Most people who buy a Roomba from iRobot use it to clean their floor. The guys at Roomba Pacman decided a better use for the Roomba would be to turn it into a Pac-Man game. They write, "What better use for automatic home appliances than to have them chase each other in classic video game style?"
They have made the Roombas look like Pac-Man and ghosts and have even created a Pac-Man maze on the floor. Take a look:
This photograph shows the path a Roomba, a floor vacuum robot from iRobot, takes as it cleans your room. It manages to hit every spot although it isn't real efficient on how it does it. The photo was taken by the blogger at Signaltheorist who turned out the lights and used a long-exposure shot over a 30-minute period.
Now here's something interesting, I set up a photo camera in my room, turned out all the lights and took a long-exposure shot of my roomba doing it's thing for about 30 minutes. The result is a picture that shows the path of the roomba through it's cleaning cycle, it looks like a flight map or something. It really hits every spot!
The room looks pretty small. It would be interesting to see Roomba's path in a larger room.
The Roomba is a robotic floor vacuum from iRobot. One of the amusing things about Roombas is how pets interact with them. In this video below a clever cat takes the Roomba for a ride.
You can see many other videos involving pets and Roombas on YouTube by searching "cat Roomba" or "dog Roomba." iRobot says in a Faq that the Roombas are pet friendly.
Each pet responds differently. Most are initially curious but will quickly learn to ignore it. Although some pets play with Roomba! Special safety features, including gentle-bump sensors, anti-tangle technology and automatic shut-off, keep your pet safe and ensure that noses and paws will not be harmed if a curious pet interacts with Roomba. We recommend that you run Roomba for the first few cleaning cycles while you are at home with your pet(s) so they can get used to it. After that, you can run Roomba whether you're at home or on the go!
They also sell a Roomba version (see here) that is designed to deal with dog and cat hair. If you have an older Roomba model they also sell a $29.99 upgrade kit for the 400 Series and Discovery Series robots to increase the Roomba's capacity to tackle pet hair. You can buy Roomba directly from iRobot or from other retailers including Best Buy, Buy.com and Target. Amazon.com also carried a number of Roomba's - you can see Amazon.com's selection here. (via BuzzFeed)
Hello Kitty Roomba: A Cute Robot to Clean Your Floor
There is now a special Hello Kitty Roomba available. You can find it here on iRobot Japan. Sadly, the Hello Kitty Roomba is a special limited edition. Dvice says only 500 of the Hello Kitty Roombas will be made and they will cost 84,500 yen ($810). They will become available September 30th at iRobot Japan.
After the Hello Kitty Roomba is a hit and sells out then maybe iRobot will come up with other styles for their popular vacuum bot. In the meantime you can always buy a cute myRoomBud costume for your Roomba.
iRobot has upgraded its series of robotic vacuum cleaners. The company says it has sold over two million of the robot vacuums to date. Here are some of the new features in the new 500 series of Roombas.
A solid, heavy-duty design featuring modular components for enhanced durability and easy servicing
Anti-tangle technology so Roomba can extract itself from tassels and cord tangles
iRobot's proprietary built-in, light-touch intelligent sensing system that can detect when Roomba is approaching a wall or obstacle and automatically slow the robot for a gentler impact and quieter operation
One-button activation, simply press "clean" and go
A built-in voice tutorial for new users that demonstrates Roomba's features right out of the box
A new mobility platform that allows Roomba to travel on thicker carpets, climb higher thresholds, and transition easily between floor surfaces
New re-designed dustbin holds significantly more debris
Colorful faceplates in white, steel blue, champagne, burnt orange, silver, charcoal, and chestnut so people can personalize Roomba to match their style
The new Roombas range in price from $249 to $399. More specifications and details about the new Roombas can be found on Amazon.com and on the iRobot website. The new Roombas come with different faceplates but you can also personalize your Romba with a Roomba costume from MyRoomBud. They appear to have added some new costumers since we last blogged about them. YouTube is a good place to catch a Roomba in action if you are curious how it works. Some of the videos also show how pets interact with the device. There are over 900 Roomba videos currently on YouTube.
These cute Roomba covers from MyRoomBud can quickly transform your Roomba from a robot into a cute furry creature that cleans your floor. The costumes available include Zeb the zebra, Roor the tiger, Mooba the cow and Spotty the leopard. More designs are also planned. According to the MyRoomBud faq the costumes won't interfere with the Roomba functionality or remote control. If you aren't familiar with the Roomba, it is a floor cleaning robot. More information can be found at iRobot, the manufacturer of Roomba, and on Amazon.com. Roomba sales have passed the 1.5 million mark so there may be a growing market for Roomba accessories like the RoomBuds. (Via
Tech Space)
Scooba is a new robotic floor cleaner that can mop your floor.
The robot vacuums, washes and dries the floor as it moves. The robot
will be available in stores in time for the holiday season.
Scooba comes from the same company that created the robotic vacuum
cleaner called Roomba. iRobot also now has a pink edition of the Roomba with a portion of the purchases going to charity. iRobot is donating 20% of every $180 Pink Ribbon Roomba sale to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $45,000.
A consumer robotics boom may still be a few years away but there are some early robots you can buy. The less expensive robots include Roomba, a vacuum cleaner bot that most people have at least seen on television by now. The Roomba Robotic Floor Vac retails at around $270, but cheaper prices can be found. The other popular robot is the $99
Robosapien, a programmable robot toy that we mentioned in a previous
blog. In the luxury Robot category you can find Aibo, a $1,900 robot dog that can play soccer and record video as it guards your home. There is also Asimo, a robot from Honda that can run and climb stairs -- but unfortunately he is not for sale. Next year may be a different story and we will hopefully see dozens of fun and useful robots instead of just a few. And one year
maybe a robot will shop and wrap presents for you -- or at least clean
your house so you can shop stress free!
A survey conducted by the United Nations found that robots will
be much more common in homes by the year 2007. Already robots
known as vacuum bots like the iRobot Roomba 4210 are being
used to vacuum floors. Many future robots will focus on cleaning,
but they will also increasingly be used for security and entertainment. The BBC reports that Korean company Yujin Robotics has created the iRobot, which the BBC says is a "net-based, all-in-one family robot complete with educational functions, home security, diary, entertainment, and message delivery capability." The UN study estimates there will be
4.1 million domestic robots in homes by the end of 2007.
TCPalm.com reports that Roomba, a small circular robotic vacuum cleaner that can move automatically and avoid objects, is proving to be a popular choice for consumers. Roomba, built by iRobot, will soon face competiting vacuum bots from Friendly Robotics, Eureka and other manufacturers.
iRobot has upgraded its series of robotic vacuum cleaners. The company says it has sold over two million of the robot vacuums to date. Here are some of the new features in the new 500 series of Roombas.
These cute Roomba covers from 
A consumer robotics boom may still be a few years away but there are some early robots you can buy. The less expensive robots include Roomba, a vacuum cleaner bot that most people have at least seen on television by now. The Roomba Robotic Floor Vac retails at around $270, but cheaper prices can be found. The other popular robot is the $99
Robosapien, a programmable robot toy that we mentioned in a previous
blog. In the luxury Robot category you can find Aibo, a $1,900 robot dog that can play soccer and record video as it guards your home. There is also Asimo, a robot from Honda that can run and climb stairs -- but unfortunately he is not for sale. Next year may be a different story and we will hopefully see dozens of fun and useful robots instead of just a few. And one year
maybe a robot will shop and wrap presents for you -- or at least clean
your house so you can shop stress free!
