Hooray for house robots

Feb. 22, 2009

Hooray for house robots
Kristi Kates 2/23/09

Perhaps when you were growing up, you envisioned the 2000s as a time when houses would be staffed by robots; when all everyday errands and chores would be computerized; when cars and trains would hover and your entertainment system would take up an entire wall of your house - but would only be a half-inch in depth. The extremes of those ideas have yet to reach their full potential - and most of the more advanced robots to date are being put to use in scientific labs, military operations, or factories - but house robots are now an actual possibility for most abodes, even if they don’t quite arrive looking like the maid from The Jetsons.
We wrote earlier in the Express about the WowWee Rovio, a wi-fi enabled mobile house robot, complete with camera and Battlestar Galactica-worthy looks, that takes the place of a human surveillance guard - or dog sitter - while you’re away. Now, we’re going to take a look at several other robots - some functioning, some purely aesthetic - that can take your household further into the 21st century.

WOO-HOO, ROOMBA
It’s somewhat unsettling that the Roomba robots arrive from the iRobot Corporation (Asimov, anyone?), but it’s hard to argue that Roombas are perhaps the most useful and widely distributed robots to date. Shaped like a fat, futuristic frisbee, the Roomba is essentially a vacuum robot that features rotating brushes and self-adjusting sensors, so you can go ahead and spill those crumbs on the floor during lunch; your Roomba will follow diligently after and clean up your mess.
In addition to the traditional Roomba (most people call all of iRobot’s home robot offerings “Roombas,” although each function robot carries a different name), iRobot also offers the Scooba floor-washing robot, the Dirt Dog shop-sweeping robot, and additional robots for cleaning gutters and pools.
The basic Roomba robots are available to most average households, as opposed to only being accessible by the likes of Richie Rich; a regular Roomba can be purchased for around $130 at store.irobot.com.

RAH RAH ROMI
The Korean ROMI robot’s main function is to help you clean the house (although it’s not commercially available yet). Sure, it vacuums, but that’s not all; ROMI also adds in the standout surveillance feature of the Rovio with its own built-in camera system, which is mounted in its head.
ROMI can transmit video via a wireless connection to either a PC or a cell phone. It also features a voice-activated command system, autonomous path-finding algorithms for complete cleaning, and dusting mitts.
ROMI is part of South Korea’s quest to get a robot into every South Korean home by 2020. The South Korean government has already succeeded in getting broadband internet into 72 percent of all households in the last five years, and aims to make robots “full members of society.”
The Jupiter robot is another of their domestic robots in development; its capabilities include emulating emotions, reading out loud, teaching, and doubling as an entertainment system. Jupiter is also able to plug itself in to recharge without human help, and, like ROMI, will respond to voice commands.
It’s not such an outlandish theory; after all, Bill Gates published an article called “A Robot in Every Home” in 2006, and, you know, he’s doing okay with that whole Microsoft thing.

ROBOMOW
Perhaps you’re more comfortable keeping your robots outside - Friendly Robotics can oblige, with their Robomow RM400 Automatic Lawnmower Robot (friendlyrobots.com). The Robomow lives in its own base station, venturing out onto your lawn on pre-set days and times to keep your grass well-maintained. It’s even a “smartbot” in that it’s got a both a tilt sensor (to stop the rotating blade whenever the mower is tilted, to prevent accidents) and a rain sensor to prevent it from attempting to mow on rainy days.
Robomow is also something of an environmental activist; in addition to running off of maintenance-free charging batteries, it’s a dedicated mulching (“grasscycling”) mower that reportedly saves the owner up to 25% in irrigation and fertilizing lawn costs. It’s a bit pricey at around $1,800 - but perhaps its worth it to put your old gas-guzzling mower into storage for good.

FIDOBOT?
Several steps up from the litter-raking LitterMaid, the Litter Robot LRII (litter-robot.com - $329) takes on the not-so-pleasant task of cleaning out your cat’s litterbox, so you don’t have to. It’s “patented sifting process” can take on the, er, duties of up to four cats, and a sensor ensures that your cat won’t be caught in a cleaning cycle. And it looks like a spaceship for cats - always a positive thing, right?
As for our canine companions, an inventor named Rajesh Verma is working on the prototype for a little something called the AutoDog Walker. It’s exactly what it sounds like; a three-wheeled autonomous robot that uses a special processor and a surface-color detecting camera to keep your dog safely on the sidewalk and out of streets, yards, and gardens. No word yet on waste-scooping abilities, though.
Of course, if you don’t want any mess at all, but still want all the tail-wagging and barking, you can try a robotic dog - some of the most popular are the iDog, the Aibo, WowWee’s Robopet, or the Poo-Chi from Tiger Electronics. As for robot cats, the only one to date is the somewhat eerie fake-fur-bedecked Yume Neko Smile (“Dream Cat Smile”) from Sega Toys Japan, which has sensors to detect petting (and tail-pulling, to which it responds with a yowl of cat pain) and moves about kind of like a real cat and kind of like... an eerie robot cat.
Bird fans, we haven’t forgotten you - you can snag the Squawkers McCaw Robot Parrot (by Hasbro), which looks remarkably real for a robot, moves about as much like a real bird as you could expect from a robot, squawks when being fed its own fake cracker, and responds to voice commands, which you can fully customize.

BUDGET ‘BOTS
If your pockets aren’t deep enough to purchase any of these functioning robots - or if you’re just a little leery of artificial smarts in your home - you can get that futuristic robot presence with less cash and more decorative value.
The tiny Tokibot Robot Clock (from perpetualkid.com) arrives in blue or green riveted metal, can be yours for a mere $36, and, as his name would indicate, spends his days keeping time with robotic precision. Also from Perpetual Kid is the Robo Vacuum - but don’t you worry about any competition, Roomba. The Robo Vacuum (although it does brag two little claw-ended robot arms where the Roomba has none) is miniature in size and duties; it runs on two AA batteries, and is only big enough to clean up crumbs from... your desk. The price is comparatively miniature, too, at $14.99.
Or if the economy is really cutting into your robot budget, you can snag an extremely helpful little robot from Urban Outfitters (urbanoutfitters.com) for a mere $8 - the Robot Toothbrush Holder sticks to your wall and does his job efficiently, patiently holding two of your toothbrushes while resting in your bath and quietly plotting how to take over the world with the rest of his house robot colleagues.