I'm still not sold on household robots yet.<p>Looking out from where I'm sitting, I see hardwood floors, throw rugs, carpeting, and lots of accumulated, moving household detritus brought in by the family. Shoes lying haphazardly. Afghans partially off the couch and touching the floor.<p>The point isn't that I have a messy house, but that it's really difficult to isolate one function, say swiffering, and make it work, because it's related to a bunch of other functions, like putting out the cat, or picking up the living room.<p>Perhaps it makes sense in a bigger, more empty house, filled by people who don't leave lots of things askew. Don't know.<p>I'm betting in 10-15 years we'll start seeing some multi-function household robots -- perhaps that can pickup and clean. Once they reach 3 or 4 related functions instead of just one, I can see them making more sense.