We gave you the rundown on iRobot’s new Scooba 230 back when it was first announced in January, but we got to see it in person at CES. First impression: it’s damn tiny. If you’re familiar with the cleaning habits of the Roomba, the Scooba won’t offer much in the way of surprises, but we had iRobot take us through it all on video anyway, and there are definitely some interesting tidbits that came up. Check it out:

As for what’s next for the Scooba, while (as always) iRobot wouldn’t speculate, I did hear several general mentions (from them) of how some kind of wireless technology would be pretty cool. Like, for areas like the kitchen and bathroom where you might want to run your Roomba first, followed by a Scooba, wireless inter-bot communication could allow you to schedule a single cleaning time where multiple robots would cooperate to do a better job. Anyway, we’ll see what happens, but as I’ve mentioned before, it’s wonderful to see iRobot (finally) pushing some new robots as opposed to just reskinned versions of their older tech.

[ iRobot Scooba 230 ]

Innvo Labs was out in force at CES 2011, the last few videos from which I’m still messing with. I know, I know feel free not to tip me this week. Anyway, I got some cute pics of their new Pleo Reborn plus 10 minutes with Innvo’s COO Derek Dotson, one of Pleo’s original daddies from back in the Ugobe days:

While it’s a bit disappointing that those adorable pink and blue Pleos won’t be available over here, and that the male and female behaviors that we heard about weren’t implemented, Pleo rb is still much more sophisticated than the original Pleo, especially in terms of software and interactivity.

I’m particularly looking forward to some of those future features that Derek alludes to in our interview, like the wireless connectivity and nose cam access. I mean, if both of those get hooked up, presto, you’ve got a remotely accessible surveillance dino. It’ll be a while yet, but just bombard Innvo with emails, ’cause they’re listening.

Looks like Pleo Reborn is backordered until about April, which is good news for Innvo and the commercial future of Pleo but bad news for you if you want one. They’re $470, and extra food and learning stone kits are $20 each.

[ Pleoworld ]

Wondering what a $15k telepresence robot can do for you? WONDER NO LONGER. With the help of a 4G wireless hotspot, this QB wandered out of the Anybots office into downtown Mountain View looking for a snack. A mile later, it found a Red Rock Coffee and ordered a berry scone, tipped something like 125% (!) and then rolled out. Classy.

While it’s a little hard to tell from the vid, I’m assuming that Anybots sent a chaperone of some sort along to make sure that nobody just grabbed QB by the neck and made off with it. And if they didn’t, well, let me know next time you send a robot out for coffee, because I totally want one and I think grand theft robot is the only way it’s gonna happen.

[ Anybots ]

Yeah, it’s cute now ’cause this is the first one, but unlike a super annoying person, you can’t necessarily just tell a super annoying robot to leave you alone and rely on it to a.) understand you and b.) care. ‘There’s no getting away from an offer this good,’ huh? You fill me with dread, Alpha Romeo.

Here’s a better way of selling a car with robots:

See? Audi knows where it’s at, but that may just be because some of their cars are robots already.

[ AdFreak ] VIA [ io9 ] and [ Sleepyrobot ]

If you gambled on pre-ordering a QB telepresence robot from Anybots, you lucked out, since QB is now officially shipping, and you’ll get your robot this week. Ordering a QB today (it’s still $15,000) will get you one in March, but the important thing is that QB is now a real commercial robotic product that anyone can buy. Welcome to the future!

I love Anybots, and I’m definitely hoping for the best, but as I’ve mentioned before I think they have their work cut out for them finding a profitable niche for a five figure telepresence robot. They’d probably argue that this economy is the right time for people to be looking at telepresence since it saves money on travel, and it may be true… But, there’s a perceptual hurdle that they have to get over first, convincing people who aren’t familiar with robots that they really can use a robot to create a beneficial physical presence elsewhere. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, but Anybots’ CEO Trevor Blackwell seemed pretty upbeat about the whole thing at their party at CES last month:

Oh, and nice hat there QB, but just what the heck were you doing in the bathroom?

[ Anybots ]

We’ve been waiting for this moment for literally three years now. Keepon, everyone’s favorite yellow squishbot and arguably the world’s best robot dancer, is going to be available.

For you.

To buy.

For $40.

$40!

BeatBots, maker of the Keepon Pro (the $30,000 research Keepon) has partnered with the UK’s Wow! Stuff (who also made this) to create ‘My Keepon,’ a toy version of the Keepon that we know and love. From the press release:

Wow!’s design experts and robotics engineers, based in their recently-opened Los Angeles office, worked closely with BeatBots to design a toy that captured the essence of the Keepon character while replicating the robot’s most engaging interactive traits. These features include reactivity to touch and an amazing ability to listen to music, detect the beat, and dance in perfect rhythm!

But most importantly, Wow! Stuff and BeatBots are working to ensure that the success of My Keepon will directly support the social welfare goals at the heart of the Keepon story. “A percentage of the profit from each My Keepon will go towards subsidizing and donating BeatBots’ research-grade robots to therapists and researchers,” said Taylor. “We are so proud to make Keepon available to a broader audience, and we will choose retail partners who also feel proud to sell him.”

Michalowski commented, “Our dream is to make Keepon Pro units widely available to researchers and practitioners. Our work with Keepon suggests that the character’s simplicity, combined with a caregiver’s ability to conduct mediated interactions through the robot, can facilitate social engagement in a novel and exciting way. We hope that the toy version of our robot can channel public excitement towards general autism awareness while supporting our distribution of tools and resources to people and organizations around the world working to understand and treat it.”

Sadly, these are all the details that I’ve got for you at the moment. I did talk with Dr. Michalowski a little bit about the toy, and I can say that they’re trying very hard to make sure that the core functionality (and look) that makes Keepon Pro so endearing will be there in the toy version. It’s easy to look at that $40 price point with concern, but I’m optimistic, and it’s also important to remember that commercializing My Keepon is going to help make Keepon Pro cheaper and more available to people who need it, so it’s good news for everyone.

My Keepon is still in the prototype stage, but we’ve been promised one of the first review units when they’re available, which means you’ll get the first look at them too. SWEET!

[ BeatBots ]

Along with the new Scooba 230, iRobot has today unveiled a redesigned version of the Roomba, the 700 series. There are three different models: the 760, 770, and 780, and similar to other Roomba series, they mostly seem to differ from each other in frills. Here are the core upgrades from the 500 series:

-New design is smaller and sleeker.

-Battery life is 50% longer than previous generations (although it’s not clear whether they’re talking about the ‘premium’ Roombas with the increased battery life).

-I’ll quote this from the PR: “Persistent Pass Cleaning Pattern – when Roomba senses excessive dirt and debris, it uses a brush-like, back and forth motion to focus its cleaning effort in the dirty area it has detected.” Interesting; we’ll have to see it in operation.

The 770 and 780 include a few extras not present in the 760:

-Also quoted from the PR: “Debris Detector uses an optical sensor to detect larger, soft particles on the floor like popcorn, lint or paper chads, so Roomba can respond by focusing its cleaning pattern to ensure deeper, concentrated cleaning in that area.” The 760 doesn’t do this, so we’ll have to find out how exactly this differs from the regular ‘dirt detect’ feature that the 500 series Roombas have, and whether that feature is present in the 760.

-They both light up an indicator light when their dust bins are full.

-The 780 has a fancy capacitive touch sensor interface. No more buttons!

The Roomba 760 starts at $449; the 770 and and 780 will certainly be more expensive, possibly in $50 increments but we’ll find out shortly… We’ll be getting our first look and hands-on at CES starting Tuesday, and we’ve just scheduled a personal demo and interview on Friday, so stay tuned.

We’ve been begging iRobot to come out with something new and different for years now, and with the success of the Neato XV-11 and the Mint Sweeper, they’ve kicked things up a notch (or two) with four new models: the Scooba 230, and Roomba 760 770 and 780. It’s probably no coincidence that CES starts on Tuesday, and we’re going to make sure to get some demos and an interview while we’re there. In the meantime, here’s the rundown on the new mini-Scooba, the 230, and there’s a video of it in action too.

-At 6.5″ in diameter and 3.5″ tall, it’s tiny, and much better at getting around bathrooms than a full size Scooba.

-Uses either regular water or a soap solution to wash, scrub, and then vacuum up the dirty water to clean your tile or sealed hardwood floors, just like a full-size Scooba. Clean and dirty water are kept separate.

-It’s got all the same navigation abilities as the rest of iRobot’s cleaning robots and can use virtual walls.

-Cleans in either a 20 or 45 minute cycle, depending on the size of the room, but offers ‘single button’ operation so I’m not sure yet whether that’s an automatic thing or not.

-The dirty water can be dumped out by holding the robot over the sink; fill it with clean water directly from a faucet. The brushes pop out for easy cleaning.

-Looks like there’s a dock of sorts, but it may not be self-docking or self-charging.

-$299, available this spring.

[ iRobot Scooba 230 ]

We wrote about robotic road trains last year, and somewhat remarkably, the research project that’s trying to make them happen is progressing nicely with help fro companies like Volvo. Cars drafting closely behind trucks in road trains save up to 40% in fuel consumption, thereby saving money and the environment at the same time. But the biggest advantage of being in a road train is that you can just stop paying attention to the road and do something else while your car drives itself.

It’s true that your life is in the hands of the system, and not in your hands, but while the current perception is that that makes things more dangerous, it really should be the exact opposite. With your car doing all the hard work for you, accidents are less likely.

Of course, the system is only as safe as the lead driver, so many different technologies are being employed to make sure that the person driving the truck is sober, qualified, and paying attention. This includes a breathalyzer and a fancy infrared camera system for vision tracking to make sure that the driver is paying attention to the road.

Other especially exciting bits from the video include mentions of ‘several years from now’ for road trains themselves, and the suggestion that technology to allow cars to drive themselves in stop and go traffic jams might be just around the corner. As we’ve discussed before, the technology (adaptive full stop cruise control and lane keeping) is already here and in some cars, we just have to catch up in terms of people (and lawyers) being comfortable with it.

VIA [ Wired ]

Be assured, after just one use kitty won’t be coming anywhere near your Roomba ever again. Also works on turtles.

Speaking of Robot Add-Ons (you remember them, right?), they’re offering 15% off plus free shipping until November 11th on any of their awesome Roomba and Scooba upgrades. Get your holiday shopping done early (for your robots, at least).

[ Robot Add-Ons ]