Is this what living with the Jetsons would be like?

Robot vacuums have been around for decades now. A Japanese company by the name of Tomy released a toy robot vacuum named the Dustbot as part of their Omnibots line back in 1985, and even back then, the ability for the bot to be able to change course when it sensed an object was a key feature. However, the size of the bot restricted its use largely to that of play, rather than being a fully functional vacuum cleaner.

In 1996, the Electrolux Trilobite came on to the scene, a vacuum bot whose purpose was to replace a normal vacuum cleaner. While it too could sense obstacles, the technology was not quite up to standards that consumers were expecting, sometimes crashing into things and other times stopping far too soon and leaving areas uncleaned. Sadly, despite the awesome name, the Electrolux version went the way of previous trilobites and was discontinued.

Finally, in the early 2000s, the Roomba burst onto the scene and solidified a space for robot vacuums in the house cleaning market. Created by iRobot, the Roomba’s object sensing technology was greatly improved, using a mechanical bumper on the front and infrared sensors, and soon the name became almost synonymous with robot vacuums in general.

In the decades since, robot vacuums have become far more prevalent, with numerous companies now producing their own vacuums with even more features like self-cleaning, mopping, and arms that can move smaller objects in its way. Standard versions are now much cheaper than the $1,800 Electrolux tried to sell the Trilobite for and, as such, are far more available to the public.

Mikaela and I recently purchased one of these more basic vacuum bots. She dubbed it DJ Roomba, after the bot featured in Parks in Rec, and while it lacks the music playing ability that its predecessor featured on the show (for now), our DJ Roomba has done a pretty decent job thus far.

Having a pet in the house obviously leads to a great accumulation of hair everywhere, resulting in a far more frequent need to sweep. Of course, just because the need was more frequent didn’t necessarily mean that it was getting done more frequently, which prompted the search for a robot vacuum.

I was slightly dubious at first, given we went with a more modestly priced bot from a lesser known brand and I was not entirely sure how much of a downgrade it would be. However, so far, it’s done its job rather effectively. After having it traverse the house, mapping out where it would need to go in the future, we’ve had it run once every week or so and it seems to do a pretty good job. It can’t get into crevices behind couches or other furniture and will occasionally get stuck on rugs, but other than that, it has performed admirably.

Though I’ve been impressed with DJ Roomba, Indy on the other hand despises the newest addition to the household. He isn’t a big fan of the normal vacuum cleaner either, but the fact that DJ Roomba moves mysteriously on its own has earned it special ire from our dog. It was very quickly discovered that going on a walk or just keeping him outside while DJ Roomba did its thing was going to be a necessity.

I’m sure your mileage will vary; our house is just one story with a basement and has pretty much the floor throughout, so it cruises along pretty well. If there are more obstacles, flooring types or a need to move it up to a second floor, I’m not sure how well it would function.

I have always thought that these little bots looked cool, whether it was vacuuming, or cutting grass or delivering meals on campus, but they always seemed like something expensive and futuristic. To actually have one roaming around our house was admittedly a bit odd at first, but now, with standard models costing the same or less as a normal vacuum cleaner, I would assume that you’ll probably see more of them than ever.

A C ERTAIN POINT OF V IEW