{"id":772,"date":"2013-02-22T13:29:29","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T18:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=772"},"modified":"2013-07-07T16:59:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T21:59:03","slug":"irobot-no-not-that-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecooptimism.com\/?p=772","title":{"rendered":"iRobot (No, not that one)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new Wrongest Product Award<\/a> nominee<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a fan of robots \u2013 miniature or otherwise \u2013 as much as the next eco geek raised on science fiction (interspersed with a suitable amount of actual science). Though I haven\u2019t bought a Roomba<\/a> (our dog does a pretty good imitation of one, at least as far as edible dirt is concerned), I do show photos of a robotic lawnmower<\/a>, solar powered of course, in some of my ecodesign classes. And I can sort of see the value in a silicon-based life form that cleans the crud off barbeque grills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But this one<\/a>, a small robotic cleaner for smartphones and tablets, nominated by EcoOptimist reader Wouter Ulburghs, defies any attempt at justification. While I\u2019m intrigued by the idea of robot window cleaners<\/a> for tall buildings and nanobots that eat dust (so long as they can differentiate dead skin from live and don\u2019t lead to \u201cgray goo\u201d apocalypse<\/a>), it\u2019s not exactly a burden, as Ulburghs notes, to wipe the schmutz off your iPhone screen.<\/p>\n

\"robot<\/a><\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re at this, let\u2019s take a moment to note how many of the Wrongest Product Award nominees originate from Japan, land of the Unuseless inventions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Previous Wrongest Product Award nominations<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The <\/i>Wrongest Product Awards<\/a> will go to those products (and their designers) that embody the least amount of redeeming value while incurring the use of unnecessary, often gratuitous, materials or energy.<\/i><\/p>\n

How is this relevant to EcoOptimism, you might ask? Easy \u2013 it shows how extraneous so many products are, often in a \u201cwhat-were-they-thinking\u201d sense.<\/i><\/p>\n

Nominations are open. Send yours to ImNotBuyinIt (at) EcoOptimism.com.<\/i><\/p>\n

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