Basically, the UBOT is intended to clean wood floors that are striped with laminated barcodes that are visible only under ultraviolet light, Park explained. In normal light, the floorboards appear to contain rows of faint, square watermarks. Currently, the UBOT and its floorboards are used in new construction, and the buyer gets the flooring directly from the flooring maker, laminated at no extra charge. Laminations for existing floors will be available later this year, he added.

The advantage of the laminated floor is that the robot can be given precise commands in terms of what room to clean, leading to faster, more efficient operation, Park said. It can operate without the lamination, but will act like a Roomba, moving until it runs into something, he added.

Microbot is looking for distribution in the U.S., and when it's available, the UBOT should cost about $1,000, he said.

Microbot was also showing a patrol robot provisionally called the Romi. Basically it was a UBOT with an added superstructure with a camera that could send pictures to the remote owner. There was no estimated price or availability time frame.

With a booth in the robotics pavilion, Yujin Robot of South Korea was also showing a floor cleaner and a patrol robot. Seony Park, chief technology officer, said that the firm's $700 iClebo floor vacuum -- disc-shaped like the others -- was superior to the Roomba because it was quieter, had a more powerful vacuum, and it did not bump into furniture thanks to its use of dual infrared and contact sensors.