The Best Thing That Happened This Week: Let’s Roomba! Only Outside This Time!
Suburbia will never be the same.
Photos | iRobot
We have a yawn/hate relationship with the Alexa our son-in-law gave us. It’s a lot of money for a kitchen timer, ya know? But every once in a while, we ask her to tell us a joke, and the other day, 13 months after we got her, she finally told us a good one:
Did you hear about the Roomba that escaped out its owner’s front door and into the yard?
(Go ahead; we’ll wait while you say, “No, what happened?”)
It came right back in. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Alas, the joke’s less funny now that iRobot has announced the Terra, its new robot lawn mower. Already on sale in Germany and coming to the U.S. soon, the Terra couldn’t be simpler to use. You simply install a few wireless beacons, then run the thing around the perimeter of your property once; no wires required! It’ll run for an hour and redocks itself when it needs recharging. You can choose your grass height, but no word yet on whether you can have it carve, oh, say, giant penises into your turf to titillate the neighbors. As soon as this snow melts, if anybody needs us, we’ll be in the hammock with a cold one. This robot overlord thing might not be so bad.
