of sewing. How well can Roomba handle lots of thread on the floor? How about pins?

The problem isn't the vacuuming. It's the picking up that you have to do before you can vacuum.

It's too slow

[Proc6]

The CEO interviewed says a 10x12 room takes 1/2 an hour to vaccuum. I can vaccuum my entire 1000 square foot apartment in about 3 minutes. It's just not that difficult. Id rather do it myself and be done in less than 5 minutes, than hear that thing's motor whirring and whining for 3 hours while it cleans every room in my house.

Flat Earth Myth

[Red Weasel]

The whole idea that the entire world thought that the earth was flat until Columbus came around is a total and complete fabrication.

This story was invented by Washington Irving (yes the writer of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories) to show his contempt for the priesthood and for the conservative nature of the church and European nations. And guess what? It caught on and expanded to include everyone that lived before them.

Lets all ignore the fact that every time there was an eclipse that the shadow was round or that sailors from around the world would loose site of land as they sailed or that a Greek mathematician calculated the circumference of the earth and was only 52 miles off.

Jeffrey
Burton Russell
Has a very short piece but he says it best with

"A round earth appears at least as early as the sixth century BC with Pythagoras, who was followed by Aristotle, Euclid, and Aristarchus, among others in observing that the earth was a sphere. Although there were a few dissenters--Leukippos and Demokritos for example--by the time of Eratosthenes (3 c. BC), followed by Crates(2 c. BC), Strabo (3 c. BC), and Ptolemy (first c. AD), the sphericity of the earth was accepted by all educated Greeks and Romans."