(Credit:
iRobot)
NEW YORK--Gadget-freak homeowners may never have to face the gunk of fall fallout ever again.
iRobot's CEO Colin Angle is expected to unveil two new robots at the DigitalLife 2007 consumer electronics show in New York on Thursday.
The Looj, which was accidentally leaked in August by the Federal Communications Commission Web site, is a remote-control robot that cleans out the gutters on the outside of a home.
(Credit:
iRobot)
The $99 robot's mobile base was based on that of iRobot's military PackBot, only on a much smaller scale. The robot can be slid into a gutter and then driven by remote control. An auger drills into the mess of leaves and debris, while paddles scoop it out and fling it...we're not sure where. A small brush sweeps up any remaining crumbs.
"It's a safer, faster way of addressing that job that's otherwise neglected...It takes a nasty job and brings it to the domain of acceptable annoyance," iRobot CEO Colin Angle told CNET News.com in an interview.
Millions of teenagers may be rejoicing that they no longer have to face the gunk of fall fallout, but someone is going to have to clean up the wet nastiness that gets flung to the ground.
The company that dispatches robots to clean your floors now wants to scour America's gutters.
Next up from iRobot is a gutter-cleaning machine, according to recently filed photos, diagrams and documents that were discovered by Engadget on an FCC Web site.
The new robot is called the Looj, according to a confidentiality request filed on August 28, which seems to have been granted on August 29.
All the photos and diagrams on the Federal Communications Commission site have been made confidential until October 13, but not before Engadget was able to snag one diagram and one photo of the Looj.
Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot was not immediately available for comment, but CEO Colin Angle did say in a recent interview that consumers could expect to see two new robots at the Digital Life, which will take place in New York at the end of September.
Guess we know now that one of them is the gutter-cleaning Looj.
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