News > Midsized Companies
    SAVE   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT   |   RSS  
The mop of the future?
Report: Scooba, the latest offering from iRobot, angles to remove mopping from 'hate doing it' list.
May 24, 2005: 8:45 AM EDT
Scooba resembles Roomba -- like a home bathroom scale on wheels.
Scooba resembles Roomba -- like a home bathroom scale on wheels.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - There's a new robotic housecleaning appliance that will do your dirty work for you.

IRobot, the maker of Roomba the robotic vacuum cleaner, previewed Scooba the robotic mop Monday, although it won't be available in stores until the holiday season, according to USA Today.

Scooba scrubs hardwood, tile, linoleum or any other bare floor with cleaning liquid, rinses it, then sucks up the excess water and stores it to be dumped later using artificial intelligence, the newspaper said.

The company recommends using only Clorox cleaning fluid, which prevents Scooba from skidding or spinning its wheels.

Unlike a regular mop, Scooba does not redistribute dirty water, CEO Colin Angle said.

The retail price has not yet been established, but Angle says it will cost slightly more than a Roomba, which sells for about $280.

IRobot has sold more than 1.2 million Roomba cleaners since the product's introduction in September 2002, the newspaper said.

Scooba should appeal to just as broad a market as Roomba, Angle said. "We aim our products at the axis of 'hate doing it' and 'have to do it often,'" he says. "Mopping is near the top of a lot of people's 'hate doing it' list."

Angle said his goal for iRobot is eventually to make a suite of robots that do housework, according to the newspaper.

Are high-end appliances worth the price? Click here.  Top of page

graphic


YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
IRobot
Retail
Manage alerts | What is this?