Technology Korean housewife 'attacked' by robot vacuum cleaner A South Korean woman who was attacked by her robot vacuum cleaner while she slept had to be rescued by emergency services.The woman was taking a nap on the floor of her house in the city of Changwon when the machine turned on her. The automatic vacuum cleaner, which she had programmed to clean the room around her, apparently mistook her hair for dust and sucked it up, the Korea Bizwire website reports.Unable to escape, she was forced to call the local fire department with what South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun described as a "desperate rescue plea", according to the The Guardian.The 52-year old woman, whose name has not been made public, was eventually extracated from the machine and suffered only minor injuries. But while she escaped relatively lightly, the incident could provide "a peek into a dystopian future in which supposedly benign robots turn against their human masters", suggests the Guardian.There is a growing market for consumer robots, with the Roomba remote control vacuum cleaner by iRobot selling more than ten million units since it debuted in 2002. 

Korea Biz Wire points out that people in Korean and Japan, where its common to sit, sleep and eat on the floor, should "exercise caution" around their household robots.how to open miele vacuum cleanerRobot vacuum cleaner EATS WOMANselling used kirby vacuum cleaners The moral to this story: don't sleep on the same floor as your Roombaservice vacuum cleaner karcher Korean outlet The Kyunghyang Shinmum reports a robot vacuum cleaner has attempted to eat a local woman, starting with her hair. The woman appears to have been lying down on the floor of her home, having forgotten that her robot vacuum cleaner was set to patrol the area. Once the vacuum woke up, it sucked 5cm of her head hair into its innards.

The local fire department showed up with their hair-disentangling kit, dismantled the vacuum and rescued the woman who is reported to have emerged in the peak of health after the incident. There's no indication the vacuum was doing anything other than obeying its programming, so let's not see this as the start of a robot uprising. Instead, the moral to this story appears simple and sounds nicely Old Testament: do not lay down with thine robot vacuum cleaner. And revise thine object detection and avoidance algorithms lest the next such incident spark a lawsuit. Optimizing the hybrid cloud More from The Register South Korea mulls TREEELLION-Won fine for Qualcomm South Korea fingers North for defence contractor hack South Korea to upgrade national stereo defence system for US$16m South Korea abandons manufacturing enclave in nuclear North North Korea hacks 140k computers in planned mass attacks on Seoul South Korea mandates spyware installation on teenagers' smartphones

IT’s guide for securing and managing business content Maintaining data centre health for healthcare providers MAX Mail Archive provides secure, compliant archiving in the cloud Key factors in modernizing backup and recoveryIf there's one thing Dyson knows best, it's hoovers. And while the company may've been late to making a little robot that does the cleaning for you, Dyson's 360 Eye is easily one of the best you can buy. Now, after debuting in Japan late last year, the vacuuming automaton is available in the UK from today. Features such as a 360-degree camera, obsessive cleaning methodology and activity reports don't come cheap, though. The 360 Eye can be found on Dyson's site for £800, and that price also includes a nice company rep that'll pop over and set the thing up for you. Gallery: Dyson London demo store | Alternatively, you can get the measure of one at Dyson's new "Demo" store in London, which not-so-coincidentally opens its doors today. The first of these interactive spaces debuted in Paris way back in 1999.

Over the past couple of years, though, they've come to Tokyo, Jakarta, and now London's shopping-mad Oxford Street. The best way I can describe it is like walking into a fancy infomercial. Products sit on white plinths, illuminated by swish LED spotlights developed by Jake Dyson, son of company frontman James. His lamps are showcased alongside hoovers and fanless fans, with wall-sized screens playing 30-second loops of Dyson adverts.Under one of those screens is a little demo area with various types of flooring. Dyson doesn't want to call its shop a shop because it imagines it as a place where people come to understand the company's technology better. In this case, it means visiting a debris bar serving up no less than 64 different types of crud you can chuck on the floor and then hoover up. We're sure the staff also have an endless supply of factoids for you, including such Dyson favourites as 'X thing took decades to develop' and 'those motors though.'Self-congratulations continue upstairs on a floor dedicated to Dyson's reinvention of the hair dryer, the Supersonic.

There are a bunch of museum-style exhibits explaining how it works, how it was tested, and just how many prototypes the company built. Here, you'll also find beautification stations that let you test the thing out, with staff on hand to give style tips, or talk about the Supersonic's superior weighting. And if you're not interested in testing or buying a product, you can also simply stop in for your daily dose of "free purified air," courtesy of Dyson's Pure Cool Link purifier-slash-fans.FULLY AUTOMATIC AND AUTONOMOUSThe Kobold VR200 vacuums your rooms whenever you wish. Completely automatic, preferably when you are not home. You can look forward to a freshly vacuumed home upon your return.EVEN IN DIFFICULT-TO-REACH PLACESThe Kobold VR200 reliably cleans all floors. It effortlessly reaches every corner, breezes past obstacles and even vacuums under low furniture. POWERFUL AND EFFICIENTThe VR200 is a true powerhouse thanks to the latest components and comprehensive equipment. It works as you would expect a Kobold product to work: powerful and efficient.

It works as you would expect a Kobold product to work: powerful and efficient. FULLY AUTOMATIC AND AUTONOMOUSThe Kobold VR200 vacuums your rooms whenever you wish. AT HOME ON ALL FLOORSThe Kobold VR200 will impress – its high suction power provides a deep and thorough clean for parquet, tiles and carpet. Because it is fitted with a motor that has been completely redeveloped by Vorwerk: its effective suction power is up to three times higher than comparable products. OPTIMUM DUST COLLECTIONThe VR200 collects more dust from all floors thanks to new brushes. Its innovative circular brush with rubber flaps and bristle strip rotates 30 times per second and is placed very close to the edge of the housing. The side brush transports the dirt directly to the circular brush. This ensures an optimal clean on all floors, along edges and in corners. OBSTACLE AND STAIR DETECTIONMade possible by numerous sensors: the Kobold VR200 detects furniture and obstacles, brakes gently in front of them or manoeuvres carefully around them.

It effortlessly overcomes thresholds and detects stairs, which it then avoids. PRECISION IN CORNERS AND ALONG EDGESControlled by intelligent software and ultrasonic sensors, the VR200 travels precisely along skirting boards, walls and edges. It’s special D-shape allows it to get into all corners. VACUUMS UNDER YOUR FURNITUREThe Kobold VR200 effortlessly reaches every corner in your home. It vacuums right into corners and along edges and also easily reaches under your furniture, as its newly designed housing is only 9 cm high. DUST-FREE EMPTYING VIA SUCTION PORTOnce the dust container is full, you can conveniently vacuum the contents out with your upright or canister-type vacuum cleaner via the suction port. This is particularly hygienic, as you don’t come into contact with the dirt. Our Kobold vacuum cleaners are ideal for extraction, but you can also use most commercially available vacuum cleaners. You can naturally also remove the container for emptying. NEW: REMOTE CONTROLThe new remote control lets you conveniently control the Robot Vacuum Cleaner from a distance.