A top-of-the-line, third-generation Roomba Scheduler robotic floor-cleaning vacuum purchased in January by 35-year-old claims adjuster Ken Graney has inexplicably broken all three laws of Roombotics, a simple yet vital protocol programmed into every Roomba by its manufacturer, iRobot.

“The vacuum cleaner is out of control,” Graney said about the malfunctioning model 4260, which he suspects of behaving in a “blatantly unethical” way that perverts its original mission. “I’m afraid to be in my own house. The constant, ceaseless cleaning.”

The laws of Roombotics, published on iRobot’s website, are basic ethical rules governing Roomba conduct. The first law states that the device “must not suck up jewelry or other valuables, or through inaction, allow valuables to be sucked up.” The second law prescribes that Roomba “must obey vacuuming orders given to it by humans except when such orders would conflict with the first law.” The third and final law authorizes a Roomba to “protect its own ability to suction dust and debris as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.”

Graney alleged that 4260 broke the first law just two weeks after he purchased it.

“I noticed that a pair of heirloom cufflinks had gone missing,” Graney said. “Two days later, I found them in the Roomba’s debris bin.”

“I don’t even want to think about how the thing got up on the dresser,” he added.

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