Bought a Robotic Vacuum cleaning maid!

Yep - I'm now living in the world of George Jetson - got my own Robotic Vacuum cleaning Maid!
Well - sorta. Actually, it IS a robot - but all it does is vacuum. As far as it being a Maid - well, that is a just a "slight" bit of embellishment there, it actually resembles an overgrown pie plate on wheels ;-)

What is this wonderful invention of the future that is available today? It is a ROOMBA! Y'all can read about them HERE:

As a gadgeteer (no - that is NOT something like a mouseketeer!) who finds it difficult to resist buying techno-gadgets - I've long delayed taking the Roomba plunge until I was able to buy one inexpensively during the latest "Woot-Off" and received just it last week.

So far, the cats are pretty fascinated by it - and amazingly enough - are not afraid of it.
Unfortunately, the Roomba has no eyes, so in a Cat vs Roomba game of "Chicken" it's always the cat who flinches in the end and has to scamper out of the way.

There is a large hacking culture around these things, which I am only just beginning to dip my toes into.
It has a serial port which I am just DYING to connect a terminal up to - to be able to see what makes the Roomba tick, and if there is any way I can "improve" it :-)

Unfortunately, they have not made a stair climbing Roomba yet - so if you have more than a single floor to clean, you need multiple Roombas - unless you enjoy lugging them up and down stairs all the time...