Unsexy Robots But Oh So Practical

The new robots unveiled today at New York's DigitalLife by iRobot CEO Colin Angle do not fold laundry, but they do clean out the gutters and let you drive a web cam around your house if you're away from home. Angle began his presentation today by bursting everyone's bubble by predicting that the robots we're all going to rely on one day won't be anything like Rosie from the Jetsons.

"We are not going to see humanoid robots pushing upright vacuum cleaners. Say Goodbye to the Jetsons and Hollywood Robots. Say hello to boring but fantastically useful robots." Boring is pretty accurate. The two Angle unveiled today, the iRobot Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot and The iRobot ConnectR Virtual Visiting Robot, are essentially remote control cars with smart computer.

The first one, the gutter cleaning Looj, is a bright green and black Tonka Truck-looking thing that drives through your gutter on its tank-like wheels, flinging out crud with its long nose of whipping rubber blades. Of course the sludge it empties your gutters of ends up somewhere on your front lawn. So they'll have to invent a robot to take care of that. But, at least, as Angle's presentation promised, you no longer have to risk breaking your neck by cleaning the gutter out all by yourself.

The second robot Angle unveiled was the ConnectR, a big, thick disc on wheels like the Roomba but with a round-camera head sticking up from one side. It's essentially a mobile video conferencing device that turns on when you login, except you can see other people and to them you just look like a, well, mobile video conferencing device. The ConnectR comes with software that lets you log into it from anywhere and drive around your house using a control panel on your screen that includes adjust zoom and tilt. As you cruise around, there's audio, so you can talk to, say, your wife or go check on your kids.

A slide show of pictures showing examples of ways to use the ConnectR included playing with your dog (I guess by talking to it?), reading a book to your kids (as long as they hold up the book to the camera), and playing board games. Hmmm....I was waiting for a picture to pop-up showing the ConnectR in bed, tucked in for the night, but it didn't happen.

Overall, these iRobots, like the vacuuming Roomba which has already sold 2 million units, can make life easier by crossing chores off your list. And Angle is even offering to give out the ConnectR as part of a pilot program. Just log onto their website www.irobot.com and let them know you'd like to test one and help them work the kinks out.

--Kevin Maney and Andrea Chalupa

iRobot ConnectR(TM) Virtual Visiting Robot

iRobot Looj(TM) Gutter Cleaning Robot

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