A slender, 2-inch tall, remote-controlled robot, fitted with the power to clean and able to clear 60 feet of gutter in 10 minutes, recently won top honors as the most innovated home appliance this year.

iRobot's "Looj" (you guessed it, sounds like "luge") cleaned up in the Best of Innovations Design and Engineering Award category at the 2008 International Consumer Electronic Showcase.

The show as hosted earlier this month by the Consumer Electronics Association.

Sweeping the judge's highest scores in the home appliance category, the Looj joined its iRobot dust bustin' cousins Roomba (vacuum) and Scooba (floor washer) as the third iRobot in four years to run away with the innovation award.

The company also makes a pool-cleaning Verro robot, a shop sweeping Dirt Dog, and the latest, the more digitally aware ConnectR, a rolling robot that sends and receives audio and video via the Internet.

The Looj uses rechargeable battery power to drive tiny tractor treads and an auger spinning at 500 revolutions per minute to sweep through and toss out gutter debris, making an otherwise dismal job faster and safer.

Pop the robot in the gutter, detach the wireless remote that doubles as a handle and forget climbing up and down numerous times, repositioning the ladder to get at a short stretch of gutter when cleaning it by hand. Looj scoots under gutter straps and spins its three-stage auger to dislodge and remove dirt, leaves and other debris, which can cause water damage, spillage and ice dams.

Available for $99, the Looj robot goes to work for up to 30 to 45 minutes after a 15-hour charge of its 7.2V Nickel Cadmium battery. It will get the job done in standard K-style, aluminum, copper, metal or vinyl gutters, but even innovation has some shortcomings.

It can't clean antique-style wood gutters or half-round gutters. Before Looj can, well, luge down your gutters, you'll have to measure them to be sure the gutter straps are uniformly at least 2.25 inches high off the bottom of the gutter and the gutter must be at least 3.25 inches wide.

With proper clearance, Looj will brush aside dry and wet leaves, pine needles, pine cones and other debris typically found in a gutter.

Don't expect the little gutter robot-that-could to clear hardened mud or sediment, small trees or large sticks that may be stuck in your gutter.

Clean the Looj by simply hosing it off with water. Hang it with the rest of the power tools.

Then use the time saved to perform more deferred maintenance on your home.

Published: November 28, 2007

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.