Other iRobot Ideas
Aside from cleaning the floor and searching for mines, what else can Roombas be transformed into? Here are some ideas I had:
- Lawn Mower – yeah, requires some enhanced safety measures, but I think this will be the next Roomba we see. Perhaps contain it with an “invisible fence”-like system?
- Snow Blower – again, needs some safety advancements… uh.. the more I think of this one, how would it know where to put the snow? Unless you have a containment system (underground lines at the perimeter) and a “target”, which is a pole you hammer into the ground and the Roomba moves the snow onto that spot.
- Plow – like, for farmers. With GPS, levels and gyroscopes, a robot could do a great job plowing fields, and probably a better job than humans could do when it comes to contour plowing.
- Street Cleaner – would have to be bigger, so cars don’t kill them, but one person could manage a fleet of a dozen of them.
- Dog crap picker-upper – I’d love one.
- Pool cleaner – yeah, I know they have ones now, but there’s that big hose attached to it, and the unit itself is huge.
Well, that’s all I have for now. What else? What am I missing?
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/yukitaro_autono.php
Wow – I called this one! Well, I didn’t think it was possible, but this is pretty cool. Not only does it cleanup the snow, but you can save the bricks for later, when you need cooling.