Bengaluru: Valentine’s Day this year is on a working day, so invariably your house is messy and not in order. We understand, but your date won’t. So, before you call your date home, you have to do the drill. Cleaning the house before a date is as much of a chore as having to make your bed before you can ‘sleep’ in it. This means groggy, weary, exhausted couples like you have to rush home from work to tidy up in preparation of the most romantic day of the year.

Don’t worry, there is a way out. This year, you can skip the cleaning part and nose dive straight to romance. And for that, all you need is a mobile phone and an iRobot Roomba. This 23rd century flying-saucer-like device generally cleans your home once a day at a pre-scheduled time. But since you’re an acutely-evolved tech-savvy person, you own a phone on which you can have the iRobot app that allows you to activate your Roomba remotely. Which causes it to set off and clean your entire house.

“It is such a cool innovation. Even if your house help decides to bunk on a day you badly want her to come, you can be calm and peaceful. Because iRobot will do the cleaning for you,” says Sandhya Kumar, housewife. She adds, “Not only can you set a time for it to clean your house, you can remotely access it. I would love for my husband to gift me this.”

There is no doubt that roses and chocolates as gifts have become passé.

“Diamonds and gold are gifts of the past now. People have embraced technology like never before, so any gift that makes your life simpler and eases your daily chores is always welcome. And robots are the new reality. They have taken over everywhere, so why not in my house?” asks Sumitra Venkataraman.