Turmoil at iRobot: Sandra Lawrence OUT as Home Robots President!

I certainly didn't see this coming!
Sandra Lawrence will no longer be the president of iRobot Home Robots, effective May 16th, after a little more than a year with the company. According to iRobot she is leaving "to pursue other interests," which is pablum. There has to be a MAJOR backstory here. Lawrence was touted as someone who could bring consumer sensibility (she had been a Gillette exec) to an engineering-heavy firm, and now she's gone after a year with no obvious or clear impact on the company, and not even a single sentence of praise from the company for anything that she did. ODD!!!

During her tenure, the company released the Roomba 500 Series which had been under development long before she arrived, ditto with the Looj, delayed the ConnectR robot, and launched a television advertising campaign that was criticized by some as offensive for portraying children as pigs and a husband as a donkey (others found it funny). Sales grew significantly, but it's not clear how much of that was Lawrence's doing or part of pieces that were already in the works. I guess we should have guessed something was up when she was not on the most recent conference call.

iRobot named Jon Elordi as the interim chief:

The company has named Jon Elordi as interim general manager of the Home Robots division, a position he will hold for the duration of the company’s search for a new president. During this time, Elordi will report to iRobot chief executive officer Colin Angle who will assist through the transition. The change will be effective as of May 16th. Mr. Elordi has worked at iRobot for three years as vice president of international sales and marketing. He is responsible for the strategic direction, partnerships, sales and marketing, and operations of the overseas business. Recently Elordi spearheaded the creation of a direct channel for international business, and established warehousing and protocols that enable iRobot to sell and ship directly to customers in the United Kingdom and Germany.
“Jon brings to the position a proven record of leadership and accomplishment in the consumer market space and a deep understanding of our business,” Angle said. “These management changes will not impact the financial expectations we discussed on May 1st 2008.”
Prior to joining iRobot Elordi was the senior vice president and general manager of international business for the Holmes Group. He has also held executive positions with Helen of Troy and Hallmark Greeting Cards. Elordi has a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University, and a master’s degree in Business from Florida Institute of Technology. Elordi served as a Lieutenant in the United Sates Navy between 1984 and 1990, where he was a surface warfare officer on board the USS William V. Pratt.

iRobot of course recently changed the helm at CFO, of course, replacing Geoff Clear, who professed a desire to work at another startup. (Clear said that change was long planned, but of course there is no such mention in this very puzzling announcement.)

Tags: iRobot

Next Bit of News Likely To Be Good

iRobot faces a retailing headwind in the United States this year (even though its consumer sales are UP!), which has crimped its results and stock price to bargain basement levels. But the next few big pieces of news are likely to be good, even very good, indeed.

1) "Large" xBot/PackBot with FasTac orders are expected shortly, according to iRobot CEO Colin Angle. These should generate another round of publicity for the company and perhaps more interest from the big papers and television networks, because of the new robot's status of the first robot for the basic infantry.

2) SUGV Go-No Go decision in September. I'm betting a lot that there will be a "GO" decision on the SUGV Early, which could lead to lots of new orders flowing into 2009 and dramatically boost the company's fortunes. Why?
* The Army is under tremendous pressure to show short-term results from FCS, given the billions and years that have been invested. The SUGV Early is one of the most tangible, easy-to-understand force multipliers to emerge from the program. It's also relatively cheap compared to robotic tanks, etc., and does not require the massive FCS software package to be deployed immediately. Every review from soldiers is that they want the SUGV and they want it NOW.

3) Europe! Foreign sales were up 5X in the first quarter year over year. That's 500% folks! Readers of this blog know that I've been harping on the need for more international sales for the better part of two years, and iRobot apparently is starting to figure out the game. (Not that anybody noticed; everybody was freaked out over LNT's looming bankruptcy filing and lowered profit and revenue expectations.) With the cheap dollar, and the advent of DIRECT sales in Europe, consumer weakness in the United States should be at least partially offset by galloping sales overseas, where there are vast, untapped markets of technologically savvy folks with smaller-than-U.S. homes and apartments who are perfect customers for Roomba, Scooba, et al. There is also plenty of room for dramatic improvements in Asia as well, which already has a pro-robot culture.

4) Higher average prices. The new Roomba 500 Series is commanding a premium of $50-$100 over the older series at retail, even though it probably doesn't cost that much more to produce. I'm convinced the older Roomba 400 Series is being kept around simply to crowd out bargain basement competitors from emerging at a lower price point. Eventually, I imagine that the Roomba 500s will move slightly lower in price at the lower end (i.e., the Roomba 510 has been spotted below $199 a few times as promotional items, though it lacks key features such as a home base and upgradeability for scheduling, etc.).

Tags: iRobot

The trouble with Auction Rate Securities

I have to admit, I had never heard of "Auction Rate Securities" until iRobot had to take a $2.1 million write-down to its balance sheet in its first-quarter report, with potentially an even larger haircut to come.

The New York Times has a good article on how the ARS market has completely failed in the past quarter, with what should be rock-solid investments backed by governments failing and being discounted as much as 25 percent.

iRobot has effectively $14-$16 million tied up in this mess, a significant portion of its overall liquidity. It's not THAT significant, given that the company has an untapped $50 million line of credit and zero debt, but troubling nonetheless.

Tags: iRobot, auction rate securities

StrategyPage posts on SUGV

Another fine article on iRobot's new SUGV, already shipping, at Strategy Page.
(Thx, Micro)

Here's a clip:

SUGV can also perform outpost and listening post work. These are two dangerous jobs the infantry are glad to hand off to a robot. Outposts are, as the name implies, one or two troops dug in a hundred meters or so from the main position, to give early warning of an enemy attack. A listening post is similar, but the friendly troops are often much deeper into enemy territory. The SUGV battery enables it to just sit in one place, listening and watching, for eight hour or more. After that, you send out another SUGV with a fresh battery, and have the other one come back for a recharge. No risk of troops getting shot at while doing the same things, and the troops really appreciate that. Other dangerous jobs for the SUGV are placing explosives by a door (to blow it open for the troops), or placing a smoke grenade where it will prevent the enemy from seeing the troops move.

The SUGV along with the xBot has the potential to drive exponential growth for iRobot's military robotics business. A key go/no-go decision is expected in September. I'm placing my bets on "go," of course. This one contract has the potential to be worth the entire value of iRobot's current stock price. Once you are the established vendor for a key piece of military hardware, you can end up with near-endless upgrade cycles, spare parts sales, scale advantages, etc.

Tags: iRobot, SUGV

IRBT's Brutal Day

IRBT took it on the chin today after lowering its earnings guidance, replacing its CFO, disclosing potentially impaired financial investments, taking a $1.8 million hit from Linens 'N Things, and disappointing analysts who had banked on iRobot lowballing its earnings for the year, vs. downgrading.

I think the sell-off is vastly overblown. The company is now selling for near parity with annual sales, and is getting closer and closer to being a takeover target at these prices, given the hundreds of millions of military contracts it has in hand and the substantial brand value it has generated on the consumer side. The new CFO is a red herring issue. And despite a consumer recession (which is not exactly news, folks), Roomba sales were still through the roof compared to a year ago. If it weren't for the hit from LNT, sales and profits for the full year would barely budge.

And, most importantly on the plus side, the company is FINALLY starting to realize the tremendous opportunities available for its products overseas, particularly with the plummeting dollar, growing sales 500% year over year even BEFORE opening up its new DIRECT sales channels in Europe next month in Great Britain and Germany, which will result in improved margins, lower prices and more sales. There is a vast untapped market of time-sapped professionals across the globe with dirty homes that need cleaning. I was particularly encouraged to hear on the conference call that Japan has now emerged as the top foreign market, beating out South Korea. Japan is a perfect market for iRobot, but for whatever reason the company had heretofore failed to make much of a dent there. There is no reason why the company can't make the overseas business into half of consumer robot sales within a couple of years. The company also reported new sales of its PackBot line in places like Australia, but my guess is that the U.S. military will continue to provide about 90 percent of its military funding. Of note, the company said it expects large orders for the xBot/PackBot FasTac robot shortly, although that is a lower margin product than its PackBot 510 robot. Demand for PackBots and production of PackBots continues to soar, although margins are a bit under pressure as cheaper variants are likely to get more traction. Analysts on the call seemed to be disappointed that there wasn't more talk of upside surprises from sales of the iRobot Warrior (one has been sold for mine clearing), or potentially the SUGV early, which faces a crucial September go/no-go decision from the Army. (iRobot Chairwoman Helen Greiner said the SUGV is going excellently so far, but a decision on sales would likely mean production largely in 2009). iRobot CEO Colin Angle seemed a bit flummoxed and surprised by the hostile tone of the analyst questions, and defensively said that the military side of the business is just where they want it to be.
At any rate, at least for another year, the iRobot story will still be one of future promise, and revenue growth, and not of profits here and now. The company has several problems that it must address, including the impairment of some of its financial investments that are not selling at face value (the company took a $2 million charge but anticipates recouping that in the future because the investments are backed by the government). The company also has to keep its eye on the consumer ball, and ride herd on shaky retailers like Linens 'N Things (Sharper Image, another iRobot customer, already went into bankruptcy, but that didn't cost iRobot directly because they had only received product on a cash basis). There are no guarantees that other iRobot retailers will not experience financial difficulty, although LNT and Sharper are probably in a class all their own. There is also at least a small chance that LNT will be able to avoid bankruptcy and start paying off its vendors like iRobot, but I wouldn't count on it. (Yet another reason for iRobot to open its own branded stores!)

Remember, at any rate, the name of the game is buy low and sell high. We're getting low.

Tags: iRobot, robot

iRobot Warns on Full Year Guidance

iRobot issued new financial guidance after the market close yesterday that reflected the financial problems of retailer Linens 'N Things, which apparently owes iRobot $1.8 million and is reported to be near a bankruptcy filing (I warned of this a few weeks back), as well as a weaker retailing environment. iRobot still expects to make money for the full year, but dropped its expectations to $5-7 million from $8-$10 million. That means another year without anything close to a meaningful P/E ratio, but the positive would seem to be that the company is still forecasting significant growth despite a near-recessionary environment.
The company has forecast new revenue guidance of $295 million to $305 million, down from $300 million to $310 million.

Here is the press release:

iRobot Reports First Quarter 2008 Results
Wednesday April 30, 4:30 pm ET
Revenue Up 45 Percent; Cautious About Retail Sector Second Half of 2008

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ:IRBT - News) today announced its financial results for the fiscal quarter ended March 29, 2008.

“In Q1, we delivered our 15th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth,” said Colin Angle, chief executive officer of iRobot. “We continue to see strong demand for our products in both divisions. Home Robot revenue was up 55 percent with significant increases in international home robot revenue from Q1 2007. Government & Industrial revenue grew 35 percent in the first quarter from the first quarter a year ago. That said, we faced some macro economic challenges during the quarter that impacted our bottom line and changed our outlook for the rest of 2008,” he added.

“Over the past two months, the overall retail environment has deteriorated. Due to the financial condition of one of our key customers, Linens ‘n Things, we did not recognize revenue for $1.8 million of shipments made to them in Q1. As compared to first quarter 2007, this accounted for a 2.3 percentage point decline in gross margin and a $0.05 decrease in earnings per share.

“The financial expectations we shared on February 20th assumed a unit growth rate that we thought was reasonable in a recession, and we have seen sell through performance that meets or exceeds that model. In the current U.S. economic climate, however, we anticipate that it will be difficult for our retail partners to buy as aggressively as they have in the past to fill their shelves with product in the back half of the year. Therefore, we are reiterating our expectations for first half 2008 financial performance and modifying our expectations for full year 2008 financial performance.”

Current expectations for first half and full year 2008 financial performance are as follows:

Current Guidance

First Half

Full Year
Revenue $ 109M - $112M $ 295M - $305M
Pre-Tax Net Income (Loss) ($17M - $19M) $ 5M - $7M
Earnings Per Share (Loss Per Share)
($0.42 - $0.45) $ 0.12 - $0.17


February 20, 2008 Guidance

Revenue $ 109M - $112M $ 300M - $310M
Pre-Tax Net Income (Loss) ($17M - $19M) $ 8M - $10M
Earnings Per Share (Loss Per Share)
($0.42 - $0.45) $ 0.18 - $0.23

Financial Highlights:

* Revenues for the first quarter of 2008 grew to $57.3 million, compared with $39.5 million in the first quarter of 2007.
* Gross profit for the first quarter of 2008 increased to $15.4 million (26.8 percent of sales), compared with $11.1 million (28.2 percent of sales) in the first quarter of 2007.
* Net loss in the first quarter of 2008 was $4.0 million compared with a net loss in the first quarter of 2007 of $5.5 million.

Business Highlights:

* iRobot announced the company reached a funding agreement with the U.S. Army’s Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) of Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation team on the previously determined direction of SUGV acceleration on January 17, 2008 under the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Program. This contract has grown from $23 million in 2003 to its current level of approximately $63 million.
* iRobot announced an expansion of the iRobot Verro™ Pool Cleaning Robot line. Three robots are available for the 2008 pool season, including two new models, the Verro 100 Pool Cleaning Robot at $399 and the Verro 500 Pool Cleaning Robot at $999.
* iRobot announced it received an award under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) LANdroids program to develop a new portable communications relay robot that is small, inexpensive, intelligent and robust. The goal of the DARPA LANdroids program is to develop technologies to enable the warfighter operating in dense urban environments to rapidly deploy and maintain a vital communications infrastructure.

Tags: iRobot, robot

New Roomba w/Dock $139 Shipped

UPDATED 4/30: SUPER BETTER-THAN-WOOT DEAL IS BACK: The Roomba Discovery SE (New, not refurbished, includes self-charging dock) for $139 Shipped!!!! Woot had it for $145 a while back!

Tags: Roomba, robot

The Long, Sad Saga of Jameel Ahed, Robotic FX and iRobot

Wired's Noah Schachtman has a lengthy story detailing the Jameel Ahed/Robotic FX/iRobot saga at this link.

I'll update with details after I read it...

Tags: iRobot, Jameel+Ahed

iRobot gets additional $6 million for SUGV development

iRobot has received a $6 million boost to its contract for development of the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) for the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, covering the 25 SUGVs now being shipped to the military years ahead of schedule. The company now has $63 million total under the FCS contract. (Note that a decision on whether to move forward now with major purchases of the SUGV Early is expected in the September time frame after initial testing.)

Here is the press release:

iRobot's Future Combat Systems Contract Grows to Over $60 Million
Monday April 21, 8:30 am ET
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ:IRBT - News) today announced the company reached a funding agreement with the U.S. Army’s Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) of Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation team on the previously determined direction of SUGV acceleration on January 17, 2008 under the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Program. Valued at $6 million, this award adds and accelerates delivery of 25 FCS Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) near-term robots for testing to ultimately provide added capabilities to soldiers in the field. iRobot’s FCS Program contract now totals approximately $63 million.
“iRobot is committed to supporting infantry with revolutionary, combat-proven robots that provide soldiers a decisive advantage on the battlefield, while helping to keep them out of harm’s way,” said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. “With this agreement, as well as the recently announced accelerated testing schedule for FCS SUGV robots, it is clear the U.S. Army truly values the mission critical role robots play in theater as part of warfighters’ teams.”
In 2003 iRobot announced it was selected by the U.S. Army and its Lead System Integrator team of Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation to develop a next-generation SUGV for the FCS program. FCS is the Army's modernization program consisting of a family of manned and unmanned systems, connected by a common network, that enable warfighters with leading-edge technologies and capabilities for operating in complex environments.
Modeled after the combat-proven iRobot PackBot, SUGV features a rugged, lightweight body enabling a single soldier to easily carry and quickly deploy the robot. It is designed to enter and secure areas that are either inaccessible or extremely risky and dangerous for warfighters, and provide real-time intelligence while allowing the soldiers to maintain a safe distance from the enemy. By being linked in to the FCS network, the images and information gained by the SUGV can rapidly be made available to the warfighter.
To date, iRobot has delivered more than 1,400 PackBot robots to a broad range of military and civilian customers worldwide.

Tags: iRobot, SUGV

iRobot 1st Quarter Earnings Due April 30

iRobot announced that it will announce 1st Quarter earnings April 30 after the market's close and will hold a conference call at 8:30 a.m. May 1.
Tags: iRobot, robot

iRobot to link military robots, Roomba in new ads

Perhaps looking to buff its home robots with a patina of patriotism, iRobot has hired a PR firm for a "branding" campaign aimed at linking the military division with its home robots in the eyes of the public. Smart move if done right.
Tags: iRobot

Overblown and incorrect saga of SWORDS debunked

I didn't post about this originally, because it was so obviously wrong. (Maybe I should have posted for that reason?) But Popular Mechanics and Danger Room have debunked stories prompted by inaccurate and increasingly breathless web reports of the context of what robotics chief Kevin Fahey said at last week's Robobusiness conference. (That's the danger of blogs, isn't it? One false but sexy and breathless tidbit: "ARMY PULLS ARMED ROBOTS AFTER IT POINTS GUN AT HUMANS, SAYS NO MORE ARMED ROBOTS FOR 10-20 YEARS" can get repeated very quickly and be seen as gospel, because after all, it was on the Internets, as it were. (Never mind that the article that prompted some of this breathless reporting quoted Fahey saying that they were about to deploy MORE armed robots to Iraq!)

Nevertheless, here is Popular Mechanics' follow on their poorly worded original story, featuring must-read quotes from the military and Foster-Miller, who are none too happy with how SWORDS has been portrayed, and Danger Room's follow, also featuring more comment.

Bottom line: The three SWORDS robots are still in Iraq and have not been used to fire their weapons, the actual reasons for which are still a mystery, but appear to be due to the reluctance of commanders to deploy it. (Ed: Perhaps wanting to avoid bad headlines, such as "TERMINATOR ROBOTS POINT AT SOLDIERS"?) More armed robots are going to Iraq, and it seems only a matter of time before we have many, many armed robots supplementing soldiers in dangerous situations. It seems like it would only take one "mouth of the cave moment" where a soldier's life is clearly on the line and an armed robot is available to take his place on the point, to prove invaluable.

I also note that iRobot has an armed variant of its iRobot Warrior project coming on line soon, but is dependent on funding which is not available yet even for SWORDS. I can see the warrior being a near-perfect Sniper-Killer. Send it into a building with a sniper, and it can climb the stairs and then use its twin shotguns to full effect.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the potential headline risk ("SHOCKING: MILITARY HARDWARE CAN BE DEADLY") results in the first heavily deployed units being something more like the Taser, which is also teaming with iRobot, although that capability may see its first deployment by domestic police forces.

Tags: iRobot, robot, iRobot, SWORDS, Foster-Miller, terminator

Will LNT go bankrupt?

Shortly after The Sharper Image entered bankruptcy protection (and stopped accepting its own gift cards), now there is word from the Wall Street Journal that Linens 'N Things may declare bankruptcy in the coming days. Linens 'N Things is a major purchaser of iRobot products, although my guess is that iRobot had forced LNT to pay up front for new shipments, as they had with Sharper Image. (iRobot should clarify this if and when a bankruptcy filing occurs). Dyson Inc. recently filed a lawsuit against LNT charging that LNT had failed to pay for more than $1 million in products, and stopped shipping product to LNT a while back, and LNT has counterclaimed that Dyson owes it money for not shipping them products that they had already advertised, according to news reports. If you have any LNT gift cards or know anybody who does, use them this weekend.

Tags: LNT

iRobot Jobs Watch, Now in Graph Form

I've posted regularly for the past two years on job postings at iRobot.com, because they can give investors an eye into the direction that management is taking the company and give at least some sense of how fast the company is growing in each division -- or not.

Jsrn23 has posted this auto-updating jobs graph that will show the level of jobs by iRobot division over time.

Great job!

Tags: iRobot, robot

21 Robot Businesses Evaluates by Colin Angle

Robot Central listed Colin Angle's take on 21 robotic business opportunities from his keynote. It's a must-read at this link.

Tags: iRobot, robot

U.S. News & World Report Profiles iRobot

With a visit to iRobot headquarters. Worth a read at this link.
(thx, ibnjoyn)
Tags: iRobot

iRobot Cuts Price on Scooba 380!

iRobot has cut the price on the top-of-the-line Scooba 380 robot mop by $50 to $449. (I note they raised the price to $499 last June). My guess is that sales of ultra high end models may be getting dinged by the economy. In retrospect, it's probably a good year NOT to be releasing a new robotic lawnmower.

Tags: iRobot, Scooba

New Roomba Knockoff - $85 shipped

A company I've never heard of called "Clevervac" -- based in Illinois, the same state that produced Jameel Ahed, he of iRobot PackBot knockoff infamy, is selling a robotic vacuum called the "Auto Cleaner" that looks very, very much like an updated original Roomba vacuum, and includes a charcoal filter for air filtration. The company is selling the vacuums for $85 shipped direct and filters for $1.99 a pop. Includes a charging home base, a scheduler and a virtual wall.

I'd be SHOCKED if this doesn't violate iRobot's patents.

(BTW, the company also sells nature posters?!?)

Tags: iRobot, Roomba

New iRobot Floor Care Competition, Oil Drilling Robots? RoboBusiness 2008 Kicks Off

The Robobusiness 2008 Conference kicked off today with a speech from Kevin Fahey, the army's head of ground combat systems, praising robotic systems for saving lives. But two tidbits in this story at CBC News stand out:
iRobot CEO Colin Angle mentioned deep ocean oil drilling and janitorial duties as growth prospects for robotics:

In 2000, more than $80 billion U.S. was spent in the United States simply cleaning floors, he said, a pie the robot industry is well poised to grab.
Overall, the robot industry is growing briskly even though it hasn't yet discovered one breakthrough consumer product. While robot vacuum cleaners are gaining momentum — making up about five per cent of total vacuum sales last year — they are far from the holy grail of the industry, Angle said.
"We really don't have the killer application yet to drive things," he said. "There is obviously the opportunity here to do more."

Then there is this tidbit:

Paolo Pirjanian, CEO of navigation systems maker Evolution Robotics Inc., predicted that breakthrough is coming soon.
Robot-making companies are disrupting traditional businesses, which are now starting to take notice. Many of them will come out with their own robotic technologies in the next few months, he said.
"These floor-care companies have to take iRobot seriously."

What this says to me is that we could be seeing more robot vacuum knockoffs from some of the big players out there. That actually has the potential to be beneficial to iRobot by growing the market.

MAKEZine also has pics from the conference.
Tags: iRobot, Roomba, robots

iRobot Customer Service Silliness

iRobot just won an "Elite" award for its customer relations management, but they aren't perfect.
The Smart (Enough) Systems blog rips iRobot's customer service in one respect: The author bought a three robot package (Roomba, Scooba, Dirt Dog) but decided he didn't want to keep the Scooba during the 30-day return window. The company forced him to return ALL THREE ROBOTS to get a refund and then repurchase the TWO robots he wanted to keep. iRobot then had to refurb 3 robots instead of one and inconvenienced one of their better customers (who must have shelled out $700-$800) to boot. Apparently, prorating the cost was beyond the customer service rep's and/or iRobot's computer system's ability. It would have been a little bit complicated, given that these three robot packages include a Free Dirt Dog promo, but it would have been simple enough if iRobot had simply said, okay dude, we will refund the difference between the package price and the price of the Roomba and Dirt Dog on their own. This, of course, would save iRobot money and make customers happy! iRobot also had the bad luck to do this to a guy who writes books about "Enterprise Decision Management" for a living. Or perhaps, if they can fix this problem (which shouldn't be too hard), maybe they should send him a check and thank him for pointing out how they can get better. Hopefully the iRobot employees who read this will give customer service (which is outsourced) a memo.

(thx, micro)

Tags: iRobot, robot

iRobot Named "Elite" Service Award from CRM Magazine

iRobot's partnership with RightNow Technologies for its customer service has won kudos from CRM Magazine. The company says service has improved significantly and costs have been cut as a result.

Some stats I hadn't seen before:
* An offshore contact center launched within eight weeks for half the cost
* The company is now capable of administering 4,000 customer surveys monthly to garner customer insight
* The self-service rate improved to 97 percent
* Marketing contacts increased from 300,000 to 750,000

Thanks, jsrn!

Tags: iRobot, robot

Colin Angle files to sell 187,000 IRBT shares

iRobot CEO Colin Angle has filed a plan allowing him to sell up to 187,000 shares in the coming year, or 9.6% of his overall stake. (Angle, Chairwoman Helen Greiner and co-founder Rodney Brooks had suspended share sales last year when the stock was in the lower teens).

Tags: iRobot

BREAKING: Consumer Reports Warns Against Robotic Lawnmowers

Consumer Reports, the nation's leading consumer magazine, reviewed in its May 2008 issue two robotic lawnmowers, the Robomower RL1000 from Friendly Robotics and the LawnBott LB3200 Evolution and didn't like either of them.

The magazine judged the LawnBott "Not Acceptable" because of what it judged to be a safety hazard. The magazine said the blades continued to turn until the mower was lifted to a 45 degree angle, and then took five seconds to stop -- plenty of time for injury.

The RL1000 took less than a second to stop and at a lower angle, but Consumer Reports didn't like it's performance as a cutting machine, and said that the manufacturer recommends that you supervise the machine while it is running, so it isn't as big a timesaver as they claim because it can take 4 hours to mow a half-acre lawn.

Myself, I'm not the biggest fan of Consumer Reports' reviews of technology-related products (I thought they were dead wrong and frankly stupid in their review of the Scooba robotic mop), but safety is going to be an absolute key issue that iRobot will have to knock out of the park if and when it brings a robotic lawnmower to market. I'd like to see the stats in the meantime on injuries from robotic lawnmowers versus push mowers and tractors. My understanding is that robotic lawnmowers have a MUCH better safety record, while regular mowers regularly chop off body parts of drivers who lose their balance, etc.


The link.

Tags: iRobot, robot,
Tags: Robomower, Lawnbott

Even more iRobot news tidbits...

I feel like I'm posting up a storm this weekend.

Here are some nice clips Microcapfun turned up (thx!):

A customer laments: Need wife happy, please send functional Scooba! (I note I didn't have to wait for my replacement Scooba last year.)

Now they're using Wii remotes on the PackBot.

An all-terrain iRobot Create video (They added big wheels.)

A feature-length film is going to be made starring the Robosapien by Wowwee. (That's HUGE for them.)

Tags: iRobot, robot

Roomba 560 Profiled on Today Show

The Today Show on Saturday morning featured an endorsement of the Roomba 560, noting that it is a top pick from Good Housekeeping. The woman showing off the various vacuums talks about how much people love their Roombas.

You can watch the video at this link.

They also feature my favorite canister vacuum, the electronic Hoover S3765 Canister Vac.

Tags: iRobot, Roomba

Colin Angle gets a cameo in film "21"

iRobot CEO Colin Angle appears in the hit Blackjack movie "21" in theaters this weekend. Xconomy has the story. The company got some product placement, with contestants winning the "iRobot Cup."

Here is Colin's Internet Movie Database credit, so it's official.

Too bad the critics hate the movie.

Tags: iRobot, Colin Angle

iRobot Roomba Gearbox Issue?

Someone posted this YouTube Video showing a warped and partially melted gearbox on what appears to be a defective Roomba 570 robot. No one from iRobot has commented on the video as of yet, but I think they absolutely should. If there is an actual design flaw (and not a manufacturing defect on this one poor soul's machine) they need to fix it. This video was posted 4 months ago, but it's unclear if there was any resolution of the issue.
-Thorn

(I would not for potential buyers of a Roomba that this is yet another reason to get the Roomba 570 with the Lifetime Guarantee.)

Tags: iRobot, Roomba

Roomba Air: The World's Thinnest Vacuum

Clever YouTube spoof of the iconic MacBook Air Commercial, featuring your favorite tiny vacuum that packs the big punch:iRobot should get on this pronto! :}
Tags: iRobot, robot, MacBook Air, Roomba, YouTube

Roomba, Scooba Explained, Down-Home YouTube Style

Here is a HILARIOUS video from an iRobot fan who has a Roomba 560 and a top-of-the-line Scooba 380 cleaning his 3,200 square foot house. The accent is worth the price of admission. My sense if this dude can learn to love iRobot, we are on to something here.

One note: Unlike the Roomba, the Scooba does not have dirt sensors, but many people think it must because of its occasional spiral patterns.
Tags: iRobot, robot, Roomba, Scooba, YouTube

Roomba - The Ant Exterminator (Really!)

It's a case of ant versus robot. Think of it as Alien vs. Predator (AVP for fanboys), only on a much, much smaller scale.

In one corner is the humble ant, scourge of homes everywhere. In the other corner, our beloved Roomba, which not only mercilessly, repeatedly and automatically on a schedule will sweep and vacuum your floors, but will also eat and kill ants, by the hundreds. In fact, exterminators have come to recommend the device. I swear I'm NOT making this up!

From a web post on How to Get Rid of Ants:

A local exterminator came over to my house a few weeks ago after finding an infestigation. He gave me a small robotic vaccum cleaner called the roomba for a week. It had a scheduler and a base charge unit that it automatically went to when the battery got low. The roomba dispatched to the room like 20 times a day. Mostly while I was at work. As worker ants came out behind the wall, the roomba rolled over them and swept them up. So every once in a while it would go off its charger, run for half an hour, and nuke 100+ ants coming out of the wall per session. After about 3 days, running unattended thoughout the day and night, it killed off all the foragers, leaving the queen to starve to death. It was a merciless killing machine. It also cleaned my floors.

From How to Get Rid of Stuff.

Tags: iRobot, Roomba, ants, robot

iRobot Full 4th Quarter Conference Call Transcript

Seeking Alpha has posted a complete transcript of iRobot's 4th Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

Tags: iRobot

iRobot Wants iRobot Create Robot Program Manager

Who says there is a slow economy and no jobs out there? NOT iRobot! iRobot's hiring continues to ratchet up, with 30 listings now on its web site, up from 29 listings last month. The most interesting listing is for a Program Manager for the iRobot Create line of programmable robots. iRobot Create is an affordable programmable robot pre-assembled to facilitate the development of new robots.

From the listing:

We are seeking a highly motivated intrapreneur (sic) to manage and grow the iRobot Create business in keeping with iRobot’s strategic objectives for Create. This individual will report to the Vice President of Sales in our Home Robots Division.

Responsibilities:

* Learn and maintain a sophisticated knowledge level of the robotics teaching/learning/research marketplace
* Connect with the potential Create marketplace (robot contests and contest committees, educational trade shows, technology conventions, special interest robotics groups and ‘clusters’, etc.)
* Build strategic relationships with influential members of the high school and university faculty community
* Develop market segmented roll-out campaigns (both strategic and tactical)
* Develop reports on the effectiveness of marketing/sales campaigns
* Identify and solicit third party (philanthropic, government, and industry) sources or funding for collaborative Create initiatives
* Gather, assimilate and analyze competitive product information and report same to product development team
* Maintain knowledge of emerging trends
* Recommend changes and improvements to Create based on information gathered from the Create user/prospect community
* Identify strategic marketing alliance partners that will enhance Create’s marketplace acceptance
* Promote the development and sharing of Create curriculi among relevant faculty communities
* Travel to events/potential clients/partners (15-20% of time)

So any of our readers out there interested? Sounds like a potentially dream job. Meanwhile, I note that just 7 of the job listings are for the Home Robots division. That makes sense given the economy and the fast-growing nature of military robotics.

Tags: iRobot, robot, robotics, jobs

Woot has a Roomba 510 for $154.99

UPDATE: EXPIRED

Woot has a Roomba 510 for $154.9