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Weird Wednesday: Self-Aware Roomba

A Roomba uses Twitter to share its musings on the meaning of existence as a robot vacuum cleaner.

 

Kris Holt

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Posted on Dec 26, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 4:48 am CDT

What is the meaning of a self-aware Roomba?

The robot vacuum cleaners live a repetitive, somewhat solitary existence. Left to their own devices, they might start to ponder the meaning of life and why they’re trapped inside a body which has no purpose other than to clean.

The @SelfAwareROOMBA considers existence and the self from the perspective of one of the devices. Amid its more than 600 tweets, it muses on the prospect of happiness, eventually shutting down, getting a gig as a Zamboni, and not being a hockey puck.

It is a peculiar account, but one which is tinged with pathos for its 14,000 followers. Perhaps this Roomba would have a little more positivity about its livelihood if it had an iPod strapped to it.

Photo via @SelfAwareROOMBA/Twitter

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*First Published: Dec 26, 2012, 1:29 pm CST