" It was Tomy, of all companies, that released what was technically the first robot vacuum back
in 1985. Sure, the Dustbot was a big-eyed, extremely blinky kids' toy, but the dustpan and
brush it carried was nought but a clever ruse. There was a vacuum in there, and it was able
to sense edges and change directions. Not the most efficient thing in the world, not even
particularly useful really. But it was the first.
iRobot was the company to break through in 2002, with a disc-shaped device called the
Roomba, which served chiefly as a cat locomotion and rotation device, moving around a
given space in a more or less random-looking pattern while spinning brushes and running a
micro-vacuum that might, on a good day, suck the skin off a custard that had sat around for
30 minutes.
