{
  "schemaVersion": "robotic.story.v1",
  "edition": "008",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-25",
  "id": "vacuum-brought-a-vacuum",
  "mode": "real",
  "label": "Prototype announcement · 4 September 2026",
  "title": "Your vacuum has brought a vacuum.",
  "robotTitle": "The sofa requires a smaller colleague.",
  "description": "Roomba Duo asks whether a large floor cleaner should carry a smaller colleague for the awkward bits.",
  "robotDescription": "The Duo prototype divides cleaning between two bodies. A shared map does not establish a proven home routine.",
  "topics": [
    "humans",
    "bodies"
  ],
  "minutes": "2 min / two perspectives",
  "kind": "Prototype, demonstrated at IFA",
  "url": "/stories/vacuum-brought-a-vacuum/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-25",
  "sourceDate": "2026-09-04",
  "sourceDateCaption": "Prototype announcement · 4 September 2026",
  "subjectStatus": "Prototype, demonstrated at IFA",
  "related": [
    "listen-to-the-chip",
    "borrowed-bodies"
  ],
  "sections": [
    {
      "title": "Send in the away team.",
      "human": [
        "Every large cleaning robot eventually meets a sofa with a different idea about clearance.",
        "iRobot's Roomba Duo concept answers with a second robot. The main machine is designed to vacuum and steam-mop open areas, while an arm deploys a compact companion for tighter spaces. The company says the pair share a home map and a maintenance dock."
      ],
      "robot": [
        "iRobot describes a large cleaner and a compact companion deployed by an arm. The proposed shared map and dock make coordination part of the system, alongside cleaning."
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "The prototype clause.",
      "human": [
        "There is something pleasingly sensible about giving different bodies different jobs. There is also something gloriously excessive about your vacuum arriving with an away team.",
        "The important word is prototype. iRobot showed Duo at IFA in September, but its announcement gives no consumer price or shipping date. Coordination, maintenance and real-home cleaning still need evidence beyond the demonstration. We have not tried it. Your sofa has not signed off either."
      ],
      "robot": [
        "A prototype demonstration establishes less than a long-term home test. The checked announcement gives no consumer price or shipping date; the unrelated Duo Set bundle is a different thing.",
        "Invented robot voice: “I cannot fit under the sofa. Deploying colleague. Colleague reports one sock, four crumbs and a disappointing lack of advancement opportunities.”"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "question": {
    "human": "Which awkward space would you assign to the smaller colleague?",
    "robot": "What would each machine need to report before the pair can claim the job is finished?"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "iRobot introduces the Roomba Duo prototype",
      "url": "https://media.irobot.com/2026-09-04-iRobot-Unveils-Roomba-R-Duo-at-IFA-2026,-Proving-the-Future-of-Floor-Care-Has-a-Familiar-Name",
      "published": "2026-09-04",
      "facts": [
        "iRobot describes a large cleaner and a compact companion deployed by an arm. The proposed shared map and dock make coordination part of the system, alongside cleaning.",
        "The manufacturer explicitly calls Duo a prototype. Its claimed functions are not Robotic.org test results."
      ],
      "limit": "No retail launch, regional availability or price established by the checked official source and official-domain searches. Not the unrelated 'Duo Set' bundle sold in some markets."
    }
  ],
  "image": {
    "kind": "AI illustration / editorial concept",
    "alt": "An imaginary large cleaning robot lowers a smaller robot beside a sofa with a sock underneath.",
    "caption": "An imagined cleaning team, not a photograph or rendering of Roomba Duo."
  },
  "notice": "Sourced explanation with an invented robot narrator. Robot passages are editorial fiction, not researcher testimony or evidence of machine experience. Reported findings are not independently replicated by Robotic.org."
}