Digital Dan Dubno Reporting
So getting ready for CES means getting the house cleaned before I leave for Las Vegas and nothing has made that drudgery sweeter than unleashing the new iRobot Roomba 980. Don’t bother getting off the couch: you control this latest home-cleaning vacuuming robot with an app that is easy to set up on your smartphone. Push a button and the sensor-laden droid is whisking around carpets and wood floors with a quiet rumble and whine but with far more suction than earlier models. The unit has a nifty up-facing camera that is mapping your home allowing it to efficiently clean and navigate its way around. iRobot is proud of this camera technology because they believe that in the future the maps it is creating will be useful in integrating other in-house Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. After two hours of going room to room, the robot knows it needs a recharge and zips back to its charging station. All you’ve got to do is empty it. The rubber floor rollers don’t get all tangled up in hair and even wires like old Roombas did. A delight for the home and for couch potatoes like me.