To ensure the cooling and ventilation systems in the company's datacenters are running at peak efficiency, IBM now employs autonomous temperature-monitoring robots built on the iRobot Create platform to hunt down problematic areas.
Fitted with a six-and-a-half foot tall pole laden with temperature and other sensors, the robots wander around the datacenters collecting data on temperature and humidity that can later be mapped in 3D to determine cold spots where cooling is being wasted, or hot spots where ventilation needs to be improved. Not only do the autonomous bots help prevent servers from overheating and shutting down, they also help IBM to keep the datacenter's environmental systems running at peak efficiency which in turn saves money. As for the floors: still dirty. [TechWeek Europe via Slashdot]