AutoMeeS
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Daily Update for February 6, 2013
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The AutoMee is a tiny robot that cleans your iPad screen
If you've given up on life to the extent that wiping your own iPad or iPhone screen is simply too much effort, you'll be happy to hear that there's now a robot dedicated to just that task. Called the AutoMee S, it's similar in appearance to one of iRobot's Roomba floor-cleaning automatons, although obviously much smaller. Coming to Japan on March 28 from toy maven Takara Tomy, it's also considerably cheaper. Costing 1,575 yen (US$17), the AutoMee is a mere 2.75 inches across and runs on one AA battery. The minuscule bot's underside is adorned with two motorized, replaceable cleaning discs, so it's not simply dragging a cleaning cloth around and it's "smart" enough to recognize the edges of your device and do an about-face so as not to drive off. Its novelty cleaning process takes about eight minutes for an iPad, or approximately seven minutes and 55 seconds longer than an old-fashioned cloth. Then again, you'll have more time to spend doing something more important, like pondering how your life got to this point. [Via Engadget]
Takara Tomy's Auto Mee S robot scrubs mobile devices, saves seconds of effort
We can't say that we've ever been so exhausted or pressed for time that we couldn't wipe down our mobile device screens. There must be someone out there for whom that's one scrub too far, however, as Takara Tomy has just rolled out its Auto Mee S robot to do the job. Plunk the tiny cleaner down and it should bring a shine to a typical smartphone within four minutes, and a tablet within eight. It's smart enough to detect the device's edge while needing only a single AA battery to work for three hours. Yes, the Auto Mee S is really more of a toy than a serious substitute for a lint-free cloth, although the mix of novelty and utility may still justify a purchase of the ¥1,575 ($17) gadget if you're in Japan after the March 28th release -- just think of it as Junior's First Roomba.
