Roomba mod allows it to pick things up, hand them to you
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 10th 2009 10:16AM
posted May 10th 2009 10:16AM
[Thanks, Travis]
posted May 10th 2009 10:16AM
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We are about to enter the phase where we will become to lazy to put food into our mouths.
I've been using a robotic spoon for weeks now. Where have you been?
Wall-e.
Ee-va?
Does anyone remember that "Tales from the Darkside" episode when a kid invented a robot vacuum to "kill noise" and it ended up rolling around killing anyone who was making noise?
Now it just needs to be able to pick things up and vacuum under them.
All it needs now is to serve alcoholic drinks, while it cleans up after messy guests.
I guess I'm going to be the voice of reason here and come out and say that's a pretty nice idea.
It's like a virtual aid-dog. That's a great concept.
Oh yeah sure, a nice idea until you come home drunk and pass out on the floor. The next morning you awake in agony to find that little bastard is handing you your testicles.
I use my wife as my robot or is it the other way around?..hmmm...
You use your robot as your wife?
I welcome our new robotic, medicine retrieving overlords.
it was inventiable
Sweet, so when the robot uprising starts, this thing can hand us our asses.
Secondly, why would you keep all those things on the floor, I mean... is there a distinct lack of tables or something?
An I normally wouldn't keep toothpaste on the floor, maybe thats just me, but I normally have a cabinet.. or is it the cool thing to do nowadays?
I don't think they keep them there. I think they are there as an unfortunate side-effect of gravity.
Well see, normally I'd go ahead an pick it up, but thats just me.
What if you're in a wheelchair? You did see the part about this being created by the Healthcare Robotics Lab, right?
Look, I would be wrong to say it's not a great idea.
But the truth is, in a real world situation ie. a normal home, floors and carpets just aren't that clean and smooth.
That Roomba would go nowhere fast in my house before getting gunked up with cat hair, speaker cables, socks, elastic bands i dunno random things. And that's before even managing to pick anything up.
Let's face it, this things are designed for mildly clean houses.
clean your fucking house you slob
zomg i rolfcoptered so hard
make me look like a giggling idiot @ work thanks uncontrol!
These kinds of projects make me so happy. I want to get my Legos out now.
LOL...The Stuffed Toy...
I can see it now "Honey wheres my diamond ring."
"I dont know."
Flush
"ROOMBA!!!!"
its inital pose, before the arm closes to pick the object up, somehow reminds me of a cat creeping up to its prey.. Just about to POUNCE, and then the arm closes slowly and ruins the whole dramatic buildup :(
I second that, make the prey move a bit and then let the Roomba pounce
Oh Okay...... When are we getting Rosie, Mr Jetson?
Homer will be pleased! DOH!
Technically that's not a roomba mod, it's an iRobot Create. They're made to do custom robotics with so it's not really a mod it's just a Create creation.
IT KILLED THE TEDDY BEAR :'(
WAAAALL•LEEE
This just in....America's become 60% more likely to be obese.
this just in. no
isn't it already.
can it pick up chicks and hand them to me?
maybe, but i wont be impressed until it can pick up a whole chicken
I see a distinct possibility of internet meme here. Don't be surprised!
The recognizing objects thing is new, but people have been putting all kinds of robotic arms on the iRobot development platform (basically a roomba minus the vaccum) for years now..
My wife needs one of them.
Unfortunately yes. Even though this is "cool" this will make our culture even that much more lazy.
the teddy bear is crushed and mangled in the snare of the robot but does not stop smiling. it is odd to watch.
This would be useful in those carnival games where if you win a playstation drops out.
I knew we would get Skutters (aka Scutters) eventually! Go the boys from the Dwarf.
My mother-in-law is confined to a motorized wheelchair by severe rheumatoid arthritis. She would pay seriously good money to have one of these things that she could deploy from her chair to pick up something, hand it to her, then jump back into its docking bay on her chair. It would be an absolute godsend for her.
Of course, unless you require a prescription to purchase them, I you can't exactly prevent lazy people from buying them, too. But maybe higher volumes will reduce production costs and accelerate innovation, right?
Oh great, than is all we need a roomba who is a collect-o-matic and hides the damn items like a blackbird.