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iRobot Develops Hamster-Guided Robotic Vacuum

Posted by timothy on from the cat-powered-would-be-too-smart dept.

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."

16 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this. by wiredog · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?

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    1. Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      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?!

    2. Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this. by corbettw · · Score: 4, Funny

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

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    3. Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this. by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

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    4. Re:Somehow we have to get a cat involved in this. by Scrameustache · · Score: 3, Funny

      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.

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  2. that won't work by ILuvRamen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You'll never get an even cleaning. All small rodents like that are genetically programmed to use the same paths over and over to get from point A to point B once it's proven safe. That's why setting snare traps in the wild works to catch rabbits and mice and stuff. They always use the same path once they've been on it a few times and found no snake lairs or anything dangerous on it. Even domesticated ones do the same thing in your house most of the time so you'd probably get like 30% coverage tops.

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    1. Re:that won't work by CarpetShark · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Paths? Do hamsters even follow paths with a ball? Has anyone proven that they don't just run to ESCAPE the ball, with no thought about what's outside the ball except "freedom"?

    2. Re:that won't work by Kamokazi · · Score: 4, Funny

      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.

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  3. The video in You Tube by migarg · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doQvWsJRCPs

  4. What's happening at iRobot, anyway? Nothing? by wonkavader · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Years ago, they came out with a device that was good for its time. It was a dust-buster doing a random walk.

    Now they're on their 5th generation model. And it's a slightly better dust-buster which does a random walk. But it talks.

    Were there some smart people there at first and they all left?

    Why have they produced so little in all this time?

  5. I smell copyright infringement by quantumghost · · Score: 3, Funny

    Looks like a clear case of prior art:

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

  6. Re:What's happening at iRobot, anyway? Nothing? by argent · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Probably because a random walk is a local optimum, and all the other optima are a LONG way away.

    I want one that picks up dropped coins and pens and other solid debris and separates it from the dust and fluff. Bonus if it can count my change.

  7. What's going on here? by snspdaarf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is Idle cross-posting to Hardware?

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  8. Re:"Rodent Guided Missiles" by macxcool · · Score: 3, Funny
    ... on the other hand 'Helpless flock of sheep' gets you the very cool 'hjelpelÃs flokk med sauer'.

    Much, much better.

  9. Davros? by OshMan · · Score: 2, Funny

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

  10. Re:What's happening at iRobot, anyway? Nothing? by highfidelitychris · · Score: 2, Informative

    Years ago, they came out with a device that was good for its time. It was a dust-buster doing a random walk.

    Now they're on their 5th generation model. And it's a slightly better dust-buster which does a random walk. But it talks.

    Were there some smart people there at first and they all left?

    Why have they produced so little in all this time?

    They make a Scooba that "mops" your floor, a model that cleans your pool (2nd generation), a Looj model that cleans gutters, along with their stuff they make for military. I'd say they still have some smart people there.