The Robo-Help

I have two robots that clean the floors in my apartment: The Evolution Robotics Mint and the iRobot Roomba 530. The Mint sweeps and mops. The Roomba vacuums. Total retail cost for my live-in cleaning staff: $500.

The point of deploying these devices is to save time. In practice, though, I don’t end up with as much free time as you would think, mainly because I find it impossible not to watch the robots work. It’s like hiring someone to mow your lawn, then sitting down and watching him mow your lawn. True, the novelty wears off after a few months, but I still find myself curious. Will the robot pick up that huge dust bunny that would take me five seconds to pick up and throw away? Let me wait 10 minutes and find out.

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