Imagine - you have bought a Roomba. If you do not know what a Roomba is, it is a robot vacuum cleaner, made by iRobot that looks like a discus with brushes, buttons and wheels that vacuums your house for you while you are not there. Before you go out you remember to switch it on to conveniently vacuum the house while you are away.

You get back a little later and enter the room where the Roomba perhaps is still working away. You see your cat, confidently sat on the Roomba as if it is driving it as it meanders its way around the room!

What goes through your mind? Do you walk straight back out? In an effort to take in what you just saw? Your pet looks like it has made its first step at taking over human technology. It has dominated a household appliance and using it as some kind of hover disk!!

Some people have reacted amusingly this way and you will find these thoughts sprinkled across the Internet. On YouTube, in amongst the comments made, are many references to it. The cat is seen as a cute but independent creature who is a perfect example of thinking of itself, above all else. The shock of seeing it taking over the robot might be too much for you and you think 'What is next? The World?'.

This is an avenue not taken up by science fiction writers yet, the thought that cats on their robotic chariots begin working together and things getting really ugly. Especially for dogs, who have got to be the first target of feline occupation. Or could it be the mice? The cats have just found a new way to be lazy and chase mice!

You might see it the other way round, the robot has taken over the cat, stealing them away for their own purpose. Maybe all the Roomba in the world are working together to finally clean up. Who knows what has been programmed into their chips?

I know this all sounds very silly, but if you look around you will see that kind of reaction. Admittedly done in the spirit of humour but it is consistent. Like some deep down subconscious worry about either the cat or the robot. In this case however these concerns come together - albeit amusingly. An anxiety created especially after seeing the cat riding around, as if it is on a mobile kitty throne, apparently in control of the whole thing.

OK, not fazed by cats taking over the world - What else goes through your mind? Another popular thought is the sudden realisation that more is better, the entrepreneur takes over. More Roombas or more cats, maybe both, the owners imagine the possibilities of two or more cats sat on their vacs.

Maybe they can have a sort of funfair bumper car or dodgems thing going on - or possibly cat vac races. The more switched on owners may imagine underground cat vac tournaments run in the garage with heavy betting on the feline favourite.

But, in reality, after all it is only a cat sat on a vac taking a stroll, something that is quickly becoming normality now. One such video uploaded to YouTube managed to get, at the time of writing, almost 5 million views.

So what should be the first reaction of the owner walking in on this scene?

Stop wasting time thinking about cats and robots taking over the world or making money from cat tournaments and rush for the nearest web cam or video camera. An upload to YouTube has to be done, doesn't it?

========

Joanie Wilcett Loves Pets, but understands the problems that can occur when having pets in the home. The worst problem is when it finally comes down to having to choose between losing the pet and the health of the sufferer. Looking for ways to help people make the right decision she has created a web site called Pet-Vacuum.com. Where she hopes many will share and help others make the right choices for products that can prevent this dilemma and build a useful community focused on keeping pets and people healthy. A collection of funny vacuum cleaner stories can be found, especially lots of cats riding around on vacuum cleaners at Riding the Roomba. You have to see it to believe it.