Robot Reviews

Are you sure your Roomba's doing its job while you're not around?

It's hard to find reliable help these days. And with developments in artificial intelligence making robots smart enough to lie, you can't totally count on these machines to stick to their job descriptions.

It's a good thing some people are thinking of creating robots whose sole purpose is to keep an eye on things while you're away. The Mint Pet Care Robot is one such machine. Although still in its conceptual stage, it looks quite promising. 

Through its pair of stereoscopic cameras and mics, you can see and hear what's happening in the room where it's stationed. Audio and video data is streamed to you via wi-fi and a fast Internet connection. 

It's also equipped with a speaker so you can convey your message as if you were speaking inside the room.

As the name implies, the Mint Pet Care Robot is actually designed to watch over your pet and to keep it entertained (pet owners know what happens when they get bored). However, if your Roomba's got that chore (keeping your chihuahua from boredom) covered, the Pet Care Robot can instead make sure you know what those two are up to.

Once you don't like what you see, you can instruct the Mint Pet Care Robot to take over the entertainment chores. It can deploy its own toy - a ball that you can control remotely (through the robot). So in effect, you can play with your pet even when you're in the middle of a meeting. 

Naturally, the remote-controlled ball will have to be charged every now and then. So if your pet, the ball, and your Roomba all get tired, they can crawl back to their respective docking bays.