“Robot” was one of my toddler's first words. He sometimes stops to say "bye bye robot" to the Roomba on the way out the door to daycare.

Something about them triggers some kind of anthropomophization instinct in us.

Intentionally designed or not, the way the roomba crashes around the house, with it's "extra dirt" light occasionally going off and it circling on an area, does rather resemble an enthusiastic puppy suffling around an exciting new space.

The prospect of going back to manual vacuuming after owning a Roomba would make me sad too. ;)

Same. After the first week, I decided I'd buy another the day this one broke. Sooooo much time saved.

I once built a line of sumo fighting robots and when it came time to sell them I couldn't do it. They were my babies. So I kept them. :)

We invest in objects, watch a gearhead after something happens to there car. Never mind sailors and ships.

Personally, I'm happy when my kids don't touch the Roomba for two whole days and just let it do its job.