missing roomba

Owning a Roomba or other automated cleaning robot to take care of floor dust can be such an awesome convenience. But you’d better take care and show them some appreciation, because these handy tools have been known to escape when overworked and left unattended. Remember the rogue Roomba that restlessly cleaned the streets around Tokyo’s Kanda train station? Well, it’s happened again in a different part of the world, but this time it’s the owners who sounded the alarm.

In China, the loving family of a runaway vacuum cleaner recently posted this missing persons ad for their poor, lost robot. The innocent little neat freak must have made a run for the open door while the owners weren’t paying attention. The robot’s whereabouts are currently unknown. Maybe the machine was looking to escape its unseemly workload, or perhaps the dirt outside compelled the hard-working robot to become a street cleaner. Either way, the independent vacuum is clearly very much loved back home, and its family hopes for its safe return.

Honestly, we’re pretty used to seeing these kinds of posters for lost pets, but runaway Roombas is a relatively new phenomenon. Although, as increasingly more people come to rely on household technology for everyday tasks, there’s a good chance this won’t be the last robot at large we find featured in the news.

In preparation for this and other technological upgrades, let’s try keeping the doors of our houses shut when we’re not in the room. If you’re in need of fresh air, try opening a window instead. New robot owners run a high risk of losing their mechanical helpers to the outside world if they’re not used to keeping doors closed.

Of course, if you do happen to notice that your Roomba or other cleaning machine is getting restless and needs to go for a walk, there’s nothing that says you can’t take it outside for a stroll. Just be sure to keep a close eye on it or put it on a leash for its own safety.

▼ Missing Robot.  Please contact the owners if found.

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▼ For those who need a reminder of the rogue Roomba in Kanda, first featured on Twitter.

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▼ And, as an added bonus, here’s video of a Roomba confronted with the outside world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBBLA1RKcqA

Source: Byoukan Sunday (Japanese)