iRobot's Roombas Get Drunk on a Seemingly-Alcoholic Firmware Update — But Strong Coffee Will Follow
Users report drunk Roombas causing havoc in households across the world, but iRobot says a sobering update is on the way.
iRobot has confirmed it is working on a fix for a software update which gives its iconic robot vacuum cleaners the impression of being drunk — but warns it may be several weeks until an update has been fully rolled out.
Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, which map their environment and autonomously wander around cleaning up after you, are popular among makers both as household devices and as targets for hacks from integrating a Raspberry Pi to turning one into a telepresence robot — or even taking the design as inspiration for a robotic vacuum cleaner capable of flight.
What nobody has attempted before, though, is to get a Roomba drunk - but that's exactly what iRobot's latest official software update appears to have done, with users reporting that their home cleaning companions have started spinning on the spot, bumping into things, forgetting their carefully-prepared room maps, or just giving up altogether.
According to The Verge, iRobot has confirmed that the issue has been caused by the 3.12.8 firmware update, and that it is working on an update to the update which will sober the robots back up again - but that it could take "the next several weeks" to roll the update out to all users.
In the meantime, makers could do worse than investigate some of the open source alternatives to the Roomba — and even consider programming their own "drunk mode" as an Easter egg.
