In this day and age of ultra convenience, we seek the easiest way out in most things and there could really come an age that robots could over take us - if artificial intelligence could rule the world. As with many new home owners, the draw of such intelligent products to make my life tons easier was too alluring to resist.

Imagine not having to physically drag a vacuum through the house? The house gets cleaned on its own, quite nearly and everyone is kept happy? Plus, I need not pay the maid levy and deal with domestic help issues.

The question then is, which brand? #firstworldproblems

The IRobot Roomba surely tops the list in most households but price was a deal - at close to 1000 buckeroos. It had all the intelligence required to clean up the place as well as a human could, or even better with the scanning of area to make sure it could avoid obstacles and even make its way back to the charging port.

How does ATTAS measure up then at a fraction of the price?

The battery life is short, for 2 full hours of charging I probably get it cleaning a room for 45 minutes before it beeps low battery.

It cannot return to the charging port and while the sales guy was quick to point out most of the robots do not make it back anyway because of unforeseen obstacles (the machine is tuned to calculate its energy based on straight routes), it can be annoying having to poke it out of under the bed with a stick or hunt for it around the house.

It bounces off the edges and I hope it cleans every inch carefully, I am not so sure if it really does. 

The fact of the matter is, this works best in a flat and definitely not in places with different stories.

Let's face it, the machines are for day to day maintenance and does not completely replace physical cleaning at the dusty nooks and corners.

Well for startup families like ours, it is a handy device to have. So far my only grouse is its short battery life, otherwise, we are happy campers.