Last week, we discussed robotics and some the military contracts out there. I want to discuss robots again, but this time focus on some of the new ones in the pipeline.

iRobot (IRBT) will introduce two more types of home robots on September 27 at the Digital Life Expo in New York. Management is being coy, just saying that they are "very cool" and "very different" from the Roomba and Scooba. The CEO said: "They're not floor-cleaning robots. They're not lawn mowers, and they're not butlers. But that's all we've said so far. These robots are going to make you think."

That made me think that I should try to find out exactly what they are, and I found one in an FCC filing: A gutter-cleaning robot. iRobot has to get FCC approval because there is a remote control antenna on it, and they filed the whole owner's manual.

I don't know where "Looj" came from, but this looks just like the toy that your Dad wanted when he was five years old. Will this be the Dad holiday gift of the year? It has two cool treads, a handle to put it in position that detaches to become a remote control (requiring FCC approval), and a very cool "distruptor/ejector/sweeper" auger assembly out front for clearing out the drains. Then a 500 RPM rotating sweeper scrubs the gutter. The manual says that it does one gutter at a time, so it has to be moved by hand at any gutter junction. It has a belt clip to make it easier to move around -- how can your local Tom The Toolman hold up his head if he doesn't have a Looj on his belt? I want one, and I have gutter covers.

I haven't been able to find the other new product -- laundry? Ironing? Walk the dog? The company released the Verro pool cleaning robot in April, so they could be going in any direction. "These robots are going to make you think." Hmmm -- will it be a chess robot? A football coach robot? We'll see on the 27th.