Here is an illustrated picture of the Scooba:
So here is the latest news on Scooba. iRobot has updated their page with lots of juicy info.
Some major points:
Programmed to prep, wash, scrub, and dry the floor all by itself
Cleans under furniture, tables and hard-to-reach places
Cleans a standard-sized kitchen floor on a single tank
Simple to operate: fill tank, press clean, & empty tank when finished
Whats included when you purchase a Scooba?
I have totally neglected this blog for a while now, but I’m back 
Now that the release of Scooba is nearing, I want to keep everyone up to date with the latest on the device.
Sorry to any of the readers who have come here and not found any news, I promise to update regularly from now on!
I found this over at Engadget:
the Orazio, from Italy’s Zucchetti, is ready to slide across those scuffed and dirty hardwood floors right after it. According to Zucchetti, the Orazio doesn’t just clean floors, but can polish them as well.
Now this sounds like it could be some real competition for iRobot’s Scooba! Here is an image of the Orazio:
If the Polishing feature of the Orazio works well, iRobot will be in serious trouble. I wouldn’t be suprised if they add this feature at some point down the line. I’m interested in the pricing of Orazio as well. I will do some searching and keep everyone updated.
Looks like our favorite company, iRobot, will be going public soon:
From Reuters
iRobot Corp., the maker of the Roomba floor vacuuming robot and PackBot tactical military robots, filed with regulators on Wednesday to raise up to $115 million in an initial public offering of common stock.
The company plans to use the net proceeds from the IPO for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including financing growth, developing new products and funding capital expenditures.
I love hearing this! Lots of capital to invest in R&D for new products and to impove existing (..Roomba..Scooba) products.
I may have to pick up a few shares
Yesterday we were having company over for dinner, so of course the house must be spotless for them (..or so says the Wife). Anyhow, I spent about two hours mopping and washing all of the floors, the whole time thinking about the day that the Scooba is released and does this work for me. At least I had the Roomba to vacuum the carpets, or I think I would have gone crazy!
Okay, sorry for that rant, but i’m just looking forward to the day of no more cleaning
Found this from Akihabara News:
Looks like LG created their own Rooma-like device. As you can see from the image, it’s remote control, and is also programmable.
I’m actually surprised it took this long for a large manufacturer to create a robot vacuum. I know there are some smaller companies that have made cheap rip-offs, but no large companies have stepped up…until now (or maybe I’m wrong? email me if so). I expect there to be similar devices to the Scooba as well, and any other household iRobot device.
I like the competition; It helps keep prices down, and also pushes for innovation. I’m hoping more large companies like LG start manufacturing household robots.
All Headline News has an article covering the Scooba. Pretty much the same information as most other news articles about the scooba…I wish iRobot wasn’t being so tight-lipped!
Here are some quotes from the article:
The retail price will likely be in excess of the $280 Roomba vacuum price tag.
IRobot CEO Colin Angle says, Scooba should be as the popular Roomba. “We aim our products at the axis of ‘hate doing it’ and ‘have to do it often. Mopping is near the top of a lot of people’s ‘hate doing it’ list.”
CNet has posted an interview with Colin Angle, CEO of our favorite company. Not much is mentioned about Scooba, but it’s still an interesting read.
Here’s one interesting tidbit from the Interview:
“The Roomba has a serial port, and we’ll be announcing an API of sorts for it, so that you could create accessories for the Roomba if you wanted. If you did that, you’d have a solid base of over a million users.”
Could Roomba/Scooba accessories take off like the iPod accessories have? I don’t think the market is large enough yet, but in time I definetly think it could.