What's that Roomba, you say Timmy is stuck in a well? A Roomba vacuuming robot did more than clean the floor for one family in Israel, killing a venomous Vipera palaestinae by, apparently, running over the snake and wrapping the creature around one of its rotating brushes. The family credits the robot for sparing their children and pets from possible snakebite. Good boy. (Via Engadget)
Roomba: 1, Deadly Snake: 0
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Great. It can take on a viper, but is utterly defeated by a Barcelona Chair.
St. Roomba, chases snakes out of Israel, details at 11.
The Naga was sent to warn the humans of the robot takeover, but before he could speak, he was killed by one of the small sucking ones who pretend to be man's servants.
Is the snake the first fatality caused by a domestic robot?
Skynet's plan to lull the humans into a false sense of security was going well....
Maybe they'll be reprogrammed to police the separation barrier. Security first!
Won't ANYONE think about the poor snake?!?!
Did anyone here see the Nature episode on PBS this fall about Black Mambas?:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/black-mamba/introduction/5260/
Too bad the Roomba didn't have a Thea Litschka-Koen algorithm at its disposal.
I'm curious. Was the did the roomba "purposefully" kill the snake, or was it an accident?
I've had my bare foot run over by a Roomba. Hurts like all hell. I'm not surprised that it took on a snake and won - and I find it strangely reassuring, but wow, I'm going to be way more careful with it from now on.
My mothers boyfriend lives in a farmhouse he has done up in East Gippsland, Australia. Snakes are a common hazard there and he has chewed up a few of them while mowing around his house.
Better him than me, thats all I can say.
>echko:
>I'm curious. Was the did the roomba "purposefully"
>kill the snake, or was it an accident?
A roomba doesn't have enough intelligence to be purposeful. It is a thing of pure blind reflex.
Pee Wee Herman was on The Tonight Show last night. He showed a YouTube clip of a cat riding a Roomba, then he and Conan O'Brien rode around on giant Roombas. It was silly and fun, and great to see Pee Wee on TV again.
I for one welcome our new Roomba overlords.
Riki Tiki Roomba!!!