Comments on: More robots entering the home? And by the way, what IS a robot… ? http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/2006/12/19/more-robots-entering-the-home-and-by-the-way-what-is-a-robot/ The Trossen Robotics Blog is the place to keep up to date on all the latest product releases and news in robotics. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:18:21 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: matt http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/2006/12/19/more-robots-entering-the-home-and-by-the-way-what-is-a-robot/comment-page-1/#comment-424 matt Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:31:49 +0000 http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/index.php/archives/2006/12/19/more-robots-entering-the-home-and-by-the-way-what-is-a-robot/#comment-424 Hey Bob, that is a good point you make. I had a neighbor down the block when I was a kid who had a lawnmower which followed a wire in the ground. I thought they would take off 15 years ago, but they never did. I would think the Roomba will help pave the way for people to think about the robot lawnmower again. Social acceptance is a big leap indeed. It makes me think of the cell phone. Early adaptors didn’t mind being scowled at using their phones in public, but it took a long time for them to become “acceptableâ€? enough for the public at large to start buying and using them. At a conference I was chatting with the Irobot crew and I had asked about the algorithms and how they came up with them. I had figured there was some elaborate computer simulation done to find the most effective cleaning patterns. Nope. Turns out they all just took them home and did trial runs until they got it right. Funny how simple it can be sometimes! Hey Bob, that is a good point you make. I had a neighbor down the block when I was a kid who had a lawnmower which followed a wire in the ground. I thought they would take off 15 years ago, but they never did. I would think the Roomba will help pave the way for people to think about the robot lawnmower again. Social acceptance is a big leap indeed. It makes me think of the cell phone. Early adaptors didn’t mind being scowled at using their phones in public, but it took a long time for them to become “acceptableâ€? enough for the public at large to start buying and using them.

At a conference I was chatting with the Irobot crew and I had asked about the algorithms and how they came up with them. I had figured there was some elaborate computer simulation done to find the most effective cleaning patterns. Nope. Turns out they all just took them home and did trial runs until they got it right. Funny how simple it can be sometimes!

]]> By: Bob Mottram http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/2006/12/19/more-robots-entering-the-home-and-by-the-way-what-is-a-robot/comment-page-1/#comment-254 Bob Mottram Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:27:59 +0000 http://blog.trossenrobotics.com/index.php/archives/2006/12/19/more-robots-entering-the-home-and-by-the-way-what-is-a-robot/#comment-254 I've owned a Roomba ever since they first appeared a few years ago, and one thing which really surprised me was how simple its technology is. A robot like this could have been produced at any time within the last 20 years, and yet it only appeared on the market relatively recently. I don't believe that inventors 20 years ago weren't smart enough to envisage something like a Roomba, so this leads me to conclude that not only do the technological necessities need to be in place to bring a robot like this to the market, but also the cultural environment needs to to be condusive. People need to believe that a robot can be a simple and useful device, not just something which geeks or academics are concerned with. I’ve owned a Roomba ever since they first appeared a few years ago, and one thing which really surprised me was how simple its technology is. A robot like this could have been produced at any time within the last 20 years, and yet it only appeared on the market relatively recently.

I don’t believe that inventors 20 years ago weren’t smart enough to envisage something like a Roomba, so this leads me to conclude that not only do the technological necessities need to be in place to bring a robot like this to the market, but also the cultural environment needs to to be condusive. People need to believe that a robot can be a simple and useful device, not just something which geeks or academics are concerned with.

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