iRobot In The Gutter

Roomba maker iRobot has introduced a new household robot, the Looj, made for cleaning rain gutters.

You just drop the small Looj into you gutter and it "augers" it way through and ejects the crappy buildup out and away. Just in time for the fall season.

The price range from US $100 to $170 depending on the options you get. Available now from the iRobot web store. I would guess that it will be available in suburban Home Depots soon. And also available to clear the rain gutters in your third world countries.


I like the belt holster. I can help you to climb the ladder sure, but also wearing it around the yard would make you the coolest guy in the 'hood.

iRobot Corporation: About Looj

New Robots Clean Pools

Home vacuum robot maker iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT)has launched two new pool-cleaner robots for home use.
The two robots, Verro 300 and Verro 600, are available now for $800 and $1200.
The 300 model uses water jet and vacuum to suck up debris from the pool. The Verro 600 uses brushes along with the vacuum and filter.

Drop the robot into the water and it will clean the pool in 60 to 90 minutes. The robots require a power umbilical plugged in but do not need any hose connection to the pool's pump.
They will also not gawk at your sunbathing teenage daughter.

Will pool robots put pool service companies out of business? No. There is a lot more to maintaining a pool than sweeping up the leaves.

Pool cleaning robots are not new by any means.
iRobot worked with the Aqua Products Group companies to develop their robots.
Another maker of pool cleaner robots is Maytronics in Isreal.


iRobot Corporation: Press Release

iRobot Create is Roomba That Doesn't Suck

One would think that the next step in home robot development would be to add more features to the vacuum cleaner. In a surprising turn, iRobot has chosen to remove capabilities from their machine.

iRobot launched their latest home robot today aimed at schools and robot developers called the Create.

The Create is basically a Roomba with all the vacuuming guts removed. It has a bunch of sensors (32), is programmable with a pc and has an open interface for adding more sensors or features - like arms, paint sprayer, baby monitor, weaponry, etc

For $129 it is ready to roll right out of the box. It looks like you also need a command module to make it fully programmable for another $60 or get both in a package.

They also offer the robot, command module and battery charger for $229 which looks like a good deal to me.

They are also offering a ten-pack for $999 for classrooms, teams or dance troupes.
They are available from the iRobot website.

Although this probably will not add much to the iRobot bottom line, I think the low price of the robot and high visibility of iRobot will make it very popular.

Give it a few months for the units to get out there and people to come up with uses for them. I think we will be seeing more of these in the news.
This may not be it, yet. But one day someone will come up with the 'Apple Macintosh' of home robots.

iRobot Corporation: Press Release

Update:
More information over at Robot Stock News. Thorn agrees with me that the $229 kit is what you need to get started.

Packbot Gets Advanced Sniffer

Smiths Detection, part of the global engineering business Smiths Group, has been selected by the US Army’s Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center to supply the Lightweight Chemical Detector (LCD)for use with a new advanced reconnaissance robot.

The LCD is fitted to an iRobot PackBot robot. The LCD can detect a wide range of chemical warfare agents including nerve, blister, blood and choking agents.

The new robots, which will be known as the CBRN Unmanned Ground Vehicle or CUGV, recently completed technical demonstrations at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Smiths Detection Press Release

Robot Vacuum Roundup

An article in JoongAng Daily announces another new household vacuum robot. This one is by HanulKid Co. Their machine also sprays steam and scrubs with a special brush.

Just last month Samsung's Hauzen Household announced that they were releasing two vacuum robots to the public.
According to the article, a spokesman for Samsung, Kwon Hyuk-guk, says, "We expect the market to grow, since double income households are growing, and as the price of robot vacuum cleaners goes down, they replace existing vacuum cleaners at a fast pace. By 2010, robot cleaners will take up 70 to 80 percent of all vacuum cleaners."
He is talking about sales in Korea, but it is still a surprising prediction to me. Only 20 to 30 percent of the households will still be vacuuming their floors by themselves. Everyone else will not even remember how to do it.

The article describes the variety of units available in Korea:

Hanulkid Co. - Eductaional robot company joining the vacuum market. Available October 2006, with steam powered cleaning.


Samsung - Two new models. Around $1000.


Yujin iClebo - $300 and up


iRobot Roomba -
US company, $150 - $400, depending on features.


ElectroLux Trilobite - $1800

Hanool Ottoro - $1000- $2000 "Ottoro is a cleaning robot that has the highest existing intelligence level in the world today."

LG Electronics Roboking - $1500. LG says that sales of robot vacuums surpased manual machines in February this year.

According to the article sales of robot vacuums in Korea last year were US $1.6 million and are expected to triple over the next few years.
The cheaper brands dominate the market with iRobot filling 50% and iClebo 35% of the sales.


INSIDE JoongAng Daily

Teach Your Roomba How to Act

The kids at myRoomBud have come up with an even better way to give your Roomba vacuum robot a personality.

They have been selling custom costumes for the rug robots for awhile. Now they have come up with the idea to make the robot character go more than skin deep.



Using the programming accessory RooTooth from Robodynamics you can communicate with your Roomba through a computer.

The myRoomBud folks have designed personalities and made a windows program, 'myRoomBud Is Alive Dashboard or MIAD (pronounced 'maid')' to teach them to your Roomba. The program includes a frog that hops, a tiger that growls and a French maid that wiggles.
Very cute.

They are also working on a voice command interface.

An observation - it may be obvious - robot personality and advanced 'artificial intelligence' are not necessarily coupled. It does not take a robot with near human intelligence or brain-like reasoning capacity to become a friendly interacting member of the family - as a pet or helper.

The development of human to robot relationships could advance at very different rate than the science of artificial intelligence. The next invention in robot personalities no longer depends on the next step in technology. It will be driven more by what people want.

I guess we had to reach a certain level of capability before this decoupling could occur.

Anyway, it is nice that you can now pick a personality, sort of like a font, to go in your vacuum cleaner. Will we need to start upgrading our other applances? And, will they all get along?

Will people's household robots start to resemble them? Or the other way around?

myRoomBud RoomBud iRobot Roomba costumes

iRobot Corporation Financials

BURLINGTON, Mass., May 2, 2006 – iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) today announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended April 1, 2006.

First-Quarter 2006 Highlights Include:

* Revenues for the first quarter of 2006 grew 123 percent to $38.2 million, compared with $17.1 million for the same quarter one year ago.
* Gross profit for the first quarter grew 193 percent to $12.2 million (31.9 percent of sales), compared with $4.2 million (24.3 percent of sales) in the first quarter of 2005. This growth in gross profit as a percentage of sales represents an improvement of 7.6 percentage points in Q1 of fiscal 2006 when compared to Q1 of fiscal 2005.
* Net loss in the first quarter of 2006 was $2.9 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a net loss in the first quarter of 2005 of $4.1 million, or $0.42 per share.

iRobot is the maker of the household flooor cleaning robots Roomba and Scooba and of the military Packbot.

Their stock, which was released in an IPO in December 2005, has been hammered lately due mainly to deep discounting of the newer wet-wash robot Scooba and fears of poor sales for the units. CEO Colin Angle reported in a conference call yesterday that the price discounting was started by one particular retailer who will be cut off from future deliveries.

For a complete analysis of iRobot's quarterly results check out the blog iRobot Stock News.

iRobot Corporation: Press Release

US Navy Enlists 213 More Packbots

BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) -- Robot maker IRobot Corp. said Monday it signed a $26 million contract with the Navy to build 213 bomb-disposal robots.

Under the contract, the company will build PackBot Man Transportable Robotic System robots, which enable experts to locate and disable bombs from a safe distance. The company has already sold the Navy two orders of PackBot robots worth $17 million, the company said.

The U.S. military has requirements for up to 1,200 PackBot robots through 2012, the company said.

More than 300 PackBot robots have been deployed worldwide and have performed tens of thousands of missions, the company said.

IRobot Gets $26 Million Navy Contract: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

PackBot REDOWL

How To Talk to Your Roomba

Two posts from Make Blog -

Teach your iRobot Roomba cleaner to do more than vacuum.
You can build an adapter to converse with machine through a serial port or wirelessly through Bluetooth.

It looks like a small step to be able to drive your Roomba over the web when you are at work. Or have it email you if it gets stuck while cleaning during the day.

You can get even more help at the Roomba wiki.

MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - Make a Roomba Serial Interface

HOW TO - Make a Roomba Bluetooth Interface

Robot Mule Thinks in Linux

iRobot used embedded Linux to build an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) aimed at military scouting, guarding, and hauling applications. The "R-Gator" is based on John Deere's diesel-powered, 658cc M-Gator military utility vehicle platform, with control, navigation, and object-avoidance systems based on BlueCat Linux from LynuxWorks.

iRobot describes R-Gator as "an intelligent UGV that can autonomously perform dangerous military missions, including acting as an unmanned scout, 'point man,' perimeter guard, [and] pack/ammo/supply carrier for soldiers, marines, and airmen."
The R-Gator can be shifted quickly between remote operation, autonomous, and manual modes, a feature that lets military personnel evaluate unmanned vehicle technology in "numerous operational scenarios," the company says.

In follow mode the R-Gator carries supplies for troops on patrol.

Linux powers autonomous military ground vehicle

Packbot Gets Sniper Sensors

iRobot and Boston Univ. Photonics Center Unveil
Advanced Sniper Detection System for iRobot PackBot

BURLINGTON, Mass. and BOSTON - Oct. 3, 2005 - iRobot Corp. and The Photonics Center at Boston University introduced a tactical sensory system payload prototype, dubbed REDOWL, for the combat-proven iRobot PackBot® robot.
REDOWL, or Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers, can detect and locate snipers and mortars on the very first shot fired at personnel or vehicles.
REDOWL is an ongoing rapid development program led by The Photonics Center at Boston University with iRobot, Insight Technology and BioMimetic Systems. The technology will be demonstrated publicly for the first time today at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.



REDOWL features an array of optics and acoustic detection systems including a laser pointer and illuminator, acoustic localizer and classifier, thermal imager, GPS positioning, an infrared and daylight camera and two wide-angle cameras. When integrated with the PackBot, these systems enable the robot to accurately detect, locate and identify the origination point of hostile gunfire. These systems also make REDOWL ideal for day and night urban surveillance, reconnaissance, hostage/barricade situations, forward observation outposts and perimeter protection missions.

REDOWL features an Acoustic Direction Finding (ADF) system developed by BioMimetic Systems. The ADF is based on advanced “neural circuits” emulating human hearing and provides accurate detection and bearing information in high background noise environments


The Photonics Center at Boston University

iRobot to Send More Packbots

iRobot Secures NAVSEA Contract Increase for
Man Transportable Robotic System


BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 16, 2005 – iRobot Corp. has been awarded a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contract modification to deliver the iRobot PackBot® Man Transportable Robotic System, or MTRS, robots. An initial order has been placed for 103 PackBot MTRS robots at a value of $12.1 million. iRobot could deliver up to 1,200 robots through 2012 under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

“There is an urgent need for technology that can address improvised explosive devices and other deadly ordnance on the battlefield,” said CDR Scott Stuart of Program Office Explosive Ordnance Disposal, PEO-LMW. “The Man Transportable Robotic System has proven its life-saving value on the battlefield, and we are increasing production to counter the threats that our EOD forces face.”


The PackBot MTRS is custom-built to NAVSEA’s specifications using the combat-proven PackBot Explosive Ordnance Device (EOD) robot as a platform. Already deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, PackBot EOD is a rugged, lightweight robot designed to conduct explosive ordnance disposal and handle hazardous materials, search-and-surveillance and other vital tasks for military units and bomb squads.

The PackBot MTRS is specially equipped with a variety of tools and sensors to allow EOD technicians to perform reconnaissance and disrupt unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices from a safe distance.

iRobot also manufactures the Roomba and Scooba household floormaid robots.

iRobot - Robots for the Real World : Press Release Detail

iRobot IPO

iRobot is the maker of home vacuum robot Roomba and recently announced wet-mop robot Scooba.

iRobot Corp. Files Registration Statement for Initial Public Offering

BURLINGTON, Mass. – July 27, 2005 – iRobot Corporation today announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. iRobot is a leading global provider of robots that enable people to complete complex tasks in a better way. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined.

iRobot - Robots for the Real World : Press Release Detail

iRobot goes for water sports

'BOTS Roomba Repurposed

The sequel to the successful Roomba—1.2 million sold, the most ever for a home robot— it's an automated mop called Scooba, which looks and sounds like the Roomba but wets, washes and dries floors.

Scientists at iRobot have been trying to solve the delicate technical challenges of a mop-bot for more than two years. Early prototypes used off-the-shelf detergent and became bubble-spewing machines that spun their wheels on the wet surface.

Scooba, which will go on sale by the end of the year at a still undecided price, works in four stages. A high-velocity jet stream pushes loose particles into a dirty-water compartment. Then two nozzles squirt cleaning fluid from a clean tank, and a mustache brush spreads it around. A scrubbing brush then rubs the floor and, finally, a squeegee sucks the dirty liquid into the dirty tank. iRobot's sales pitch: the separate clean and dirty compartments allow Scooba to do a better job than humans, who tend to spread dirty water around. "We are not just going to replace mopping, we are going to obsolete it," Angle says. Humans, we imagine, will gladly turn over this particular chore to our automated friends.


'BOTS Roomba Repurposed - Newsweek Periscope - MSNBC.com

Army of 2015 to be 1/3 Robots - Congressional Mandate

From the battlefield straight to your home | InfoWorld | News | 2005-05-12 | By Johan Bostrom, IDG News Service

The development of mobile military robots is being pushed by a Congressional mandate that at least a third of all military vehicles be autonomous by 2015. That presents a great opportunity for manufacturers of consumer electronics and household appliances, according to Neena Buck, strategy analyst at research firm Emerging Frontiers.

Irobot, a robotics company with both a strong military division and a successful consumer products unit-- it has sold 1.2 million units of the vacuum cleaner robot Roomba -- is an exception and a good example of how things should be done, in Buck's opinion.

Another company that sees promise in robots for civilian purposes is Vecna Technologies Inc. in College Park, Maryland. It is working with the U.S. Army on developing a robot dubbed Bear to assist in removing the wounded from battlefields.



From the battlefield straight to your home | InfoWorld | News | 2005-05-12 | By Johan Bostrom, IDG News Service