The Future Is Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal

April 24, 2004

The Future Is Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed

Today's weekend Target flyer has an advertisement for the Roomba robotic floor vacuum.

We are not sure whether America's Silliest Dog^TM would regard it as an enemy or a a playmate. In either case, we are not sure that it would survive a week.

Posted by DeLong at April 24, 2004 02:08 PM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this post

Comments

I can offer you a cat-owning blogger's experience with the thingie.

http://scott.littlemeanfish.com/blog/archives/000708.html

Posted by: Linkmeister on April 24, 2004 04:02 PM

____

I’ve been wondering how my cats would react to a Roomba. Below some critical size they will prey or torture an object that scurries across the floor, including the spot from a laser pointer. Above that size they will flee. One cat is particularly skittish, while the other is not; it’s possible only one would flee. All that aside, how well does the Roomba actually work? I don’t think it holds much dirt so you have to empty if often.

Posted by: A. Zarkov on April 24, 2004 04:04 PM

____

"All that aside, how well does the Roomba actually work?"

The one we bought didn't work that well. Initially it seemed to work OK. And of course at first just watching it is worth the price. But it could never handle the study because it would get irremediably jammed into the angle of the five-legged chairs, and seemed to head right for them again after being released. It had some trouble in the kitchen, too: if it charged the fridge head on it got stuck.

Worse, it doesn't just need emptying. It needs cleaning itself. After one of its cleanings, I may have put it back together wrong because it seemed to get tired very quickly after that and just moved the dirt around rather than picking it up. So it is now in retirement in the attic.

And I'm back to manual vacuuming.

Posted by: jam on April 24, 2004 05:00 PM

____

I agree that you might have "America's Silliest DogTM", judging from a couple of recent posts, I think that it has rubbed itself in enough stuff so that it would quality as "Periodically One of America's Smelliest Dog" (don't know if you can trade mark that). Maybe "Berkely's Smelliest DogTM". So question is whether robot vacuum cleaner would go after dog after one it's experiments.

I would agree that poor little robot cleaner probably has more to worry about from ASD(TM) than other way around.

Posted by: jml on April 24, 2004 05:06 PM

____

Sherlock Holmes once observed that dogs reflect the personality of the family which owns them.

Posted by: PJ on April 25, 2004 10:23 AM

____

I've spoken to several people who have, or tried those cleaners. The difference, for those who kept them, was a willingness to get into the works to clean all the brushes and disentangle pet hair to keep it working. But those who did it thought it was a great invention, and one of them has a weekly rotation of rooms that she keeps vaccuumed that way, noting that, "I'd rather spend the time doing something else."

Another reason to laud consumer choice and time preferences, I suppose.

Posted by: Arnold Williams on April 25, 2004 01:49 PM

____

The big problem with the Roomba is that it's the smiley-faced consumer front of a corporation that takes huge wodges of cash from the Defense Dept. in order to produce PackBots (http://packbot.com/), military robots designed for use in troublesome foreign adventures.

The iRobot keynote at this year's Etech conference was a rather strange experience, with a painfully truncated Q&A in which Helen Greiner dodged the ethical issues of having the 'robot go in first' in certain situations:

http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2004/02/live_from_etech_irobot.shtml

It's easier to make the case by referring to war-zone situations, but what if robots are used by domestic law enforcement? As someone noted, they probably clean in the Roombas afterwards to clean up the mess.

Posted by: nick on April 25, 2004 11:07 PM

____

Arnold Williams
"I've spoken to several people who have, or tried those cleaners. The difference, for those who kept them, was a willingness to get into the works to clean all the brushes and disentangle pet hair to keep it working."

This does differ from the high-end cleaner that I have now. Nearly fifteen years ago my wife and her then-husband purchased a Rainbow for an ungodly amount of money for the promise that a high-end water based vacuum would be better for her athsma.

It is, and works reliably well. It does need someone (me) to sit down with it every few weeks and unclog the head - pet hair and small toys work inside and clog it up.

Posted by: Brian on April 26, 2004 07:24 AM

____

nick,

I'm not sure I understand your objection to robots being used by the DoD or the local police.

Automation (robots) are used in manufacturing on a routine basis - yet I don't think you'll argue it's better to use people for dangerous and repetitive heavy lifting jobs. Using a 'bot for EOD for example would be a differance in application, not a startling new thing.

Posted by: Brian on April 26, 2004 07:31 AM

____

I've heard the Roomba works great on hardwood floors and tile where it can mainly just SWEEP up the dirt. It's really not a vacuum like a Hoover is a vacuum, it's more like one of those sweeper vac electric broom dealeys you can buy for $20.

Posted by: Ryan Walters on April 26, 2004 02:58 PM

____

Ok I love the dang thing. Works great on our hardwood floors (which is all we have) and our cat hasn't been killed by it yet. I can see how it would be terrible on any heavy carpet. It just doesn't have all that much sucking power... but it's nice to set it loose in the kitchen after the kids get done with dinner...

Posted by: John Kealy on April 26, 2004 04:33 PM

____

I'd been ignoring the Roomba because my new place is nothing but hardwood or tile, bar two of the bedrooms, and I was assuming it was a rug machine.

Mmm, suffering from robot envy, now. I wonder how one would handle the basement. . .

Posted by: Brian on April 27, 2004 01:21 PM

____

Buy www.i-directv.net this it is a wonderful addition to anyones home entertainment system.

Posted by: direct TV on May 27, 2004 09:09 PM

____

Get WWW.IDEBTCONSOLIDATION.ORG the debt relief you are searching for here!

Posted by: debt relief on June 1, 2004 01:31 PM

____

Get WWW.I-DISH-NETWORK.ORG rid of cable and upgrade your living room by clicking here!

Posted by: satellite tv on June 3, 2004 08:52 AM

____

WWW.E-CREDIT-CARD-DEBT.COM

Posted by: credit card debt on June 5, 2004 11:40 AM

____

Get WWW.IDEBTCONSOLIDATION.ORG the debt relief you are searching for here!

Posted by: click here on June 7, 2004 05:05 PM

____

Get www.all-debt-consolidation.org help with your credit problems here!

Posted by: consolidate debt on June 14, 2004 05:16 AM

____

Online Casino Directory

Posted by: Online Casino on June 23, 2004 12:20 AM

____

Now you can Play Poker online any time!

Posted by: online poker on June 25, 2004 06:25 AM

____

Buy Viagra online! its easy click here today.

Posted by: Buy Viagra online on June 29, 2004 02:36 PM

____

Spyware
Free Spyware
Spyware Removal
Spyware Nuker
Internet Spyware
Remove Spyware
Anti Spyware
Spyware Eliminator
Spyware Remover
Search Spyware

Posted by: spyware on July 10, 2004 02:31 AM

____

De bene esse - It shall be so, as long as it is well

Posted by: mom son galleries on July 10, 2004 11:07 AM

____

Esse quam videri - To be rather than to seem

Posted by: fat nude women on July 11, 2004 06:05 PM

____

you can play blackjack here! http://www.blackjack.greatnow.com

Posted by: blackjack on July 21, 2004 05:03 PM

____

Sane ego te vocavi. Forsitan capedictum tuum desit - I did call. Maybe your answering machine is broken

Posted by: anime hentai on July 23, 2004 08:11 AM

____

online casino

If you've ever been curious about how to play online poker then you'll want to read over the following online poker guide. This guide is designed to give you a basic overview of the game concept and rules. After reading this guide you should be in a god position to play poker. We suggest you try an online casino that offers free play in order to practice a bit before placing any real wagers.

Posted by: online casino on July 25, 2004 07:07 PM

____

online casino

Posted by: online casino on July 26, 2004 05:44 PM

____

you can play blackjack online here!
http://www.blackjack.greatnow.com

online casino

If you've ever been curious about how to play online poker then you'll want to read over the following online poker guide. This guide you should be in a god position to play poker.

Posted by: online casino on July 26, 2004 06:22 PM

____

seven card stud x play poker online x free texas holdem x free texas hold em x play texas hold em x play texas holdem x online texas holdem x texas holdem online x 7 card stud poker x free texas holdem poker x free texas hold em poker x poker online x seven card stud x 7 card stud poker x play poker online x texas hold em x texas holdem x texas hold em poker x poker texas hold em x texas holdem poker x texas holdem x texas hold em x texas holdem x texas hold em x texas hold em poker

Posted by: play poker online on August 2, 2004 07:38 PM

____

play seven card stud poker http://www.seven-card-stud.us

Posted by: seven card stud on August 2, 2004 07:39 PM

____

play online poker
http://www.i-play-poker-online.us

Posted by: play poker online on August 2, 2004 07:40 PM

____

free online texas holdem http://www.free-texasholdem.us

Posted by: free texas holdem on August 2, 2004 07:40 PM

____

free online texas hold em