Say hello to our future Robot Overlords

Micah

Active Member
Well guys, it's finally happened.

I don't know if anyone on here has had an experience with or even noticed but there are now 2 new practical robots for use around the house.

The first is the Roomba. A seemingly harmless suck-o-bot that has been getting rave reviews. On another forum I frequent it's popped up numerous times with almost nothing but happy customers. I'll probably be picking one up for my downstairs and once I've made my own opinion buy another for upstairs.

I expect the Roomba to evolve into the "brains" that will overthrow civilization as we know it and ironically force us to once again clean but only because of the sadistic pleasure it will receive.

The other amazing bit of tech is the RL 500 Robomower. I don't have a lawn to maintain (live in a townhouse) but if I did, I'd probably take a serious look at this piece of hardware. I think there was a thread a little while back asking about automating lawn mowing and this seems to be a good step in the right direction.

In the future fight for world supremacy the RL500 Robomower will probably be harnessed as the ultimate death machine. The name alone is enough to cause children to wet their beds at night.

On a more serious note, these both look like a first glimpse at getting robotics out of the high dollar industrial area and into the home (or neighborhood). I linked Amazon.com because you can get a wide range of info from a single page. When I go to make my Roomba purchase I don't imagine I'll get it from Amazon but seeing 56 people review it and still carry a 4 1/2 star review is mighty impressive.
 
the new Roomba Discovery is pretty nice, which is why it was listed in the Holiday Gift Guide (as is the robomower). The Robomower however is just too limited for real use, it can only cut .5-3/4 of an acre before needing a new battery, it is slow, and from what I can tell, still needs a lot of attention since it won't do a 100% job. Huskvana (and Electrolux) has a nicer unit which will recharge itself so it can finish its program, but now you are talking some serious $$$. I ended up buying a JD for that price cutting my mowing time down from 2 hours to 30 minutes.

I believe Friendly Robotics is also working on a robo-snowblower, but I can't see how that is going to work.
 
Man, I thought I was on the ball with this but it looks like I'm a bit behind the curve.

Just noticed today there's a new review on posted here on the Romba Discovery.

And Tree, if you're interested in hacks for the Roomba check out Zoomba.

It's already begun...dun dun DUNNNNNN
 
You can get the red Roomba (the basic model without a bunch of accessories, with the slow non-drive-on charger) for $126 from www.amazon.com right now. There is also a $25 coupon for kitchen/bath purchases which is good for the Roomba. $101 isn't too bad, even though it doesn't come with the accessories.

Note that two different places on Amazon are selling it for $126. One is Amazon itself and the other is another merchant.
 
Woot.com has The RL500 Robomower on sale tonight for $185 shipped!

I couldn't resist and picked one up just for fun! ;)

Now I have to wait about 4 months to try ot out...
 
Back
Top