Institute For The Future

My Roomba Moment

Standing in the middle of my living room surveying the floors covered with crumbs left over from last night's seder, I finally decided—this is the Roomba moment! I've been thinking about getting the magic vacuum cleaner for a while now but the need was never urgent enough. Not until now. The prospect of spending my Sunday morning lugging around a vacuum cleaner quickly turned a "nice to have" into a "must have!". A short trip to Target later, I had the white little saucer-shaped object in my kitchen charging quietly in the corner. Yeah, it looked kinda cool and space-agey but I wasn't impressed, not yet anyway. That moment came when I pushed the "clean" button and my Roomba, looking very purposeful, started traversing my living room floor, going seamlessly from hardwood to carpets, never skipping a beat. First I stood in wonder, then I followed it around, I wanted to pet it, talk to it. My cats scattered (something they do regularly when the housekeeper arrives), the family gathered around the perimeter of the room with mouths slightly open, soon we were snapping pictures and videos—we had to share this moment with friends and family. It felt like a family moment...the Jetson family moment, and we were in it. "So this is what the future will be like," my 16 year old pondered with a slight shake of his head, "it will be like the Jetsons but the change will be gradual, so no one will notice." And suddenly all of the forecasts the Institute has been doing on sensors, smart appliances, household robotics became real. The future will be filled with Roomba's—small little things running all around the house. I immediately felt an urge to have another roomba that climbs up my walls and ceiling to dust, another that goes into hard-to-get-to corners to clean, something that scrubs my bathtub, something that mows my lawn, sweeps my porch... I can see them all, and I want them all, now! Well, at least by next seder, o.k.?