That’s why the red tape marking the maze is really only there for the video. The player sees a virtual representation on screen, and the ghost roombas use internal odometry with a positioning system to find their way around and avoid each other.

Now they just need those LED-lights that make Pac-Man chomp in the dark. [Roomba Pac-Man via Engadget]

Built using our spare time, Roomba Pac-Man is designed to showcase the extensive Unmanned Aerial System software suite that we have developed to support our personal research. It was also a great opportunity to use some of our skills for our own entertainment. As a disclaimer, our research centre, RECUV, is not affiliated with the project, and the work done here, while utilizing some software we were paid to develop at CU, is the sole creation of those listed at the bottom of the page.

Watch how a modified Roomba is picky enough to find, scoop up, and lift objects as small as a quarter. Potential uses of this mod could benefit the elderly and the lazy. [Vimeo via Robots.net]

As menacing as that sounds, this evil can be stopped in it’s tracks by carpet, stairs and / or a gentle push. It can also be humiliated by children attempting to play Quidditch. [Grandinroad via TGH via OhGizmo via Likecool]

The Bomo Baby Carriage is essentially a Roomba with a seat for a baby on its back. There’s no way this’ll ever go wrong!

It’ll follow you around with the kid in tow, avoiding obstacles as it goes. It can also be set to rock the baby to sleep. But the real brilliance is in manual mode, which lets the kid control his or her own destiny by driving using the pedals and steering wheel. It claims to still avoid obstacles in this mode, but I don’t know if it senses the top of the stairs as an obstacle.

In any case, this thing is available direct from Korea for $US780, if you feel like trusting your infant in the hands of a soulless robot. [Red Ferret via The Daily What]

The Roomba autonomous vacuum / kitten transportation vehicle may be able to go potty all by itself like its cuddly counterparts if these patent applications from iRobot ever come to fruition.

Apparently, there are at least a dozen designs have been considered—designs that would turn the Roomba dock into a litter box of sorts. There are no guarantees that we will see a Roomba capable of cleaning itself anytime in the near future, but it does seem like the next logical step. [Robot Stock News]

This is what happens when a Roomba gets kicked around by abusive parents—it rebels against society, joins a gang and vandalises our communities.

Apparently this Roomba has been modified with inkjet printer parts so it can create bitmap patterns on the floor with coloured powders. Damn you rebel Roomba! Cut your hair, stop snorting “powder”, get a job and create civilized art like your brother! [Botropolis]

And the father of the year award goes to Ron Tajima, who created a Rooma/baby crib hybrid that he calls the Cradloomba. A better name might be Child Services Express. [GetRobo via Hack-a-Day]

The last thing you need when you get home is something making noise and hovering underfoot. This modified Roomba avoids users when it detects high levels of stress.

Designed by researchers at the University of Calgary, this Roomba interacts with a commercial headband for gamers that detects muscle tension in the face. The more tension it detects, the farther away the Roomba will hover from the subject.

The purpose of this rather simple device is to explore the potential of human and machine interaction on an emotional level. The researchers envision gadgets that approach you like a pet when it detects that you are lonely and in need of comfort. Conversely, the Roomba model could be taken a step further—imagine if it cowered under the bed when you came home drunk and angry. Then, fearing for it’s life, the Roomba calls 911 and gets you thrown in the slammer for appliance abuse. It could happen. [GroupLab via MIT via BotJunkie]

Some engineers with some free time on their hands decided to retrofit a Roomba with a mechanism that allowed it to be controlled via hamster ball. That is to say, whichever way the hamster runs, the Roomba goes. I’m sure it’s quite liberating for the hamster, but I wouldn’t count on your floors getting too clean. [Networkworld via Gadget Review]