IRobot crowns robot contest winner

A Maryland gadgeteer has pocketed $5,000 for coming up with the winning design in a robot contest sponsored by iRobot Corp.of Burlington.

Danh Trinh of Towson, Md., used the iRobot Create Programmable Robot to create a personal home robot that can water plants, control lights and appliances, play music, and remind owners to take medication, iRobot said.

The iRobot Create Challenge was sponsored by Tom's Hardware Guide and hosted by Instructables.com, and entries were judged on aesthetics, intelligence, utility, entertainment value, and originality, said iRobot, which is known for such products as the Roomba, a robot that can vacuum floors, and the Packbot, a military robot that can detect battlefield threats.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)