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iRobot Moves Into Your House
MacAndrew writes "An NYT article today expands beyond an earlier /. and annoying futurism to a multiplying line of robots from iRobot, founded by some tinkering MIT grads in Somerville, MA. The robots have found applications ranging from chasing dust bunnies ($200) to exploring the Great Pyramid to bumping around Afghan caves for mines (a war reporter is another possibility), and so appear to be moving beyond the gee whiz Rosie Jetson stage of technology. I'm intrigued that their company name so bluntly builds off of Apple and Asimov symbols, and the prospect that a product with such a chummy name will doubtless soon be sporting lethal force (cf. Predator's recent adventures. So -- anyone get one for Xmas? Chanukah? Or just fun?"
This is welcome news, I'm very lazy and I've always wanted something else to do my cleaning, pyramid exploring and killing for me.
Robots, anime, Microsoft. Robots, anime, Microsoft.
I think we understand.
I got a Roomba for my boyfriend and my Mother for Christmas. They think it's the neatest thing since sliced bread.
The only problems we've found so far are that if you have small (e.g. 6"ish) gaps in your wall, say a bookcase, gap, CD tower, gap, bookcase, the Roomba may get confused and not realize there's a wall there. That's what the virtual wall is for. The other issue is animals. They don't know what to think of it.
Karma: Food Fight (Mostly affected by Date Plate).
Second, of what use would a relatively slow delivery system be? The whole point of guided munitions is rapid movement, so the target can't get out of the way.
It would be great for attacking blind and crippled people.
I hate vaccuming. I'm wondering how easy it is to maintain... Will keeping the robot running (emptying bags, charging, etc.) be less work than just vaccuming alone. Also how well will it cover the floor? will it miss large spots because of charis and other obscacles? I'm not gonna have to go in after it and vaccum spots it missed, will I?
-Derick
It will just end up with it forcing me to do house work,
kind of the same strategy as my wife.
Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
Can anyone comment on Roomba's performance when kids roam the house ? My critters (2 and 4) usually leave toys all over the place... Can the robot swarm around it to clean up where possible, or will it get stuck ?
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
.. but all I got was a dancing robot alarm clock. Still, with a little work, I think I could modify it to destroy my enemies, rob banks or something else equally useful...
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
That is a badass little device. I've got several cats, and I was worried about whether it could handle kitty litter tracked out of the bathroom, or the rather large amount of cat hair. It handles both just fine. Also, my house is rather cluttered with workout equipment and electronics, and it manages to navigate very well, even getting into corners most of the time. all in all, it was an excellent purchase. I do recommend getting the 2 hour charger if you can find it, though.
"This is your world. These are your people. You can live for yourself today, or help build tomorrow for everyone."
Robots moving into my house? Someone call Jack Ramsay
"I'm intrigued that their company name so bluntly builds off of Apple and Asimov symbols, and the prospect that a product with such a chummy name will doubtless soon be sporting lethal force..."
This doesn't surpise me at all. If this happened in 1999, it would be "eRobot" or "Robot.com" instead. The marketing drones just go with what is hot. They just throw around buzz.
How to Download YouTube Videos
The Asmimov thing I get with the I Robot. And it is a homage to a great master whose work about robots has influenced 99.9 of robotic sci-fi since, and probably 100% of all people building robots now. Paying some respects in a major way.
"I'm intrigued that their company name so bluntly builds off of Apple and Asimov symbols"
I disagree with the connection to apple. Because IBOOK and IMAC were products long after I-Robot hit the shelves. I Robot hit the shelves in 1950, so I say they got the jump on Apple. Maybe Asmimovs family should seek some sort of injunction. An IBook,Imac is a silicon based calculating machine, here we have prior art for 52 years, that Asimov actively developed until 1976. Apple is always suing people for walking past the factory, or releasing a case that emulates theirs.
I like Apple, I own an IBOOK. Good little machine. I own three x86's running windows, linux, and solaris(gasp yes solaris,stability at its finest). I never associated my apple with Asimov, and never will. But probbably some geeks over at apple gave it the name to pay homage to a great man.
Point is that Apple had nothing to do with inspiring this company. Shameless apple plug.
man, messing with the Asimov the day after christmas. it just aint right.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
First off, I see absolutely no similarity between this robot and a guided rocket with high explosives crammed into its nose.
Sure, you say that -now-, but you'll be sorry when your Roomba spots your Muslim Terrorist Prayer Mat and automatically detonates, eradicating you and your terrorist buddies in a ball of righteous, American fire.
--get a plug in engine water jacket heater, they work great for your vehicle. Instant nice warm starts, instant heat. I don't live in the frozen north anymore but when I did that was the low tech and still reliable "fix" for cold weather and cold vehicles.
Robots are cool at first, but they will become as obtrusive as a visit from the mother-in-law. You do not want to trip over one of these things at 2am when you are raiding the fridge.
It is also bad enough when the dog is looking at you when you are having sex, but a robot running around the room straightening up while you are doing the nasty is probably worse(unless you are into that kinda thing).
Give people seamless technology, that is as unobtrusive and "invisible" as possible, and you will have a winner.
---
When you come to a fork in the road, take it! --Yogi Berra--
The holiday is actually spelled "Christmas." And why not link to something that provides info on it (like you did with Chanukah), rather than a joke page?
Rock 'em, Sock 'em, iRobots!
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
Charles Luther's gonna rock and roll all night and party every day!
Was running late for work, and gave my cat some food...Well the lid of the dry food container fell off and so kittie got more food than expected.
Perhaps these robots would pick this up?
The Predator UAV is nothing but a big radio controlled aircraft - it takes two human operators to fly and use the system. There are UAV's that are truly robots (Global Hawk for one)http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/global.html
but in the context of this Slashdot story Predator is completely irrelevant and incorrect.
iROBOT MOVES INTO YOU!!!
Seems like the problem is that the original writer failed to account for the ignorance of some readers.
FWIW, Predator is not a guided rocket. Predator is a semi-automous robotic aircraft. Predator is slow, low-powered, and with the ability to stay airborne a long time. Predator was designed as a flying robotic observation platform. Predator was retrofitted with the ability to deliver Hellfire missiles. Thus a robotic reconnaisance device became an offensive weapon. Beginning to see the connection? Whether the MIT robots can be armed, I could not guess. However the notion that an otherwise harmless sensor platform can become dangerous is not that much of a stretch. So if you see one of them dragging a bag of fertilizer, pay attention...
you get the idea.
Did I mention post-holiday Karma Burn? Mod me down all you want, the ban will be lifted by Monday, and I'll just whore the Karma back up...But in the meantime, I am going to go get drunk and maybe run over some pedestrians.
If we don't fight for ourselves no one will.
Headline around Christmas in 2006:
"New Roomba Virus Released; Owners Advised to Lock Roomba (or Pets)"
AP -- NYC
A new strain of CatLover Roomba virus was released yesterday by a Russian hacker. When infected, Roomba will apparently start chasing household cats and dogs and try to electrecute them. Owners are advised to download the lastest patch from roombavirusnomore.com to prevent tragedies. Authorities in US and Russia are collaborating closely in pursuit of the suspect..."
OMG, the horror!
doesn't make any fucking sense.
The author merely points out that since apple launched its iMac and iBook products in the late 90's/early 2k, many things seem to be called i(InsertProductNameHere). Unless these particular robots came out well before the apple i(products), it's highly likely the iRobot name was influenced in part by apple.
btw, on your prior art/asimov claim. does asimov have an endless patent for their I Robot that hit the shelves in the 50's? (they couldn't have a copyright on creating a "silicon based calculating maching").
a lump of coal and Windows XP. The former will be of a lot more use.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
I got one for my wife for Christmas. Here are some observations:
1. If you have carpets with tassles (throw rugs) you have to fold them under the carpet. Just like regular vac's that chew up the string, the roomba will also eat them.
2. Cords. You have to make sure you have them nicely tucked away.
3. You still have to pick up the junk on the floors - clothes, rocks, toys, spare parts, etc, just like you would do when (if) you sweep up otherwise. It's a nice trade off though, just pick up then turn it on.
4. We only have wood floors with area carpets, no deep pile. I don't know how well it would work on deeper pile.
My sig left me for a younger user id.
are you ready for it? Xmas. That isn't an X, it's a "chi," the Greek letter, which happens to stand for "Kristo." Xmas predates the use of Christmas by a goodly margin.
KFG
The article specifically says that the company was founded in 1990, and was based off the Asimov book.
If you all think to 1990, Apple didn't have any 'i' products. I mean, the Mac II line was the top of the crop back then. [68030, in the IIfx]. You don't get to any 'i' products until after you go through the 68040 [Centris, Quadra, Performa (3 digit)] lines, the 60x series [PowerMac, Performa (4 digit)]. Nothing was named with an 'i' until 1998, with the first iMac, which was almost a year after the first (beige) G3.
So, I'd have to say that there is no possible way that the name 'iRobot' has anything to do with apple, and that the original contributor of the story (although the story was very interesting), was just confused on the whole matter.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
I hear it's peak performance is on July 4th!
AC,
To point out what should be obvious;
The Predator is a remotely controlled recon aircraft retrofitted with a targeting system and two hellfire missiles. (Same stuff Apache helicopers carry.) The aircraft itself does not damage anything, it simply serves as a platform that can fire hellfire missiles on targets once they have been spotted. Since there are several advantages to these things; including long flight times, zero risk of pilot injury, etc. the Predator can be described as a "war robot". (Though it is more like a remote controlled vehicle, as it is not autonomous.)
There is a similar but unarmed system that goes by another name that has been in use for years.
You have confused the ability to attack something via firing missiles with BEING a missile.
I also see no "conspiracy theory garbage" in referencing the Predator system, as it has been in the news and on the Discovery channel a lot; including a successful kill (in Yammen) of three Al Queda operatives (including one American citizen) a few weeks ago. It is a fully operational robotic (if remote control counts as robotic) weapon delivery system.
The only point here is that you missed the point of the hyperlink in the story because of your ignorance.
Don't they mean "i,Robot"?
example.org - powered by Linux!
Does anyone have the Trilobite ZA1? Is it available anywhere else besides Sweden?
Anyways it's a really cool little critter. It uses sonar to seek out the room. Also it automatically recharges itself since it finds its' way back to the charger. It can also untangle itself from carpets and other stuff.How cool is that?
Seems a bit more stronger and more advanced than Roomba.
However it's priced at 1500 euro so... =)
Real programmers never comment their code. If it's hard to write, it should be hard to read!
I bought one a couple of months ago. I live in a loft with 2 cats. Here are some of my observations:
- It does really well with cat hair and dirt/dust, but it doesn't scrub the floor. So if you have dried mud, it just goes over it.
- I've already had to disassemble it a couple of times to clean out the cat hair and strings that get wrapped around the various rollers. It's not a huge problem, and I actually like digging through the machine.
- I must get the rapid charger. Charging for 12 hours for 90 minutes is not fun. Having a spare battery and a charging doc would be a nice addition.
- My cats were freaked out at first, but they've come to accept it. They causally walk around it while it's going.
- It not silent. It is a vacuum, and it sounds like one.
- The debris cup could be a little bigger.
- It has a tendancy to smite my enemies, and reward my allies.
--
No electrons were harmed in this post.
OK, so have any of these developers seen Terminator? Real life Predator drones, what's next? Will man become a hunted animal in a world ruled by machines gone mad? The robots in Asimov's tales were relativly benign since they had to follow the three laws, but hasn't anyone read Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream"?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Because companies like to make money, in general. While you might buy a cleaning robot you could program, and maybe a few hundred other geeks might buy one, the company would rather sell hundreds of thousands of robots to normal consumers for $200.
The Roomba is dumb, but at $200, it's cost-effective.
The current model is cool, but like the reviewer, I want more features-- a little more intelligence and autonomy, for one thing.
I'd like it to be able to locate and drive into its recharger when it's done.
I'd like it to be able to empty its own dirt cup.
A decent solution for both issues above would be to make the recharger a raised platform with a small ramp the Roomba must negotiate. Have dirt cup open from underneath like a railroad hopper car, and let it empty into a larger dirt receptacle beneath the recharger that I could dump out weekly.
I'd also like to be able to set it to run only when I'm at work, and to set it do do high-traffic rooms more often than others.
Additionally, I'd like Roomba to be a little smarter about where it's been-- maybe have an option to load a floorplan into it, and have it 'know' where it is relative to its recharger station at all times during its run.
I'd be more than willing to pay $400-500 for such a beast.
~Philly
We've been using a Roomba for some time now and are getting ready to add two more to the house (one for each floor).
When I leave in the morning, I just set it in the middle of the kitchen, hit the L[arge] button and go to work. The Roomba then does its thing and vacuums the kitchen, living room, and dining room. It sweeps under all the furniture and with one exception (detailed below) doesn't get "trapped" or caught.
I do pick up one small rug with a fringe that the Roomba doesn't get along with, but other than that it works well.
* As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
Only a couple hundred bucks. Starts your car at the press of a button while you stand warmly inside your house.
After 20 minutes, if you haven't put the key into the ignition, the engine shuts off.
RTFA people, they want to be the Apple of robots. Where robots (and computers) were once industrial devices, they want robots in everyone's home. They explicitly mention the Apple II.
A friend of mine works closely with iRobot, or IS Robotics as they used to be called. They do make some cool commercial stuff, but they basically do that to pay the bills. They do a ton of research for DARPA, helping to develop robots usable for military and other purposes. For example, they are the ones who built that sea-mine killing crab-bot that you see on science TV shows once in a while. So, as the submitter of this article implies, they do develop robots for the military. But the author makes it sound like this is, or will be, a new thing for them. Actually, producing commercial, mass market robots is the new thing for them. I think that's why they changed their name to something more cutesy.
Cats will vaccuum up most of that if you leave the food bowl empty for a little while. But a ShopVac really is your friend for stuff like that.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
By US Robotics .
Remember them? They made those old-fashioned modem-things.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
Our living room/dining room/kitchen/foyer is all open, so it's more like an XL size room. After running the Roomba twice on L setting, it covered almost everything. It looks like one or twice a week will keep the whole area in good shape. I've had it get caught on the fringe of a small throw rug that I forgot to pick up, and the sinning wall sensor brushes got tangled together with hair once. Other than that, it's been problem free. Before turning it on, i get the PS2 and laptop cords off the floor, and set some smaller items on other furniture. Stuff you'd do when using a big vacuum too...
As mentioned above, the charging time is the only significant negative I've found. I'll have to search for the quick charger someone mentioned. On a full charge, it'll do about one L and one M room.
It sounds like their military robots might not, but does the Roomba at least agree not to harm humans?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Hmm - it looks cute, ideally I think I'd love it, but not until:
1) It has a (option of) HEPA filter
2) Gets a decent battery life.
3) Can fully replace a vacuum cleaner in a normal environment - they are saying you still need to vacuum from time to time on even a normal carpet.
4) They tidy the little things up - like auto sensing full bin etc.
5) oh and they sell it outside the U.S.
Basically there is no excuse to have your robotic vacuum not have the features of your full blown vacuum.
an iZac, a la Futurama?
In Soviet Russia, you clean up for Robots
Surely modern guided missiles are essentially robots, though?
Take the Tomahawk missle, for example: preprogrammed, autonomous navigation... the only practical difference between it and the Roomba is the payload and mission.
Also, I imagine the Tomahawk is much smarter than the Roomba, and has a much better maintenance plan.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Crapper of a retirement package tho'. No refurbing that bad boy. :P
Arthur Hansen
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)
It's not a particularly powerful vacuum cleaner, and it has trouble with throw-rugs with tassels and such. It can also get itself wedged in between chair legs if they're just the right distance apart. But those are minor nits that I think my mom will notice happening once, adjust for, then never worry about again.
It'll be swell when version 2.0 comes out and can go recharge itself as needed. Now if only they made a robot to do my laundry and ironing...
Just don't get it confused with a robomower.
My neighbor has one of these. He glued a GI-Joe to the top of it. Yee haw!
Heh. I've seen the quality of life of refurbished laser printers. If that's what Tomahawks have to look forward to, I'd prefer to go out in a blaze of glory myself.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
we were a little skeptical about the roomba irobot vacuum, but-- after it cleaned our place and performed great.
http://www.insomedia.com/roomba/
So, Janda, how much do you get for each unit sold of this New and Exciting Product? As Seen on TV?
;-)
I'm not picking on you -- heck I sent the article in. I was hesitant to include the brand name in the title -- I hate to be the stooge of the word-of-mouth they want -- but hey they dominate the field of goofy or potentially lethal toys.
The Roomba would give my wife's ("our") cat a stroke, no doubt about. Which is why I want one.
Let's see $200 -- is that about $10 per dust bunny pelt?
Like many Tomy toys, Dustbot achieved its goals with minimal, marvelous mechanical mechanisms. See photos at Lee's Robo Gallery and Gwen's Corndog Festival. Radio Shack still provides support information.
If robots could be less expensive and more general purpose than they are now, they would be the next big thing. Two late 90's inventions which made robots come back in style were inexpensive IC accelerometers and inexpensive IC tilt sensors, allowing machines to orient themselves for under $100. The next problem is reducing the cost of power transistors and machine parts. It's real expensive to build machine parts which perform useful work.
I, Robot has a comma, infidel! (I only know because I checked it out today to reread after about 20 years.)
:)
Point is that Apple had nothing to do with inspiring this company. Shameless apple plug.
The NYT article references Apple Computer twice prominently, including the co-founder who "describes iRobot's goal as 'doing for robots what Apple did for computers, making them available to anyone who wants to use one.'" Sounds like inspiration to me.
The similarly to iMac etc. may just be happy circumstance, because it was Apple that made the iThing famous and friendly. I think it's interesting, not litigation material. Also, because I owned one I must correct that the first Apple product with an "i" was the Macintosh IIci introduced in 1989, one year BiR (before iRobot). The "c" I believe meant compact, the "i" I don't know. The IIsi and IIvi followed soon after.
Shameless Apple plug? As if they need one!
Typing away on my iBook....
If you all think to 1990, Apple didn't have any 'i' products. I mean, the Mac II line was the top of the crop back then..... Nothing was named with an 'i' until 1998....
:)
Politely, not so. The Macintosh IIci came out in 1989; I bought one for my work ($5000!). The "c" meant "compact," and the "i" maybe meant "intergrated video" (no card was required). The IIsi and IIvi followed soon thereafter. OK, this isn't the same as iSomething, but it did get the "i" out there for something new and cool in the stagnating Mac II line.
I think the names are mostly coincidence, but judging from the NYT article's highlight of the respect the co-founder voices for Apple's achievements, I think they're pleased to be thus associated. Apple made the "i" popular and kind of friendly. No, I don't think Apple should sue them.
I read the forward to Asimov's I, Robot, and Asimov says the book title was the publisher's decision, but he was against using that title because there was already another writing by the title, but of course the publisher won in the end. So there's a prior art even before Asimov... :P
If anyone's interested, I can post the relevant portion of the forward. I don't have the book with me at the moment but I should be able to grab it this weekend.
Look, I saw an ad for roomba once here already and while I thought it was cool, it wasn't cool enough to buy (c'mon...)
Anyway, the platform of choice is definately the Evolution ER1-K (www.evolution.com) which can be configured more like their co-worker bot. It is fully automated, configurable, has collision detection, a gripper arm and you can control it remotely. (I even added tank-tracks and a bicycle safety flag to mine).
The robot is programmable through python and they are releasing their C++ API later this month (rounding to January here).
If you are going to re-post stuff... at least post it to the interesting products.
Thanks
My trick, when I think of it, is to throw a tarp over the car before the snow falls. Then the snow just peels off, and most importantly you don't get ice on the windshield.
As for the driveway, well, it is good cardiovascular exercise, like what those people spend all that money on tapes to do.
It's not a patent, it is a copyright.
term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death (from copyright office website http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc)
The robots ... appear to be moving beyond the gee whiz Rosie Jetson stage of technology.
Whoaaa there cowboy. Sorry, but you're becoming delusional in your overzealousness; they haven't come anywhere close to something as competent and functional as good 'ol Rosie. But when they do, let me know, 'cuz I want one...if I'm still around by then.
"normal consumers" :)
www.itools.com © 1995-2002 iTools(TM)
rooting around in my cheek a bit.
*chi*mas, per se, was never actually used, so far as I know, literally. The chi alone was often used to mark a meeting place or religious ceremony though ( usually passover seder, easter, not Christmas) and carried the full implication of "Celebration of Christ" in the single letter.
The fish thing eventually became more popular though. Something about persecution and all that.
KFG
I got one from Brookstone, which has a 60 day return policy, and I'm going to return mine soon. It's been entertaining to play with, but it's not very practical.
Problem #1: It gets stuck on thresholds (the little raised piece of wood in some doorways). Roomba gets beached on mine and emits a little "uh oh!" tone, and I have to come rescue him. (I've decided it's a he.) Ideally I'd like to start him up when I go to work and come home to a clean room, but I have to be there in case he gets stuck.
Problem #2: Weak suction. Roomba tends to push dirt around first before vacuuming it up. Not usually a problem, except that in my bedroom I have an area rug, maybe 1/2 inch tall. He'll push the dirt up to the edge of the rug, but then he can't vacuum it up there, because he's at a slight incline when he's half on and half off the rug. So I end up with a ring of dirt on the floor around the edge of the rug.
Plus, of course, you can't get rid of your regular vacuum (or at least a dust buster), because Roomba only does floors, not couches, stairs, etc.
Overall, a fun experiment, and somewhat useful, but not worth keeping (for $200, anyway).
Okay. That makes more sense. Early early Christians were Jews, and the early ones who weren't celebrated Jewish traditions (which was handy, since there weren't any non-Jewish Christian ones around yet).
I'm trying to recall off the top of my head, but wasn't Constantine's "cross" the chi-rho? That wasn't exactly post-persecution, but did mark a watershed in the persecution patterns for Christians.
Classicist geeks. Who knew?
Research is the best place to be: you work your buns off, and if it works
you're a hero; if it doesn't, well -- nobody else has done it yet either,
so you're still a valiant nerd.
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