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iRobot's ConnectR gets sent to wherever robots go when they die
It's a sad, sad day for telepresence. iRobot's ConnectR, the Roomba with a webcam on top, has been given the knife, deemed "not yet practical enough" for all you oh-so practical consumers out there. The device, which pledged to let you call home and explore your abode like some domesticated rover, stood poised to open new avenues for the confusion of cats and other small pets. Perhaps $500 was a bit too steep for the beta group, or maybe users spending that much wanted something that looked a little less like a sentient vacuum, but, regardless of the reason, we're not expecting anything like this to hit retail until we pull ourselves out of these economic doldrums. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Hands-on with iRobot's new ConnectR and Looj bots
There's not much to see and feel with these two -- iRobots are all about the action -- but we got a quick look at the new ConnectR and Looj today. The Looj seems well enough suited to its purpose, with solid construction and a powerful thwap. We saw it running through a gutter earlier, and it certainly seems like it can clean as advertised. The ConnectR seems less well polished, but that's to be expected, since iRobot seems to be pretty flexible on what the finished product will be like when it ships in 2008, with changes based on customer feedback from trial sales. One feature in the works is an IR emitter, for controlling home automation and AV products, and hopefully iRobot can clean this one up and add another "killer" feature or two before unleashing it on the public.%Gallery-7873%
iRobot debuts ConnectR and Looj home bots
iRobot's mission to create the "robot home" got a whole lot more fleshed out this afternoon at the company's DigitalLife keynote. The general idea is to get usable tech into any and every home -- not just for the nerds, not like the Jetsons. "A little boring, but fantastically useful robots." Obviously iRobot has been attempting this a while with its Roomba and related lines, but the new ConnectR and Looj bots really flesh out that vision. On the boring end of things, the Looj is a remote-controlled bot that can clean up to 60 feet of gutter in 10 minutes. It rolls through your gutter tank-style and spits out the debris, and then rolls back to you. It's waterproof for easy cleaning, and is available today for $99. The ConnectR takes a whole new angle for iRobot, offering telepresence instead of the usual drudgery removal. You can "virtually visit" friends and family by controlling the WiFi-connected bot remotely, with live video, audio, controls and sensor data. The camera tilts and zooms, and has a zoom mode high resolution enough for reading text. You can transmit your voice through the bot, and control an LED light to convey mood. ConnectR launches next year for $499, and will be available in a pilot program for $199 to select beta-testing users.%Gallery-7865%
iRobot leaks Looj and ConnectR information
Looks like iRobot's site admin did a bit of premature site updating, with details on the Looj gutter cleaning robot, and the still mysterious ConnectR appearing temporarily on the official site. All the new info about the ConnectR amounts to a different description of the robot -- apparently it's a "virtual visiting robot" -- and the knowledge that the "R" is capitalized. For the Looj, now we know at least one of the robot's capabilities -- it can clean 80 feet of gutter in 10 minutes -- and that it requires human supervision to operate. That's right, the gutter cleaning robot requires your attention. [Thanks, John]
iRobot Connectr can't be half as lame as Looj
We really did our best to hold back our disappointment at the Looj. Sure, there must be people out there with gutters full of leaves and plastic parachute men, and we want to be respectful of that, but we can't say it really stoked our gadget lust. Luckily for us, iRobot seems to have another bot in the works dubbed "Connectr" -- at least if a recent trademark filing for "robots for video and audio monitoring, surveillance, and communication" is anything to go on. This one might be just for iRobot's military and public service customers, but we'll hope for a consumer-friendly score here to rival other web-friendly video bots out there. iRobot has promised to announce two new bots at Digital Life in NY later this month, so let's hope this is one of them.[Thanks, Daanish]
