Love in a vacuum
« It’s difficult to resist having affection for the Roomba, » she said. « I have been known to pat mine on the back and say ‘Well done,’ when he’s done for the day and did a good job. It’s just a cute little gizmo, what can I say? »
This woman, interviewed by Wired News, is talking about her vacuum cleaner, the Roomba. I talked about this machine – which cleans your floors while you’re gone – on the tv show I worked for last Fall (which is still airing until October), and it was the item that generated the most calls at the tv station. The producer told me that people still talk about it. The Wired News article says that owners give the vacuum cleaner pet names, and people feel sad when they have to send the machine to the repair shop.
« I do talk to Zoomer, » she said. « I talk back to him when he’s beeping…. Mostly I see him as a utilitarian pet I’m very glad to own. And we don’t have any other pets, so that says a lot. » A lot of people name their cleaner after Rosie, the robot maid in the Jetsons, or after their spouse. Other names include Dusty, Roswell and Linda Lovelace. No consensus seems to have been reached on whether it is male or female.
UPDATE
At the time I recorded the segment about the Roomba on television, the robot vacuum cleaner wasn’t available in Canada yet. I have finally reached the distributor for Canada. The product is now sold online via the distributor’s Web site, at the price of 200$ US. Infomercials across the country are also starting to sell the product and eventually, in the Fall of 2003, Canadian Tire stores and renovation/hardware stores should start selling the Roomba as well.
Note: I haven’t tried the Roomba myself, so this is not a product endorsement. I did read a lot of reviews from people who tested it though and the results seem very convincing.
