What does a Google developer do when his Roomba vacuum robot is almost destroyed in a freak melting accident? Hack the thing to drum up some interest for Google+, of course.

Kidding aside, this is unbelievably cool. So the robot is controlled by a web interface and is equipped with a camera that then feeds video to the other hangout participants. It’s basically a (relatively) inexpensive robotic webcam, not totally unlike Roomba manufacturer iRobot’s new line of remote presence robots. Check out the video:

To learn about the hack, check out developer Gus Claas’ blog. Hat tip to GigaOM.

The neat thing here is really the idea that remote presence can be done on the cheap. That won’t be ideal for markets like healthcare, where iRobot is putting a lot of its focus, but it might have fun consumer applications or make sense in the developing world.

Sidenote… I was having a conversation with a friend last night about getting a critical mass to jump ship from Facebook to Google+ which I seldom use but actually kind of like. Who’s with me?!?