World Backup Day Deals Best Cloud Storage Options Apple AR/VR Headset Uncertainty Samsung Galaxy A54 Preorders iOS 16.4: What's New 10 Best Foods for PCOS 25 Easter Basket Ideas COVID Reinfection: What to Know
Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories?
No, thank you
Accept

Roomba Pac-Man: Classic game gets robot twist

Colorado University students have reprogrammed five Roomba vacuum-cleaner robots to recreate the classic '80s arcade game Pac-Man.

Roomba Pac-Man

Students at Colorado University have reprogrammed five Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots to recreate the classic 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.

The machines move around a virtual maze, indicated by red tape on the floor, as the four ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde chase the Pac-Man Roomba as it vacuums up paper dots.

The Pac-Man Roomba is joystick-controlled by a user, but the ghosts navigate autonomously. They will try to chase Pac-Man until it sucks up a power pellet, which puts them into evade mode.

The Roombas are wirelessly linked to a laptop that processes their locations through an overhead camera positioning system.

The developers created Roomba Pac-Man to demonstrate their unmanned aerial guidance system software.

But this isn't the first time Roomba has been reprogrammed to recreate a game from yesteryear. The plucky puck-shaped robot has dodged Texas cars while reliving the adventures of Frogger.