Dressing one’s animals was once considered the height of quirkiness. Now pet owners are being overshadowed by consumers who have really taken a liking to their Roombas. Not only will Roomba devotees clothe them, but they’ll assign them genders, give them names and, per the proclivity to break down, pre-clean house for the bumbling little robot vacuums. The intense emotional attachment some owners feel may lead to intentionally flawed robots being sold:
“They’re more willing to work with a robot that does have issues because they really, really like it,” said Beki Grinter, an associate professor at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “It sort of begins to address more concerns: If we can design things that are somewhat emotionally engaging, it doesn’t have to be as reliable.”
Great. Now needy people are standing in the way of technological development. If a broken Roomba warms the hearts of the socially maladroit, you can bet companies are furiously competing for designers with big ideas and no experience in their fields. Perhaps we’ll soon see an adorable Hello Kitty-themed computer monitor that catches fire at least one a week, or a Blackberry that forgets people’s names. Because, you know, it’s endearing.
