Robot Vacuums: Anyone have one?

[Sizzle]

Who has one/knows someone who has one? They seem like they'd be nothing more than novelty purchases... yet, a novelty purchase that has a practical application in that my floors would stay clean.

http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-Roomba-...owViewpoints=1

This model, for example, has 4.5 stars based on 435 reviews.

Am I crazy for thinking of spending $350 for something that will clean my floors for me?

[creekster]

Am I crazy for thinking of spending $350 for something that will clean my floors for me?

This is begging for a punch line. BEGGING. But it would be inappropriate.

[Uncle Ted]

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-that-robots-already-are-taking/

5 white-collar jobs robots already have taken

Artificial intelligence, robotics and new disruptive technology are challenging white-collar professions that previously seemed invulnerable.

For years now, some researchers have been anticipating that robots would take away jobs from humans. In the UK, Deloitte and the University of Oxford predicted that 10 million unskilled jobs could be taken over by robots. University of Oxford researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne estimated in 2013 that 47 percent of total U.S. jobs could be automated and taken over by computers by 2033.
[...]

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-that-robots-already-are-taking/

Let's see... looks like robots are going to replace pilots, financial and sports reporters, online marketers, anesthesiologists/surgeons/diagnosticians, e-discovery lawyers and law firm associates, financial analysts and advisors, and other unskilled professionals.

[ERCougar]

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs...dy-are-taking/

http://fortune.com/2015/02/25/5-jobs-that-robots-already-are-taking/

Let's see... looks like robots are going to replace pilots, financial and sports reporters, online marketers, anesthesiologists/surgeons/diagnosticians, e-discovery lawyers and law firm associates, financial analysts and advisors, and other unskilled professionals.

I stopped reading when they mentioned the specialty "diagnostician". Is there a specialty board for that?

(Seriously--I agree on anesthesiologists. They're completely replaceable. However, beyond that, I feel pretty safe. From the outside, "diagnostician" looks like it's just algorithms to arrive at a diagnosis. Indeed, even a second year med student thinks that. The big surprise of the third year of medical school is how rare it is that a patient follows the rules of their disease. Almost no one presents in the classic textbook fashion, and it's these gray zones (that almost everyone occupies) that are going to make it very hard to automate. I'm similarly skeptical of the others.)