The device is quite capable of communicating its intentions to me, mostly by going "beep" and jamming itself in a corner or attempting to eat something expensive and hitherto unregarded. It also plays tunes, presumably so that we can distinguish it from the rice cooker.
I'm far less capable of communicating with it. I'm restricted to pressing any of the four buttons on top or letting it run into my feet. Naturally, it's intelligent enough to remember where I was standing, so on the off-chance I remain standing still until it has finished cleaning, it won't run into me again. But this is hardly a large enough vocabulary for me to win an argument.
And so, I concede my argument with the robotic vacuum cleaner.
Do you think the vacuum cleaner and the rice cooker play in the same key?
