The RobotShop Ultimate Challenge is moving along quickly now; the Roomba 500 series has completed all the tests and its final score is now available. If you recall, the robot vacuums are being scored by 15 different performance tests: how well they pick up debris, how fast they clean, how loud they are, etc. With the Roomba 500 series’ results now in, you’re going to have some cold hard facts to back up your purchase decision.

Check out the video below explaining the results and demonstrating the tests. Watch until the end to see some rather brutal (and  funny) tests that  seem to have been rejected.

RobotShop launches the Ultimate Roomba Resource Center, a webpage dedicated to all things Roomba.

All brought together in one place, the Ultimate Roomba Resource Center has a little something for everyone, whether you’re looking to buy your first Roomba, or already are a seasoned Roomba owner and looking to get the most out of your robot.

Among other things, a detailed Comparison Table has been included that breaks each model down for you, so you can choose the correct Roomba the first time. RobotShop plans to continually update this resource to make it the one-stop for all things Roomba, check back regularly as we will be continually adding content.

Mass High Tech has posted an interview with iRobot’s CEO, Colin Angle, on their plans for the future. Angle discusses their plans to combat the “demographic shift” of a 4:1 caregiver to care-needer ratio to a 1:1 ratio in the next 20 years. In other words, in the next 20 years, there will be a huge need for people or robots to take care of the elderly. iRobot is now focusing on how to help people perform physical tasks that may become difficult as we age. They are starting with plans for a “robot buddy” – probably much like the iRobot ConnectR prototype from a few years back. The new initial products will have a consumer focus, but will leverage government funding to make them cost effective.

As for other home innovations, Angle says, “We’re not done there by any stretch of the imagination.”

What do you think will be the next cool robot to come out of iRobot?

[Via @iRobotSPARK via @Transbotica]

This little gem came to me courtesy of my friend Greg Baker, who is a lecturer in Computer Science at Simon Fraser University. Thanks Greg! This one was too cool to pass up.

Gåågle - It’s not as weird to pronounce as you’d think. It’s actually pronounced like Google and you’ll begin to see why soon enough. Gåågle Bot is a modified remote-control Roomba that bears a webcam, fueled by real-time AJAX calls that zips around taking pictures and indexing the real world as it sees it. Vacuum, index. I love efficiency!

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The name GåågleBot is a play on the words gÃ¥ and google bot. The Swedish word for go is gåå. Googlebot, is the name of Google’s web indexer. If you don’t know what Google is, you are either lying or out of luck. Hence GåågleBot is a “going” indexer, indexing the real world around us while vacuuming your home at the same time! Can’t find that library book that is due tomorrow? Relax, just Gåågle it!

Excited about this bot? Head over here and give it a try. There is also a pretty nifty video as well showing the bot in action. The main site has all of the components listed, the source code, and other tidbits to get you started building your own remote-control crawler.

If Presidents, Veterens, and Laborors get only a day, what do we give robotics? How about a whole week! That’s right, National Robotics Week has been announced and is slated for April 10-18, 2010.  The event is headed up by iRobot, along with a whole slew of robotics companies and organizations.

During National Robotics Week, a week-long series of events and activities is aimed at increasing public awareness of the growing importance of “robo-technology” and the tremendous social and cultural impact that it will have on the future of the United States.

• Celebrate the US as a leader in robotics technology (because we’re falling behind).
• Educate the public about the ongoing social and cultural impact of robotics technology (let’s avoid robomageddon).
• Advocate for increased funding for robotics technology research and development (well, at least their being honest. It’s not like most of iRobot’s funding doesn’t come from this).
• Inspire students of all ages to pursue careers in robotics and other science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related fields (see the first bullet point).