http://faerye.net/tag/robot 2010-12-25T14:04:43+00:00 Felicity Shoulders http://faerye.net/ http://faerye.net/post/robot-christmas 2010-12-25T14:04:43+00:00 2010-12-25T14:05:04+00:00 <p>Our household has taken a bold leap into the future: <a href="http://wonko.com" target="links">Ryan</a> got me a <a href="http://www.irobot.com/" target="links">Roomba</a> for Christmas. While I insist I&#8217;m not sure I&#8217;m ready for the ethical conundrums of robot ownership, I also admit that those questions don&#8217;t really apply to a vacuum whose intellectual capacity is less than that of a <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mouse_droid" target="links">mouse droid</a>.</p> <p>A much greater quandary attends the gift Ryan received from <a href="http://www.toastyfrog.net/" target="links">his mom</a>, an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot_AR.Drone" target="links">aerial drone</a> you control with your iPhone. I maintain that this is patently <em>not</em> a robot, because it&#8217;s not autonomous. However, I was soon contradicted by the drone starting and taking off by itself when Ryan switched away from the control app. I am now convinced we&#8217;ve invited a primitive <a href="http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/HK-Drone" target="links">agent of Skynet</a> into our home.</p> <p>I hope the Roomba is on our side.</p>