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Roomba’s robot vacuum could grow arms in the near future

Roomba’s robot vacuum could grow arms in the near future

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The company that makes the popular household helper is working on a version with limbs

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Roomba 980

iRobot, the maker of the popular robot vacuum Roomba, said it’s working on a version of the disc-shaped household helper that has arms. The company envisions a limbed version of the Roomba that’s able to help out with more complex tasks, like laundry, dishwashing, and food serving.

Colin Angle, CEO of the Massachusetts-based company, revealed these plans to Bloomberg while at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Angle said iRobot wouldn’t start selling the enhanced Roomba for another five years, but he noted that a prototype version was being worked on at its lab.

A Roomba with arms may sound alarming, but Angle told Bloomberg that the company has experience in the area:

IRobot previously developed robotic-arm technology for its military unit. The company sold that business in 2016 but kept the arm assets. At the time, the company didn’t know how to adapt the technology for mainstream use, Angle said, but new advancements in computer vision and the ability for robots to map out a person’s home make such devices possible.

Some hobbyists aren’t waiting for iRobot to create a more capable version of the Roomba. YouTuber and engineer Peter Sripol recently added a trio of ducted fans to a cheap robot vacuum, enabling it to fly over stairs — but also basically destroying its practicality as a vacuum.

Update January 10th, 1:27PM ET: “iRobot has a long history of pushing the boundaries of robotics and developing innovative manipulation technologies, including arms,” a spokesperson for IRobot said in a statement. “New technologies that provide robots with spatial context, including the maps that help our consumer robots navigate, will eventually help open the door to a new generation of home robots with arms because there are a multitude of practical, at-home tasks that could be addressed.

“In order for this to happen, though, the robot needs to know where it is and where things are within the home. Folding laundry, doing the dishes, delivering a meal and grabbing a drink from the refrigerator are just some examples of potential applications. While it is exciting to think about the potential for robots to continue improving our overall quality of life inside and outside of the home over the coming years, our practice is to refrain from sharing specific details about our product development plans, roadmaps and timetables.”