Forget the Stinkin' Vacuums

iRobot, based in Burlington, Ma., announced last week that it's teaming with Taser International to develop robots armed with the Taser X26, which sports an integrated laser sight and internal USB data port. The new bots, tagged with the deceptively cute name "PackBot Explorer," will allow military and law enforcement to take out "dangerous suspects while keeping personnel, the suspect and bystanders out of harm's way." Brother PackBots are currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. iRobot and Taser will exhibit the new bot at annual Taser Tactical Conference next month in Chicago.What I want to know is, when will the upgrade for my Roomba become available? Can you think of a better way to get kids who are spending too much time lazing by the pool up and doing those housekeeping chores that bots can't yet handle? Me either.

Once kits to make Roombas into Taser-enabled motivational machines are mainstream, we'd like to see the company release upgrades to let the Scooba detect excessive video-game playing and proactively release a jet of soapy water to short-circuit the Wii. Too much to ask? I think not.