Cleaners that do SLAM

Here is an interesting talk about the Neato cleaning robot. I knew that this robot used a type of low cost laser scanner, but I didn't know to what (if any) extent it was able to do SLAM. This video presentation makes it clear that the robot is capable of SLAM, and is actually quite a smart machine able to navigate between rooms and recharge itself quite competently. It's definitely a big improvement over the previous Roomba generation of floor cleaners.

The next stage up from cleaning the floor would be to use a similar mobile base for a telerobot, which you can command to go to particular locations at particular times. Even without any manipulation ability this could facilitate some early stage applications, such as hospital or care home visits, factory or office inspections and virtual holidays. Of these I think virtual holidays at desirable/exclusive locations would be the most commercially lucrative, since the robot is a scarce resource and users could bid to spend time on it in a manner reminiscent of ebay.