2 new domestic robots from iRobot

The Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot

Forget R2D2. The next frontier in robotics is a miniature tank that borrows some of the technology behind military bomb-defusing robots to eject rotting foliage from your gutters.

At the DigitalLife conference in New York this afternoon, iRobot chief executive Colin M. Angle unveiled two additions to the company's home robot line, which has so far focused on vacuuming and scrubbing. The Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot speeds down gutters to clear out the gunk, while the ConnectR Virtual Visiting Robot lets people check in on their home by laptop -- remotely interacting with kids, playing with pets, or just snooping around to make sure the laundry is folded.


The ConnectR Virtual Visiting Robot

While the Looj and the ConnectR are far from the romantic vision of robots as electronic companions, Angle said, they are real robots that give people more control over their home -- either decreasing the drudgery of daily life or giving people a better connection to their home.

"When we talk about the iRobot home and products, it's all about finding ways to add to our quality of life."

iRobot, which is based in Burlington, Mass. and is the maker of the military PackBot robot used in Iraq and Afghanistan to scout enemy positions or defuse roadside bombs, has sold 2 million of its Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners worldwide and also offers a mopping robot called Scooba. But the newest home robots bring robotics to new parts of the home.

The Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot is a slim, bright green tank controlled by a remote. For $99, the mundane task of cleaning a gutter becomes more like Formula One racing. It takes just one trip up the ladder to drop the Looj in the gutter; then the diligent homeowner turns it on and drives it back and forth, using the pointy end to bust up leaf clogs while a rubbery propellor spins to dredge the gunk out, clearing 80 feet in 10 minutes.

The second addition to iRobot's home robot line is the ConnectR Virtual Visiting Robot, a disc-shaped robot that looks a lot like its Roomba home vacuuming robot, except for the camera perched on one end. Using a laptop computer, a person can call the ConnectR robot, which uses the home's wireless network and Internet telephony techonology. From their laptop, remote users can manipulate the camera, steer the robot, and talk through a microphone to give themselves roving eyes, ears, and a physical presence in their home.

The robot will cost $499, but the company is launching a pilot program, allowing people to buy the ConnectR for $199 as long as they agree to give feedback about the experience.

To a person in the room with the device, the robot is like a mobile speaker phone that can follow them around, while the remote user can read a book aloud, or coach them through a complicated task. While it doesn't have a video screen for people to see the person who is calling the robot, it does have a mood light allowing them to get a sense of how people are feeling, whether its angry (red) or calm (yellow or green).

The world of consumer robotics has long excited the imagination, with visions of talking, capable robots with personalities, like Rosie from the Jetsons. But as home robots have begun to become affordable and practical, the reality is that creations tend toward convenience.

"To build robots that can multitask and do multiple things can't be done for two reasons -- it's too expensive, and you have to create a robot to do something as good or better than you do it now," said Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends in Natick. "The approach they're taking with low-cost, single-function, utilitarian robots is the way to go in this marketplace right now."

View a photo gallery of the iRobot's new domestic robots here.

(By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe staff)