Five sensible questions to ask yourself when contemplating automating your research project:

1. Is your workload big enough?


2. Is reproducibility paramount?


3. Is the cost of mistakes prohibitive?


4. Would scaling up offer additional benefits?


5. Is your protocol automation-friendly?

Contrast these questions with ones you should ask whether you really need a Roomba or not:

• How thick is the pile of your carpet? (No shags.)
• Do you have a large dog who likes to play frisbee? (If yes, consider that the Roomba is vaguely frisbee-shaped.)
• Is a necessary part of your vacuuming process the opportunity your cleaner provides to improvise melodies over the machine's drone? (Roomba doesn't have a drone, so to speak, though it does make a rather high-pitched electric-engine noise as it wanders around the room.)
• Just how lazy are you?

Note: the Roomba has become my first real robot. I've owned toy robots before, but this robot actually does work, thus living up to its name. (See R.U.R.)

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