Crave

BERLIN--In the midst of America's raging debate on the future of health insurance, one man says he has a solution to out-of-control health care costs: more robots.

A prototype robotic telepresence "nurse."

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

Of course, this is coming from Colin Angle, a roboticist and CEO of iRobot, the company that makes both robotic vacuum cleaners and bomb-defusing gadgets currently in use by the U.S. military. At IFA here on Friday, he said that robotic telepresence devices, which would act like nurses in a person's home, could reduce the $2.2 trillion, or 17 percent of the U.S. GDP, currently spent on health care every year.

Angle insisted that when it comes to elderly people staying at home instead of moving to a nursing home, or a sick patients that don't need care such as surgery, "all of the things over time can be done with robots."

He's not talking about the kind of robot that the average person might think of, like Rosie from "The Jetsons" or Honda's Asimo. (In fact, Angle says those anthropomorphic style bots are "a technological marvel, but nearly, utterly useless.") Rather, the robotic nurses he has in mind look more like a machine than a man; more similar to the Roomba and Scooba household robots that Angle helped invent.

Instead of patients with chronic illnesses constantly going to a hospital for even minor treatments and checkups, a telepresence device could act as a proxy for the doctor to check in on them. The robot could examine, diagnose, and make sure a prescription is administered on the right schedule. The patient, in other words, wouldn't have to set foot in a hospital unless he or she needs care that is only available there.

The same model would cut the cost of nursing homes for aging people with a diminished ability to perform normal household tasks. In the future, robots are expected to be able to handle tasks such as daily medical reminders, cleaning the house, preparing food, and transportation.

The Roomba, from iRobot.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

While robots aren't cheap, neither are hospital visits. And Angle says he's encouraged by the money that people are already spending on home automation systems and devices. He says that half a million people in the U.S. last year spent between $2,000 and $3,000 each on equipment such as security monitoring services, and that in the next three years, that number will jump to over 7 million. In other words, the idea of spending money to keep an eye on things in your home isn't a totally foreign concept.

Skeptical about robot "nurses"? Angle says he's heard that reaction before. "Our biggest problem is that nobody believes robots work. It's like science fiction," he said.

The sales of Roombas and Scoobas, and the $35 million order that iRobot took from the U.S. Army earlier this week certainly aren't fictional, but there's quite a ways to go before robots can actually do all the things he has in mind. The company's first product, the Roomba vacuum cleaner, took 10 years to develop, while its iConnectr telepresence robot is limited compared to what he envisions for the future.

"That's a start," he said. "I admit we've only taken the first few steps."

Treat your pets right this Mother's Day! We spend equal time talking about gifts for mom and for fluffy. Go figure.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 136

Petairways.com–for the pet who loves to travel (Thanks Sheala!)

Honda unveils dog-friendly car

The Tweeting Cat Door (Thanks Nathan!)

New worm-like floor-cleaning robot threatens Roomba’s dominance

Digigrade Leg Extensions

Dog poo recycler

Special Edition Mother’s Day Gender Gap
Danielle Steel Limited Edition Reader Digital Book is More of the Same just in Red (No! Don’t do it! Get a Kindle instead!)

Mother of the Year video

Mother’s Day shirt for the geeky mom-to-be

A propos (of) nothing
Lego sunglasses let you build your own fashion

What a concept
Portable toaster

Why didn’t I think of that?
PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain System

Pretty
Gorgeous iphone cases (thanks fernando!)

Good Vibrations (Thanks Fred!)
DIY Steam punk vibrators

Editor's note: From now through the end of December, various Crave experts will be sharing their top five (mostly) tech-related wishes for the holiday season. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas!

Eric's video game skills are MIA. And he wants them back.

1. iRobot Roomba. Yeah sure, these things have been around for years now, but I'm not the type of person who jumps all over new technology as soon as it's available. For me, there needs to be a necessity. Case in point, my new DVR. I mean, look at my face in that pic. It's the kind of face that causes you to think, "How could someone over the age of 20 and under the age of 60 be that excited about a DVR in 2008?" And yet, there I am. It wasn't until I determined that a DVR was necessary for me to feel better about myself as a human that I got one.

Recently, my girlfriend and I got two black cats that shed. A lot. They also track tons of litter around the house. I'd prefer not to vacuum. I thought, "Do I have any young desperate relatives that I could pay 5 cents a week to come clean my house?" When that fell through, I thought, "Robots."

2. A Men's Health subscription that doesn't suck. Not exactly tech related, but it needs to be said. I love reading this magazine. Sure, they recycle a lot of the stories and workouts from previous issues, but I can always find one or two things in each issue that are useful.

If you've ever had a subscription to Men's Health, you know it does not come without strings attached. These strings assume the form of "free" books that they send you. Now, there is sometimes some new and useful information in them. That's not the problem. The problem is that they send you these at their own discretion and usually accompanied by a letter telling you how excited you should be that you have access to this free book for the next 10 days. If you're unsatisfied, send it back within the 10 days at no charge and you're done. If you keep it beyond the trial, you'll be charged.

This is a trap, plain and simple. They know most guys aren't going to bother going through the trouble of sending this thing back. They'll either keep it out of laziness (like me) or actually find a reason inside the book--probably a flimsy one--to justify keeping it. So yes, my Men's Health subscription sucks because I am lazy.

3. Video card upgrade. OK, I currently own an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS. While a year or so ago this would have been pushing the cutting edge, it's now yesterday's news, a card that drops as low as 10 frames per second at peak times in Dalaran in Wrath of the Lich King. That is unacceptable. I'm not even sure the last time I've seen anything near a steady 60 fps.

The Roomba 416 comes with 2 beacons for controlling where it vacuums, but does not offer the onboard scheduling feature of the higher-end Roomba models.

(Credit: iRobot)

Many CNET readers have been complaining that they're not seeing the major deals they thought the economy would encourage in electronics.

I agree. I haven't seen them yet, either. But here's one: iRobot is having a one-day sale on Friday until midnight on its Roomba 416 for $200, with a free upgrade kit for handling pet hair.

The Roomba 416 comes with two beacons for controlling where the Roomba roams, and it can clean up to two rooms before needing to be recharged, according to iRobot. It does not offer the onboard scheduling feature of the higher-end models.

It is, however, a favored model among Roomba hackers, as you can see from our Maker Faire 2007 interview at the bottom of this post.

They are a number of other Web specials, and an offer for free shipping on all orders more than $150, but the Roomba 416 sale is the major deal there today.

More robot deals are on their way. iRobot announced it will be holding two more one-day sales. One sale will be held on November 28 (Black Friday) and the other on December 1.

So far, the company has been mum on which products will be discounted on those days. Once I find out, I'll update this post.

iRobot's Roomba, Scooba, and Dirt Dog are selling bundled for $900.

(Credit: iRobot)

iRobot is offering deep discounts on its home products if you buy directly from its Web site.

We're wondering why, and it comes down to two possibilities, really.

One, they have newer, brighter, shinier models in the pipeline and need to unload old stock. Or, two, they're simply trying to get a head start on the holiday-season discounts expected from retailers, given the state of the economy.

Most recently, iRobot sent an e-mail letting people know it's offering $50 off its Scooba 380 model if you buy it before October 24. It normally sells for $450. That discount is presumably in preparation for the new Scooba 385 that it promises is "coming soon" on its European Web site.

iRobot is also offering $25 to $100 off its Roomba models when you buy two.

But if you have a lot of cash lying around, you could save even more. The company has a series of value packs in which they'll give you three robots for the price of two.

If you buy a Roomba 570 vacuuming robot and Scooba 380 floor-cleaning robot for $900 directly from the company Web site, for example, iRobot will throw in its Dirt Dog shop vacuum for free. They also offer combos that include the Looj gutter-cleaning robot.

Considering that averages out to $300 per robot, it's really not a bad deal.

EPISODE 107

Griffin AirCurve

Math intuition test

Pottery Barn makes 'Star Wars' bedsheets cool again--kind of

Moldy bag prevents your lunch from being stolen

Chevy Volt reveal

Vacumm in style with the Issey Miyake + Dyson Limited Edition (thx Richard)

Hello Kitty Watch
Hello Kitty robot coming to clean you with cuteness (thx Sheala and Gregory!)

FUG!
Ferrari station wagon is a crime against cars

Kill me.
PMS Buddy isn’t at all offensive to women. Oh, wait…

What a concept
AI helicopters. Awesome.

Pink Watch
Memorex miniMove boombox

"Ron" Tajima of Japan has figured out a clever hack for his Wii Fit balance board and Roomba.

He calls his latest creation the "Surfin' ba."

Instead of just showing off with fancy footwork, Tajima also demonstrates how he did it. As with his other Roomba hacks, Tajima attaches a serial Bluetooth adapter he developed himself to the Roomba.

This is Tajima's third Roomba hack. His others are a version of a Wiimote-controlled Roomba, and the Pacmba, a Roomba with LED lights.

(Via Electric Pig)

These little guys got me thinking: what's the least important feature of a gadget?

Functionality? Probably not. Price? Arguable. Cuteness factor? Absolutely.

(Credit: Perpetual Kid)

The Robo Vacuums from Perpetual Kid are cuteness on steroids. And that's why these wannabe Roombas, spotted at Boing Boing Gadgets, for $15 each are probably not super effective. (But no matter! We here at Crave love useless eye candy.)

The Robo Vacuum is a smaller, cheaper version of the Roomba, the robot vacuum that does your dirty work for you. That is, you click it on, and it buzzes around your house, sucking up dirt so you don't have to. It comes in red, white, and black, and needs just two AA batteries.

This also gives me the opportunity to share one of my favorite CNET News.com videos, where one of our reporters took the Roomba home for the day. Enjoy.

(Credit: Samsung)

How do you come up with a vacuuming bot that can compete with the Roomba, which has become a household word? (A least in Michael Kanellos' house anyway.) Answer: Make it smarter.

That, at least is apparently the strategy of Samsung, which has created its own OCD bot called the "Hauzen VC-RE70V" for the Korean market, according to I4U News. This self-motivated sanitation engineer surveys its premises with a built-in camera, then automatically draws a map that shows where it needs to clean and, just as important, where it's already been so it doesn't waste energy. When it does need more juice, it knows how to find its charging station and remembers where it left off when resuming its duties all by itself.

There's only one question that remains. Can it be programmed to deliver beer?