Home Robots in Retreat?

PC Mags Lance Ulanoff in his Holiday Robot Buying Guide, writes about the status of home robotics that aim to do real work. Following this for some time, I get a similar read. Though I did see the Roomba prominently displayed at the local Costco. No things we could really use; robot butler, or home maid or laundry helper yet on the horizon.

" ... Wow Wee's Robosapien and Roboraptor and iRobot's Roomba should have been the sparks that ignited the industry. Instead, the lit fuse has been snuffed out. Wow Wee's newest Roboreptile is entertaining, but it has done little to move the industry forward. Meanwhile, the excitement surrounding iRobot's Roomba has dimmed, and the Scooba floor mop has not been a Roomba-like hit. Worse yet, instead of more companies flooding into the consumer robot space, there seem to be fewer. Sony dismantled its consumer robots division and killed off the AIBO and the Qrio, and Radio Shack dumped the Vex robot kit ..."