They sweep. They mop. They vacuum. They even clear land mines. They used to be the stuff of science fiction, but today, they are reality.

For house cleaning,office cleaning, and yes, even for land mine and booby trap clearing - there are robot cleaners you can rely on. And what a boon to land mine cleaners they have been!

iRobot

Some of the first robot cleaners were created by iRobot. Company co-founder Helen Greiner narrates that the idea began when she was still studying computer science and electrical and mechanical engineering at MIT.

She said, "At a university, when the project ends, you wind up with a robot graveyard. I wanted a place where we could jump from theoretical research to products so that we could make a real industry."

Today, iRobot is one of the best known manufacturers of robot cleaners. And though their most familiar products are the house and office cleaners, the robot that really saves the most lives is the mine field clearer, the PackBot.

The Packbot's job is to defuse land mines and booby traps left behind in former war areas. One of its first assignments was in the dark caves of Afghanistan. They have been so useful to soldiers that these men actually give their PackBots nicknames.

"A Marine brought Scooby Doo, his blown-up PackBot, into the depot in Iraq. Only its head had survived," Greiner recalled. "The Marine credited it with saving him and his buddies several times in 17 last missions."

But battles are not only fought by soldiers. They are now fought by domestic and professional cleaners as well.

For home and office cleaning, iRobot has Roomba, a robot that vacuums; Scooba, who washes floors; and Looj, for cleaning gutters.

More robot cleaners

In recent years other robot cleaners have been launched. Neato and Electrolux Trilobite are a few examples of vacuum cleaning robots similar to Roomba. The Evolution Mint, on the other hand, sweeps and mops.

The main difference between these robots is how they navigate around the room and their cleaning ability. Roomba, for instance, was not designed for deep-pile carpet, while Trilobite is.

Neato's navigation method maps an area with its sensors before proceeding to clean it, starting from the perimeter, moving inward. Evolution Mint, on the other hand, maps the ceiling as well, to make sure no part of the room is missed, then simply navigates around the blockages on the floor.

These mapping methods assure that the robot cleaners pass evenly through all areas of the room, for quicker cleaning.

Other robots that do not map out a room, on the other hand, just rely on avoiding obstacles instead - something like the bump cars kids play with. This means they could end up passing through some areas several times and in some areas only once.

Now this can be a good thing because if an area is passed by more than once, that means the cleaning is more thorough - in that area. What some people may not like with this navigation method, though, is that it definitely results in a longer home or office cleaning time compared to that of a robot cleaner that passes through an area only once. Some office cleaning in London is already done by robots made by Subaru, although at this stage they only sweep and vacuum.

Robot cleaners are definitely the future and are becoming more advanced and efficient all the time. It is literally only a matter of time before we all have one helping us around the home or office.