But as life(style)-changing as these technologies may be, I have never really treated them as "ground-breaking" advancements; to me they have been more like ingenious inventions that have proven to be very useful. Nothing major.
Well, until now. For me, nothing speaks science fiction or 21st Century as Artificial Intelligence. And when you speak of AI, Robotics can't be very far behind. Once you embrace these technologies, then to me you have severed the last of ties that still bound you with the 20th Century. That is what I have done today. I have welcomed into our home a 14"x18" box that represented the future:
Yes, I am now one of the proud owners of a Roomba. I have done some research and if what I've read is accurate, it will prove to be a time saver for what we intend to use it: day-to-day cleaning. Nothing thorough, but just decent cleaning akin to the nightly sweeping we used to do in the Philippines. Having also seen the nice deal they had on this model in Buy.com, I decided to take the plunge.
Opening the package, I can't help but feel a whiff of excitement, like a child opening a Christmas present that he knows is impressive but is a bit unsure of what it actually does...
Inspecting the main unit, I saw this sticker, which made me realize even more of the wide-reaching potential of this technology:
I can't wait to test it.
