I understand that robotic vacuum cleaners are now available - little machines that just go around your floor, cleaning away, while you do other things http://www.irobot.com/sp.cfm?pageid=128

I have to say that this is really appealing to me - of all household jobs, floor cleaning is my least favorite. I think I'll wait awhile to get one, this doesn't do everything I want - I want one that will do the stairs, too!

So in an ideal world, what job would you like to see a robot for? What should the techies get busy inventing? I wouldn't mind a little item that quietly shined my windows, and something really small that crawled along all flat surfaces in the home, removing dust, would be great, too. Something for lawn care would be nice, too - though I believe those might already be available. How about you?

Oh wow, so many things!

I have seen the robotic vacuum cleaners, a store had a sort of tray thing with one going around, it seemed to bump the edges so I don't know how it will work with precious furniture, also it missed bits! However, I guess I could live with the drawbacks, I hate vacuuming.

Something to automatically clean the kitchen floor would be good, without leaving it wet.

Something to pick up behind me, to tidy my rubbish away.

Something to clean the cooker, yes I know they are supposed to self-clean, but they don't - my oven door glass is brown, and not by design.

Something to change the bedding for me, then to load it in the washer, then drier, then fold it and put it in the airing cupboard.

Something to load my other laundry, having sorted first into loads, then to do all the necessary, and iron some of it then sort it into piles.

Something to load and unload the dishwasher, then put the clean stuff away.

Oh so many things. Come to think of it, I had one of those 'things', it was known as a 'treasure' and she used to come to the house five mornings each week. Her first task used to be to bathe and dress a soggy baby! Alas, she died.

So let us get back to designing some machines to do the nasty stuff for us.

My absolute have - to - have robot would sweep then mop these 90 year old hardwood floors, which are unsealed and almost never look presentable. That is,unless I get down on my hands and knees and 'manicure 'them myself with Murphy's oil soap. Or maybe it would be easier to wish for refinished floors?

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Something to clean the cooker, yes I know they are supposed to self-clean, but they don't - my oven door glass is brown, and not by design.

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Cleaning the oven is my absolute least fav. job too, and mine doesn't even pretend to be self-cleaning!

They have the robotic ones here, but, I don't think they do that great a job.
What gets me is the fact that, depending on the flooring you have, carpet, wood, brick, linoleum or tile, it will look untidy at a different rate. The worst flooring I had was in Alsace Lorrain with tiling that hadn't been properly sealed. If you dropped a crumb on it, it would immediately make a grease stain, if you dropped a bag of chips it would make a bunch of them. It drove me out of my everloving mind as I like an efficient place to clean in about a half an hour if someone calls up.

Carpeting, well, the problem is that it's not really hygienic because of dust and allergies. But, I have it in most places in my house and vaccuuming is not as efficient as all that because, we've gone through three vaccuum cleaners in two years.

Cleaning the oven is a chore, but the self cleaning thing here actually works. I bought the oven liners you put on the bottom and wonder why I waited so long. It just takes one time of overflowing to make it worthwhile.
This house has two identical ovens and what's neat is you can use either one or both when you have company. I have the toaster oven which is my favorite for just about everything. The kids use the microwave and I use it maybe about once a week as I hate microwaves.

The stovetop, unfortunately there's no perfect one, and I just got a ceramic one installed and remembered why I hadn't been so keen on it. If you're cooking and something spills and lands on the heated portion, it sizzles etc...and you can't clean it until the thing cools down.
By that time, it's stuck worse, and you must use the razor blade thing.
We had the old style electric coil thing, and that one was terrible. It was crooked and things would burn.
I wanted gas cooking, but, the gas line in this house had a problem, so, I didn't want to risk it.

I wouldn't mind a robot using the Murphy's on the cabinetry which is in good shape still. That's a really long job.

Ok, here's one for you, that if there was a robot for it,it wouldn't be bad, but if not, it really works but you have to put on some loud rock and roll music and wear a funny costume to keep up your spirits...the toilet rings can be removed with the pumice stone thing they sell...it really works and it's not a chemical thing that is dangerous etc.
I know I had to use the acid method in one house we'd rented but that's hard to use as the minute you put it in there, you need to go!

I know an engineer who makes robots for industry. Actually, it was highly controversial as it 'took jobs away from humans' but his philosophy was that it took away the dangerous jobs that would ruin their health and let the machine do it. Painting vehicles and assembly was one of the most common things they could do. I doubt if they'd really invest too much money in making it clean ovens and scrub toilets because, without being entirely cynical, they probably figure women do it quite well!
Yet the toxic chemicals in that sort of job are pretty bad. I have stopped using anything harsh unless it's absolutely dire and necessary.

It's not exactly a robot, but has anyone else tried the automatic cashier machine? I mean the ones that you put the groceries on the conveyor belt and follow the lady's voice and it tells you what to do..
I use it at several places, but invariably, it won't recognize the vegetables and fruit I get.
Then they have to have a human there to help you anyhow.