It’s a robot masseuse (or masseur, depending). It’s not a vacuum, but it is a consumer-level autonomous robot that does a job (massage), so I decided to include it here.
This is an interesting idea. Some engineers have put together a small, autonomous, wheeled robot. It’s designed to roll around on a person and give them a massage. The robot has tilt sensors built in so that it knows when its about to roll off your back, and also apparently “grips” while giving the massage. The wheels have fingers to massage your back (or whatever it happens to be rolling on).
Here are specifications:
- Colors available: White/blue, White/Green, White/Red, Silver/Pink, Silver/Purple, Silver/Metallic Red, Silver/Metallic Blue, Silver/Metallic Green, Metallic Black
- Size: 5″ x 3.8″ x 3.1″ (128mm x 96mm x 80mm)
- Weight: 0.73 pound (330gram)
- Speed: 1.6″/sec (4cm/sec)
- Fingerettes: Nylon
- Warranty: one year
The WheeMe uses three AA batteries. I’m hoping that it will come with a charger, but right now it looks like that’s not the case (?). It does not come with a remote control, which is fine with me. I mean, I could see it being fun – for 5 minutes. On the plus side, the robot’s gears were specially designed to be silent, so you’re not going to have something whining around on your back.
The WheeMe is available for pre-order from Dreambots website. The price is currently listed at $69 and the first robots are expected to ship in Spring of 2011. Check out the video to see the WheeMe in action, proving massages.