The dream is a robot servant to pick up around the house, do laundry, cook dinner and perhaps even go on errands. The reality: cadres of little devices that clean dirt and debris from every imaginable two-dimensional surface.
It's 2014 and home robots don't look a bit like Rosie, the all-purpose mechanical maid on "The Jetsons." Even so, the appeal of outsourcing some of the most hated household chores to a machine has given rise to an array of tiny servants.
Take Grillbot. Made of heat-resistant plastic, the Grillbot has three independent motors and three rotary brass or stainless steel brushes that spin as it roams in a repetitive, random pattern over a grill surface.
Just put it on the grate and close the lid. It also has a sensor that will set off an alarm if the grill gets too hot — more than 250 degrees. It sells for $120 at grillbots.com.
Glass surfaces are also getting more attention. RoboSnail, for instance, is a rectangular bot from AquaGenesis International that wipes slime off aquarium walls. The device costs about $250.
Similar bots have been created to clean windows. WinBot and Windoro use sensors, detergent sprays and microfiber pads to move around window surfaces. Windoro retails for around $585 while WinBot's two models run $350 to $400.
The pioneers of the wandering floorbots were Electrolux, with its Trilobite, and the well-known Roomba, by iRobot, which was first released in 2002.
Several new types of cleaners have recently been introduced by iRobot. The Scooba, for instance, is a type of floor scrubber based on the design of professional-grade cleaners. There are separate tanks inside for dirty and clean water, and sensors help it navigate. It sells for $279.
Most bots do only one task because once you start adding functions, the robot becomes too heavy and expensive, said Philip Solis, an analyst at ABI Research.
