iRobot Develops Hamster-Guided Robotic Vacuum

carusoj writes "The folks at iRobot apparently have plenty of time on their hands. They created a prototype wireless, robotic vacuum cleaner... powered by a hamster running inside a spinning ball. The rodent's movements with the ball are fed to and analyzed by a complex set of sensors, which then guide the actual vacuum device to mimic the animal's speed and direction. You can see where this is going: it's a clever ploy to then get you to buy a second robot that would automatically feed, water, and clean up after the hamster in the first robot."

Comments

Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this.

[wiredog]

Isn't iRobot the company that got the Big DoD Contract to make battlebots? Are we about to see the use of Militarized Hamsters in combat? Will our heroic soldiers be replaced by Rodent Guided Missiles?

Is "Rodent Guided Missiles" a Great Name For A Rock Band, or what?

Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this.

[Anonymous Coward]

All I know is that after I'm done sucking myself off with the vaccuum cleaner, I can insert the hamster in my ass. A twofer!

Steve Jobs? Are you listening?!

Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this.

[corbettw]

They'll all be named "Boo" and be given extensive training in how to go for the eyes!!!

Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this.

[jollyreaper]

Isn't iRobot the company that got the Big DoD Contract to make battlebots? Are we about to see the use of Militarized Hamsters in combat? Will our heroic soldiers be replaced by Rodent Guided Missiles?

I was going to ask the same thing. In WWII the military had a pigeon-guided bomb where the bird was trained to peck at an image on a CRT and the bomb would center on that pecking. Seemed impossibly Rube Golburg but it was supposed to have worked. Never was deployed in combat. They had another one where tiny incendiary charges were attached to bats. The idea was that bombers would fly over Japan with these bat bombs at the ready. The bombs would be dropped over the target, descend by parachute and the sides would pop off so the bats could fly out. They would look for roof overhangs to nest under and their bombs would go off soon thereafter, setting fire to entire cities. The concept was proven sound when the bat people burned down half of their own research camp but the war was over before they could be put into action.

I fear the only way to defeat these hamster-guided killer robots will be to put cats in robots of their own. But then someone will put dogs in the robots and to defeat the dogs someone will put Koreans in robots and it all ends with gorillas freezing in the snow.

Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this.

[Scrameustache]

Isn't iRobot the company that got the Big DoD Contract to make battlebots? Are we about to see the use of Militarized Hamsters in combat? Will our heroic soldiers be replaced by Rodent Guided Missiles?

I was going to ask the same thing. In WWII the military had a pigeon-guided bomb where the bird was trained to peck at an image on a CRT and the bomb would center on that pecking. Seemed impossibly Rube Golburg but it was supposed to have worked. Never was deployed in combat. They had another one where tiny incendiary charges were attached to bats. The idea was that bombers would fly over Japan with these bat bombs at the ready.

Back in the days of the opium wars, the chinese had a plan to catapult flaming monkeys onto british boats, in the hope that the panicking simians would run into the powder reserves and blow up the ship.

I smell copyright infringement

[quantumghost]

Looks like a clear case of prior art:

http://www.xkcd.com/413/

Re:"Rodent Guided Missiles"

[macxcool]

... on the other hand 'Helpless flock of sheep' gets you the very cool 'hjelpelÃs flokk med sauer'.

Much, much better.

Davros?

[OshMan]

Clearly this is the prototype for the first Dalek. I'll bet it can't vacuum stairs either.

Re:that won't work

[Kamokazi]

Just put a tazer in it to randomly shock the rodent, that way he doesnt think any path is safe. Problem solved :-)

Well that one at least. You'll need some of iRobot's more serious military projects to handle the PETA onslaught after you add the taser.