My wife and I recently joined some of the last homeowners to contribute to the $11 billion robot vacuum industry.  Since I am usually the one who does the vacuuming, I liked the idea of completing this chore with the simple push of a button.  It was an exciting day when I took our new Roomba out of the box, placed it on it’s little charging dock (which we located in the laundry room for our convenience), and then stood back and pressed “Clean” on my iPhone app.  

Our Roomba (which we named “MaxBot”) banged up against the dryer a few times, then headed off down the hallway toward the living room.  Our 13-yr old Shih Tzu soon began barking frantically, having failed to grasp the utility of this intruder.  At his age, the only thing he does frantically anymore is eat; it was clear that a black hockey puck bigger than he is should not be scooting around the house unattended – at least not on his watch.  Lesson #1:  AI robots are not for everyone. <continue reading>