Hot Bots

Robot Revival

Today's home robotics renaissance can be traced more recently to Sony's Aibo. Debuting in 1999, Aibo was one of the first toys to combine some cool talents--like the abilities to follow you around the house and to learn commands--with a sleek design. At $2500, however, the dogbot wasn't for everyone. In the United States, most Aibo buyers were geeks interested in making their own modifications. (In Japan, Sony says that Aibo serves as a companion for the elderly.) Sony has updated the wired terrier three times. The newest, $1900 model responds to some 100 commands, has wireless LAN capabilities, and sees objects more accurately for better navigation.

About a year ago, Sony introduced a new robot called Quest for Curiosity, or Qrio for short. Qrio is not on the market, and Sony has no plans to sell it anytime soon, but the company regularly demonstrates the walking robot at events. So far Qrio has conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic, interviewed Sony's CEO at an annual meeting, and thrown the first pitch at a baseball game.

For now, though, Qrio remains inaccessible to everyone except for a few Sony engineers--a disappointment for anyone who longs to play with the fun toys too.

Robohackers United

This sense of frustration has led many robotics fans to pin their hopes on people like WowWee's Tilden and Helen Greiner, the chairwoman of the board and cofounder of IRobot, which makes the $200 Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot. Both entrepreneurs are committed to marketing cutting-edge, hackable robots for a fraction of the cost of the Aibo. Roomba, which debuted in September 2002, is the world's biggest-selling domestic-assistant robot. IRobot has sold more than 500,000 units to date.

Greiner won't reveal what the next Roomba will do, but she has clear ideas about future cousins. "Think about mowing, mopping, cleaning bathtubs, dusting, watering plants, washing windows, cleaning toilets--the list goes on."

Roomba and Robosapien endeared themselves to the robotics community by encouraging purchasers to create other, unintended uses for them. A sizable subculture has sprung up around Roomba, with owners "teaching" the devices to water plants, deliver drinks, and act as security sentinels while toting Webcams.

"Letting people get inside and repurpose an existing robot is a great trend," says Mitchel Resnick, a professor at the MIT Media Lab and co-inventor of Lego Mindstorms, a popular version of Lego toys that enables users to build robotlike creatures. "I'd like to see that become more mainstream."

Robosapien hackers are making modifications of many kinds--removing the robot's hands and attaching other appendages, swapping LED lights for infrareds, and dozens more. There's even a Hack-a-Sapien contest, sponsored by Servo, a robotics magazine.