January 11, 2008 11:54 AM PST
One of the most well-known examples of personal robotics is iRobot's Roomba vacuum cleaner. Where this type of robot, as well as others, will intersect with the future is in their programmability, and their ability to be controlled wirelessly or over networks.
This is the Roomba Frogger, the brainchild of Make magazine Senior Editor Phillip Torrone and Adafruit Industries founder Limor Fried. The two dressed up a Roomba on the streets of Austin, Texas, during South by Southwest 2006, and wirelessly sent the robot back and forth across a downtown street in an homage to the classic video game Frogger. This is just an example of how robots can be made to do more than originally expected by their manufacturers.
Photo by Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com
