I expected 2009 to be a lot more futuristic than it's panned out so far.
When a "futurist" spoke to my fourth grade class in 1983 or '84, he promised flying cars, cloned dinosaurs in the zoos and a whole host of Jetsons-esque inventions to be commonplace by the year 2000. Unfortunately, the only technology that completely blows me away these days is wi-fi -- broadband Internet ziping through the air; I just can't wrap my head around it!
I guess if I have to drive an unthrilling hybrid car that is anchored to the ground or if I must settle for blasé imported pandas at the zoos, I should at least revel in the fact that I finally got me a robot. And, while the iRobot Roomba was introduced in 2002 (only two years after that seemingly seminal millennium landmark that was supposed to define the "future"), I waited another seven years to embrace the world of artificial intelligence.
The future, my friends, is now.
Look, I'm not so lazy that I can't vacuum my own house. A few years ago, my grandma bought us the granddaddy of all vacuums, the Dyson, for our anniversary and it works incredibly well. But top-notch hardware aside, my wife says I suck at vacuuming (pun intended), and with a perennially shedding dog and cat and hardwood floors throughout, it's hard to stay on top of the task.
Friends and coworkers have extolled virtues of the Roomba for some time, and I read all the reviews before making the plunge. Also, being the bargain shopper that I am, I found the model I was looking for, the one designed to pick up pet hair, for $100 less than anywhere else in town or online. I pondered the $300 purchase long and hard and finally pulled the trigger last month.
The iRobot Roomba 532 Pet Series is now part of the Tarnoff family.
"He" didn't do a great job the first two tries, to be honest, though I think the robot was still learning our floor plan. Now, however, he zig zags around the house, under the couch and up against the walls. After about an hour, he returns to his charging station and chirps a friendly, "I'm done, master" series of beeps, and dutifully prepares for his next assignment.
The naysayers complain that you have to empty Roomba's dustbins and clean "his" brushes after every use, and that's true. That takes about three minutes, which is a whole lot less than schelpping the Dyson around the house. Similarly, the robot haters complain that the Roomba's performance pales in comparison to a real vacuum, particularly a Dyson. That's also true. But if you run the Roomba every day, you'll find yourself using your real vacuum cleaner much, much less frequently.
Yeah, $300 is a lot to spend on a robot vacuum cleaner, but if pet hair isn't your personal cross to bear, a lesser model can be had for significantly cheaper. For my family, though, the shedding animals have always stayed one step ahead of the humans' cleaning efforts -- and after seeing enough fur in the Roomba to sculpt a new cat and dog each time, we are finally winning the war on schmutz.
All with the help of robots. While that sounds pretty "Terminator," it's really not. It's just really cool. Until those flying cars and dinosaurs make their appearances, it'll have to do.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
