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New iRobot Roombas Aimed at Pets and Very Dirty People
Posted by Mark Wilson at 1:59 AM on September 4, 2008
iRobot is expanding their Roomba line with three new models intended for more industrial of use. The Roomba 532 and 562 Pet Series Robots (US$350 and US$400) are meant for animal owners—or anyone sucking up massive amounts of floor hair—and equipped with larger sweeping bins to accommodate copious amounts of fur. The Roomba 610 Professional Series ($600) is similar, sporting a larger bin as well, but also comes with an extra, interchangeable bin and a Max Mode that will burn the batteries lower to finish big rooms. All three units are available now. Here are the full specifics:
The folks behind the Roomba robot vacuum appear to have another robotic helper up their sleeves. In this case, it's of the lawn mowing variety, but the final design is anything but final if the wide variety of shapes, configurations and features are any indication. A lawn-mowing Roomba-like robot... Lawmba? Loomba? Mowba.
Last year DARPA began the search for a company that could develop robots capable of squeezing through small openings and returning to their original size, shape, and functionality on the other side. Like most of DARPA's projects, the idea was way-out there. However, it appears that iRobot (the guys behind practical home robots like the Roomba vacuum and the 
After a 24-hour Galactica marathon, robots are gettings robots to follow the orders they were supposed to. Like Monty here, seen in the following video opening his new Roomba, ready to subjugate it into the tedious chore of cleaning the carpet.
I was pretty excited when I saw it was a "Robo" desk vacuum, 'cause I thought this was like a Roomba for your desk—it'd clean up granola bits while I fragged suckers and not commit suicide with a running leap off the edge. Sadly, I don't think it's that smart, just zooming forward sucking all your nastiness in a straight line. Still, it might be useful if you have a really loooong desk or a line of powder you want to neatly pack away without losing a speck. [
A study of 30 Roomba users found that the owners of the robotic vacuum cleaner often develop emotional attachments to their little bundles of plastic, metal and wiring. Of the 30 people in the study, 21 of them named their Roombas, 16 of them referred to it as a "he," and some even went so far as to pre-clean the floors to make the little robot's life easier. In other words, Roomba is driving people stark raving mad, demonstrating signs of insanity and anthropomorphizing these robots that can sometimes barely do their jobs. The upside? iRobot, the maker of the Roomba, promises that the fifth generation won't be quite so flawed. But then maybe their owners won't love them as much without all those quirks. [
