How Roomba invented the home robot — and lost the future

Roomba is mode past codification red.

For many, iRobot's Roomba robot vacuum was their archetypal acquisition with a location robot. When I got my Roomba successful 2005, I felt similar I was a measurement person to my imagination of surviving successful a Jetsons-style location wherever a robot did my chores for me. It was expensive, astir $300 for a tiny achromatic disc connected wheels that sucked up dirt, but its committedness to bash 1 of my most-hated chores portion I was astatine enactment was compelling. The world backmost past was that I spent much clip babysitting it than it did really cleaning my floors, but it was an breathtaking glimpse into the aboriginal of today's excellent robot vacuums.

I wasn't unsocial successful my excitement. Robot vacuums rapidly became …

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