Roomba

This Family Dinner of the Future From 1981 Looks Depressing as Hell

What will the family dinner of the future look like? According to the 1981 kids’ book Tomorrow’s Home, it’s filled with robots, computers, and tasty synthetic foods. Except upon closer inspection, everybody looks depressed as hell. Neil Ardley’s Tomorrow’s Home makes it sound like kitchen of the future will be a techno-utopian wonder: The kitchen…

Tech News Matt Novak

This Roomba Maps Your House So It Won’t Keep Ramming Into Your Couch

It’s not going to mow your lawn, but the freshly revealed, wifi-friendly Roomba 980 can be controlled by your smartphone, and it uses a camera and sensors to remember where walls and furniture are in your home. At an event this afternoon in New York, the huge robotics company repeatedly highlighted the benefits of a…

Tech News Bryan Lufkin

Here’s What the Roomba for the Sky Will Look Like

We’ve known for a long time that Helen Greiner, who co-designed the original Roomba and co-founded iRobot, was building a drone. Now, we know what that drone looks like: Pretty awesome. Greiner’s new company, CyPhy Works, just announced its latest product, the LVL 1 drone, on Kickstarter. It’s a mean-looking thing with six rotors that…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Astronomers Are Furious About the Roomba Lawnmower

I know, right? What could the makers of Roomba and astronomers possibly be arguing over? This is the story of how an obscure slice of the electromagnetic spectrum become the object of one bitter fight. iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, has been looking to bring its little robot technology to the outdoors, according to…

Physics & Chemistry Sarah Zhang

9 Gifts to Turn a House Into a Smart Home

The number of connected home devices has skyrocketed in the past dozen months, and your loved ones might feel a little left out if they’re not controlling appliances with a phone. Let’s fix that, shall we? With the smart home beginner in mind, we’ve put together an up-to-date guide to some of our favorite connected…

Tech News Adam Clark Estes

Your New Receiver, Roombas, Solar Power, Sony NEX-7 [Deals]

Wifi, Bluetooth, 6 HDMI inputs, 7.2 channels, 4K, 3D, HD Audio, cheap. Grab the refurb. Onkyo TX-NR626 A/V Receiver today for just 300 bucks. [Amazon] Vacuuming sucks, but we live in a world where you can outsource it to robots. If you’ve had your eye on a Roomba, Amazon is offering several models today for…

Tech News Shane Roberts

Roomba 880 Review: All Hail the Most Powerful Robot Vacuum Yet

You want a clean home? Sure, who doesn’t. Too lazy to clean it yourself? Absolutely. iRobot’s Roomba 880—the latest in its series of robot vacuum cleaners—was made for you. It’s the Rolls-Royce of highly motivated cleaning appliances, and it can take care of some serious dinge. Although it’ll cost you some serious cash. What Is…

Reviews Leslie Horn

What Kind of Robot is the Best Robot?

MIT Tech Review reported on a study from Georgia Tech which showed that older people prefer a more humanoid look to their robots, while younger ones prefer robots that look more, well, robotic. Today, we want to know what style of robot you prefer. Are you most comfortable with the anthropomorphic imitations of Data? Or…

io9 Ria Misra

IBM’s Using Hacked Roombas To Hunt Down Datacenter Overheating

To ensure the cooling and ventilation systems in the company’s datacenters are running at peak efficiency, IBM now employs autonomous temperature-monitoring robots built on the iRobot Create platform to hunt down problematic areas. Fitted with a six-and-a-half foot tall pole laden with temperature and other sensors, the robots wander around the datacenters collecting data on…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Geometric Light Paintings Drawn by Roombas

The Roomba can keep your floors clean, but with a little setup, they can also make art across your living room. Some Roomba owners have use their robot vacuum cleaners, LEDs, and a camera set to take long-exposure photos to create robot-made light paintings. If you dip your toe into the Roomba Art Flickr Pool,…

io9 Lauren Davis

The Cheap $40 Roomba Alternative That Doesn’t Suck (But Probably Does)

If the Roomba’s $300 price tag is too rich for your blood, but you’re still on the hunt for a lazy way to clean your floors, OCedar’s roving, spinning O-Duster might just fit the bill. At just $40 the price is right, but there are other costs you have to consider. Namely, that this is…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Overkill, Thy Name Is This Tiny, Tablet-Cleaning, Roomba-Like Robot

We all hate using a smartphone or tablet when the screen’s covered in greasy fingerprints. But it’s a situation that’s easy to solve with nothing but a shirt sleeve, or if you’re particularly anal, a microfiber cloth. What the world doesn’t need is a tiny Roomba-like cleaning device designed specifically for cleaning fingerprints, but apparently…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski

Roomba Shaming. This Is a Thing, Right?

Roomba has some problems with the apartment. Roomba does not like my dining room table. Roomba has trouble with the Swiffer, which he (?) mounts and then cannot free himself from—like a copulating wolf. (Wolves do that, right?) Today Roomba must have cleaned up a puddle of bourbon (it happens), because he’s having some trouble…

Tech News Joe Brown

Would You Buy Someone Else’s Second-Hand Vacuum on Ebay?

Listen, the Roomba is really expensive and it works. Of course you want it. But—again, of course—you do not want to shell out the big bucks for a glorified dust buster. You could check eBay! …But do you really want to use someone else’s old vacuum? Who knows what kind of weird gross debris their…

Tech News Molly Oswaks

The Cheapest Roomba Just Got Way Better

The Roomba 500 Series is dead. Long live the 600 Series! iRobot is giving some products a very nice upgrade today, starting with its entry-level robotic floor vacuums. The Looj, its rain gutter cleaning bot, is getting the treatment, too. Roomba 600 Series The 600 Series is going to pick up where the 500 Series…

Tech News Brent Rose

The Best Robot Floor Cleaners

It seems impossible, but we live in age when robots can clean our floors for us. You don’t have to be Donald Trump or Emperor of Mars—this is science fact. But which floor-bot is dominant? We have answers. A robot cleaner has to suck up the dirt, obviously—and most importantly. But it also needs to…

Tech News Sam Biddle

Toshiba’s Roomba-Killer Packs Two CPUs…in a Vacuum

The international floor cleaning robot slave arena just got hotter—Toshiba’s new Smarbo (terrible name) looks and functions pretty much exactly like the Roomba we love so much, but has two brains inside. Twice the cleanliness? Probably not. But it could mean better cleaning. It looks like the Smarbo uses IR sensors to detect obstacles like…

Tech News Sam Biddle

How To Give Robot Vacuums a Personality (And Why It Matters)

If The Jetsons’ Rosie had the personality of an automotive assembly line robot, she’d have been turned into sprockets long ago. IEEE discusses the latest efforts to endow domestic robots with a bit of attitude. It’s surprisingly easy for humans to endow robots with personalities. We’ve seen it happen most poignantly with EOD robots, but…

Artificial Intelligence Evan Ackerman- IEEE Spectrum

Roomba 770: It Might Be Time to Sell Your Vacuum, Grandpa

Vacuums are old. Roombas are old. So who cares about a Roomba? When the latter can finally kick the former to the tech trash pile, we care. The dream of having a robot (effectively!) be my personal maid is alive. Plusses If you can afford it, the Roomba 770 is probably a viable replacement for…

Reviews Sam Biddle

Guide Your Roomba With Your Hands With This Kinect Hack

A Japanese programmer hacked a Kinect to enable motion control of a Roomba vacuum cleaner to create a “future vacuum.” The Roomba can be pointed in any direction with a hand motion. [New York Times]

Tech News Husain Sumra

This Family Dinner of the Future From 1981 Looks Depressing as Hell

This Roomba Maps Your House So It Won’t Keep Ramming Into Your Couch

Here’s What the Roomba for the Sky Will Look Like

Astronomers Are Furious About the Roomba Lawnmower

9 Gifts to Turn a House Into a Smart Home

Your New Receiver, Roombas, Solar Power, Sony NEX-7 [Deals]

Roomba 880 Review: All Hail the Most Powerful Robot Vacuum Yet

What Kind of Robot is the Best Robot?

IBM’s Using Hacked Roombas To Hunt Down Datacenter Overheating

Geometric Light Paintings Drawn by Roombas

The Cheap $40 Roomba Alternative That Doesn’t Suck (But Probably Does)

Overkill, Thy Name Is This Tiny, Tablet-Cleaning, Roomba-Like Robot

Roomba Shaming. This Is a Thing, Right?

Would You Buy Someone Else’s Second-Hand Vacuum on Ebay?

The Cheapest Roomba Just Got Way Better

The Best Robot Floor Cleaners

Toshiba’s Roomba-Killer Packs Two CPUs…in a Vacuum

How To Give Robot Vacuums a Personality (And Why It Matters)

Roomba 770: It Might Be Time to Sell Your Vacuum, Grandpa

Guide Your Roomba With Your Hands With This Kinect Hack

Watch and Follow Live as NASA Launches Its First Crewed Mission to the Moon in 54 Years 🔴

This Is the Way to Lego’s April Releases

Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

Amazon Facilities in Bahrain Hit Again as Iran Follows Through on Threat, Report Says

Why the PS6 Handheld Will Matter More Than the PS6

DNA Study Casts Even More Doubt on Shroud of Turin’s True Origin

Sam Witwer Is Ready for Maul’s Moment

Anthropic Can’t Cover Up Its Claude Code Leak Fast Enough

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

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