Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Naming your Robot

I have a robot. Yes, I bought a vacuum-cleaning robot, made by a company called iRobot after the title of a series of tales by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1950 as I, Robot. The robot is called a Roomba. It is round, and it whirrs about and vacuums  things up from your floors for you, even going under the chesterfield. I brought it home, anxiously ripping the plastic off, and, being female read the book. Darn, I had to charge it up overnight before using. It comes with a docking port that you plug in, like a space shuttle docking with a starship. The roomba locates the docking port with an infrared signal. Line of sight. Cool.
While it was charging, I did an Internet search and found several Roomba-owner forums. Apparently, it is a requirement to name your Roomba. I couldn't think of a name. Mr. Roomba? That's a bit lame. I checked some of the naming choices. Roomba-owners seem to be fixated on 1960's era TV, and use a lot of "Rosie", especially good for the red roomba, and "Robbie" when naming. I found out that many people had a Roomba for each level of their house, and even B&B owners are using a Roomba to cut down on the work of vacuuming hallways and common areas. I also learned I have to catch the Roomba every third day to empty out his bin and check his brushes, maybe clean them as well. Hmm. This is taking some thought. Where will he live? What will I call him? (Him because mine is black not pink and I sense he is male.) It is a bit like adopting a pet.
I set him to go around at 1:00 am. That might have been a mistake as he is not silent. Whirr, whirr, bop, thump, thump, bash. I went out to look, he had gotten himself stuck under a cabinet and was forcefully trying to get out. I watched him twist and groan and, yes, he finally did get out at exactly the same angle he had come in by. I felt a bit mean, not helping, but I was curious to see if he could do it. But it helped me choose a name. Bopper. Or The Bopper. And we can thank Tom Paxton, the award-winning songwriter for this. Because I was reminded of the old tune by Tom called The Marvellous Toy. Click on the link for an ancient clip of Peter, Paul, and Mary performing this song in which the chorus sings: 
It went zip when it moved, 
And bop when it stopped, 
And whirred when it stood still. 
I never knew just what it was, 
And I guess I never will.

Getting fancy, I am putting in my first links. Roomba is, b.t.w., on FB as iRobot Roomba.
Thanks for reading 
Northstar.

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