This modded Roomba screams in mortal pain when it runs into things

Cue the robot uprising.
 By 
Rachel Kraus
 on 
This modded Roomba screams in mortal pain when it runs into things
What is life but suffering? Credit: James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

A robot is here to remind you that life is pain.

Michael Reeves is a YouTuber with a foul mouth who builds silly and irreverent robots. His latest invention is a modded Roomba that screams horrifically when it bumps into things.

Watching this cursed object in action is startling, disturbing, and sometimes extremely relatable.

"Why would you build me so that my sole existential purpose is to suffer for the entertainment of others?" the Roomba asks.

Reeves gives viewers a peek inside the Roomba to check out his handiwork. He explains that he gave the Roomba a voice with a touch sensor, a small computer, and a bluetooth speaker.

"When a collision gets detected from the sensors, sound gets played from this Raspberry Pi to this bluetooth speaker," Reeves says, before swearing into the camera profusely.

Reeves undertook the project after his viewers flooded his YouTube page with requests for the screaming Roomba. He started with computer generated vocals to voice the Roomba's pain, but decided that it needed a human voice, to add to the impression that this robot is suffering. Reeves got fellow YouTubers to record themselves screaming and swearing, which makes the robot extremely disturbing to be around!

Some Twitter users had suggestions for other voices, like a proper British accent, or Homer Simpson. Until Reeves further mods the Roomba, it seems like we're stuck with a robot that's constantly in mortal peril. Fun!

Mashable Image
Rachel Kraus

Rachel Kraus is a Mashable Tech Reporter specializing in health and wellness. She is an LA native, NYU j-school graduate, and writes cultural commentary across the internetz.

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