A race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world

January 10, 2007 8:51 AM

An' all the hot cats on the blockhave been doing it too - c'mon now, honey, I wanna do it with you. Anyone hoping to build their own Death Probe without dismantling the vaccum cleaner or floor waxer can rejoice. The creators of Roomba and Scooba have released a barebones version. Add-on software from Microsoft is available, should more ambitious types decide to pair iRobot's tech with LEGO MindStorms pieces.
posted by Smart Dalek (17 comments total)

blah blah blah welcome blah blah new vacuum cleaner overlords blah blah.

Nice post. Can't wait to see a Roomba-mod Flickr group.
posted by hifiparasol at 8:59 AM on January 10, 2007

Bionic Hamster

A hamster will be located in the back on the iRobot Create, inside a clear plastic sphere. By running in the sphere the hamster will control where the robot moves, and the speed of the robot.

How could you not love this?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:59 AM on January 10, 2007

Cool -- make your own Smart Dalek!
posted by LordSludge at 9:14 AM on January 10, 2007

My sister was terrified of that Steve Austin Death Probe as a kid. When we realized that, my brother and I commenced chasing her around with a swiveling office chair on wheels, going "Woo-woo, woo-woo, woo-woo". Sheer toddler terror was the predictable result. An early formative experience for all three of us. Ahh memories [sniff].
posted by Mister_A at 9:21 AM on January 10, 2007

I must compliment you, Smart Dalek, on your exhaustive use of tags. Well done!
posted by Richard Daly at 9:23 AM on January 10, 2007

How many hardpoints? Only a question of time before someone mounts a weapon.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:36 AM on January 10, 2007

All those tags, and you couldn't even spell "vacuum" correctly?

Great post. I love the Bela Lugosi reference in the title.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:43 AM on January 10, 2007

[Sunday, actual conversation]
me: ATSI,2
roomba: BlueRadio
me: NO
me: ATSN,Roomba
me: ATSI,2
roomba: Roomba
me: YOURE SO SMART OH YES YOU ARE
posted by eddydamascene at 9:51 AM on January 10, 2007

How many hardpoints? Only a question of time before someone mounts a weapon.

That may happen sooner than you think, Meatbomb. I don't have the link, but someone already built an automated turret by grafting a paintball pistol onto a USB foam dart launcher. I should also mention that I avoided linking to a video where a Wii controller acts as a Roomba remote, out of concerns for the creator's bandwidth; fortunately, it's also available on YouTube.

All those tags, and you couldn't even spell "vacuum" correctly?

Nobody's prefekt. You've got your floating-point errors, and I've got mine.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:58 AM on January 10, 2007

Your favorite vacuum robot sucks.
posted by potch at 10:32 AM on January 10, 2007

(holy hell i want one give me one now)
posted by potch at 10:32 AM on January 10, 2007

How many hardpoints? Only a question of time before someone mounts a weapon.

It may be iRobot that does it. See this post.
posted by eddydamascene at 10:44 AM on January 10, 2007

ha ha ha ha ha, a friend and I have been discussing how to build a Dalek on top of a Roomba now for a week or two...

And now this!!!
posted by davros42 at 12:20 PM on January 10, 2007

MetaFilter: YOURE SO SMART OH YES YOU ARE
posted by davejay at 12:34 PM on January 10, 2007

In that video of the wii-controlled roomba, he made the controls the exact opposite of intuitive; twist right to rotate the roomba left? tilt forward to move backward? WTF?
posted by davejay at 12:38 PM on January 10, 2007

You know I have always wanted to make my friends Roomba's into Daleks. I need to get my hands on one of these now.
posted by MrBobaFett at 4:07 PM on January 10, 2007

davejay: the programmer must've been a flight sim fan. The reverse placemen's styled like a pilot's yoke.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:18 PM on January 10, 2007