An obscure publication called IEEE Spectrum features a fabulous profile on the creation of the Microsoft Robotics Group, Microsoft Robotics Studio and the interesting position held by iRobot with its Roomba and Create robots. Check it out at this link. Here's a key passage:
In Mundie's picture of computing's future, processing and information aren't just distributed among the components of a system; they're strewn throughout its environment. Consider the Roomba, iRobot's lowly $119 vacuum-cleaning robot. Today, it employs several strategies to navigate a room in ever-widening circles as it cleans. But most things in the room haven't moved since it vacuumed yesterday, and some things—such as the walls—don't move at all. In the distributed, services-oriented model, some other computer in the household could be a repository of information about the location of walls and furniture and electrical outlets. Any robot moving about the room could draw from that data and update it when, say, a chair gets shifted from one place to another. Access to information about the layout of a house is a service that would be available to every robot. Access to electricity is another.
A small army of Roombas, communicating with one another directly or through a household server, could quickly vacuum an entire house. Eventually, the tables and chairs themselves would be smart enough to report their new locations when they get moved. And new robots coming into the household would quickly acquire whatever information they need, just as servants do when one royal family visits another.
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