Gadgets

Battlemodo: The Best Robot Floor Cleaners

It seems impossible, but we live in age when robots can clean our floors for us. You don’t have to be Donald Trump or Emperor of Mars — this is science fact. But which floor-bot is dominant? We have answers.


August 24, 2011
Gadgets

Toshiba’s Roomba-Killer Packs Two CPUs… In A Vacuum

The international floor cleaning robot slave arena just got hotter — Toshiba’s new Smarbo (terrible name) looks and functions pretty much exactly like the Roomba we love so much, but has two brains inside. Twice the cleanliness?


June 28, 2011
Science

How To Give Robot Vacuums A Personality (And Why It Matters)

If The Jetsons’ Rosie had the personality of an automotive assembly line robot, she’d have been turned into sprockets long ago. IEEE discusses the latest efforts to endow domestic robots with a bit of attitude.


May 27, 2011
Gadgets

Roomba 770: It Might Be Time To Sell Your Vacuum, Grandpa

Vacuums are old. Roombas are old. So who cares about a Roomba? When the latter can finally kick the former to the tech trash pile, we care. The dream of having a robot (effectively!) be my personal maid is alive.


April 6, 2011
Geek Out

Baby Goes On A Roomba Joyride

Here’s a great way to calm your crying baby and clean your kitchen floor at the same time.


February 17, 2011
Gadgets

Guide Your Roomba With Your Hands With This Kinect Hack

A Japanese programmer hacked a Kinect to enable motion control of a Roomba vacuum cleaner to create a “future vacuum”. The Roomba can be pointed in any direction with a hand motion.


September 24, 2010
Gadgets

Spider-Roomba Climbs Windows, Cleans Both Sides

This is what happens when a Roomba is bitten by a radioactive spider. It’s name isn’t Spider-Roomba, but Windoro, a climbing robot that can clean windows automatically – on both sides. Watch it in all its polishing glory action:


September 3, 2010

The Trouble With Robot Cleaners

Most of us are familiar with this fellow. He’s a cute little robot vacuum who’ll zip around your home to keep things tidy. He’s got plenty of quirks and troubles though—something his competition is trying to avoid.


June 15, 2010

This Is Not How You Design A Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

You’ve got to love design concepts. This one, for example, takes a perfectly functional product – the Roomba – and makes it completely useless by putting it in the form of a robotic dog. Sigh.


May 22, 2010

Upright Vacuum Fires Off Roomba Drone

Imagine vacuuming in one area of your living room when realising that you missed a spot near the kitchen. You could walk all the way over there. Or you could launch a little robot to deal with it for you.