The Wookie and the Droid.


For the last time, Berkeley, this is not the droid you’re looking for. As any of you who’ve met me in person know, I love the little guy, but sheltie hair is the bane of my existence — it’s invariably all over my carpet, clothes, possessions, etc. (If I ever tried to commit a serious crime, the CSI guys would be at my doorstep in 24-48 hours, carrying Ziploc bags full of the stuff.) Whatsmore, Berk’s archnemesis (other than possibly the Door Buzzer) is the Vacuum Cleaner. Whenever I had it out (which was often, due to the endless shedding), he’d go absolutely ballistic, barking up a storm you can hear in the lobby five floors down.

So, given that my old vacuum had died yet again (which has twice cost me $100 to fix), and that I had to go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters anyway, I procured my first Roomba droid early this afternoon. Alas, it doesn’t speak Bocce, but I must admit, it does a pretty solid job of haphazardly sweeping every corner of my nook-and-cranny-filled apartment. Plus, it’s a droid. How cool is that?

As for Berk’s reaction, the jury is still out. On one hand, he doesn’t recognize the (quieter) Roomba unit as a member of the Vacuum clan, so mercifully there’s no more barking. But, he definitely doesn’t seem to like it tooling around his territory either, and spent most of its first cycle trying to flip it. Ah well, baby steps. I’m sure I’ll have ’em playing holographic chess in no time…Roomba, let the Berkeley win.

9 thoughts on “The Wookie and the Droid.”

  1. I think it’s funny that Wikipedia has the laws of robots and not the Readjusters, which I just looked up frantically and had to revert to the old fashioned method of looking at Foner’s Reconstruction and CVW’s Origins.

  2. At my parents’ house, Bartleby ultimately progressed from trying to fight the Roomba to trying to play with the Roomba to being mildly pissed off at the Roomba whenever it got after his tail. I think you’ll all work it out together.

  3. So would this a recommendation for the Roomba? I have a similar pet-hair dilemma (short haired cat who seems to exhale loose fur), but was concerned that it would be ineffective or fail to navigate my curiosity-shoppish home.

  4. I can’t vouch for the Roomba’s durability, having only owned it for a day, but it has picked up all the ambient dog hair around so far, and seems to eventually find its way to ever corner of my apartment (although watching it drive by huge chunks of hair several times on its randomly constructed route can be maddening at first.)

  5. Wait, what about that toture droid Vader used on the Death Star? Surely, that broke the first law? [Dork Alert].

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