Flying Terminator Drone? Helen Greiner's Droid Works gets $100K Grant for INDOOR Robot Air Vehicle

iRobot Co-Founder Helen Greiner has landed a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an indoor/outdoor "robotic air vehicle" for emergency response at her new company, The Droid Works.

According to Mass High Tech: "Indoor applications would enable the UAVs to respond to emergency situations that involve large steps, closed doors and rough terrain. The NSF grant will be used to develop indoor flight control and safety technology for the UAVs."

Could you imagine how cool indoor flying robots would be? And useful? The military applications are obvious. I particularly remember the little ones in Terminator 3 which stalked the good guys down hallways, looking somewhat like the toys above left for Terminator Salvation. Then again, there also would be potential for use in caves (Afghanistan), and various emergency situations (post-earthquake evac) where buildings are unsafe to enter but robots can go in and identify exactly where people are and what they need. But the difficulty of flying indoors just seems to be HUGE given that it's hard enough to get robots to drive without smashing into things... But if Helen can pull it off, cool!

Tags: iRobot, robot, Helen Greiner, UAV, Terminator, Rescue

iRobot Lawnmower Poll: 75% Would Buy Robomower

An encouraging, completely unscientific poll at the top right of this website (if you are reading the blog feed, you have to click to Robot Stock News to see it) shows about 75% of 145 readers would buy an iRobot robotic lawnmower. We know the company has a robotic lawnmower under development, but has yet to tip its hand on when it will bring one to market, while competitors like SmartMow have started attacking the sub-$1000 home robot market where iRobot makes its mark.

Of note, the poll shows that the price point is a big key. The sub-$500 price point nearly doubles interest, while the $750 and $1000 price points are also important. I think the ideal is to have a $499 product that's the "basic" model advertised as for small lawns (smaller battery, no dock, etc.) while a $799 "SE" model adds a dock, scheduling and a high-performance battery and a $999 "Pro" model includes assorted extras (blades, battery upgrade, "doghouse dock", 2-year warranty). Of course, you could start out at higher prices to capitalize on geek interest and offer periodic discounts later (Woot?) to get to the magic $499 price point. It's important to remember that the lawnmower marketplace is MASSIVE. Mowers, landscaping and gardening equipment is a $19 billion industry worldwide. I think iRobot could aim for a $100+ million product (i.e., Roomba territory). That would mean selling 200,000 mowers a year, or about .2% of U.S. households.

Tags: iRobot, robot

iRobot CIO Jay Leader interviewed

Check it out at this link. Says business has fortunately remained strong despite the recession. Not a must-read, however.

Roomba Featured in Another Song

Check it out, it's pretty good: Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge (ft. Chris Keating)

Tags: iRobot, Roomba

iRobot Surveys Japanese on Cleaning Habits

iRobot, the maker of the Roomba and Scooba, surveyed the Japanese on their cleaning habits. A mostly gibberish Google translation is available here, worth it just for some VERY odd phrasing courtesy of the Googlebot.

Tags: iRobot, Japan

iRobot sponsoring wedding TV show "Road to the Altar"

iRobot's marketing department seems to be stepping up its creativity of late. They are now sponsoring a web-based TV show called "Road to the Altar" about getting married. Apparently there is product placement, a sweepstakes, etc., of iRobot Roomba's and the like. Roomba and Scooba should be on every wedding registry!

Tags: iRobot, Roomba, Road to the Altar

Helen Greiner gets "Hall of Fame" notice

iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner, now head of a company called The Droid Works, was inducted into a Massachusetts tech group's hall of fame last night, Xconomy reports. One enthusiastic Twitter poster commented on the event, "Helen Greiner rocks my world."

Tags: iRobot, Helen Greiner

iRobot Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot $29!

Ultimate clearance! The iRobot Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot is Just $29 w/Paypal at Buy.com, or $39 with a credit card. List is $99. That's about the price of a replacement battery, so buy a pair. It'll be cheaper than getting your gutters cleaned by a handyman, that's for sure. At this price, it's worth it just as a remote-controlled tank for the younguns. This deal WILL NOT LAST.

Tags: iRobot, robot, Looj

iRobot Says Don't Trash Roomba

That was fast. Days after a report in Treehugger slammed iRobot, the company apparently has changed its disposal recommendations for its products. No longer should they just be tossed in the trash, but instead recycled or disposed of via an electronics disposal dropoff.

Tags: iRobot

Rock Group Lansdowne Sings Ode to PackBot

A PackBot song? YES, a PackBot song. Boston rockers Lansdowne, which apparently are sponsored by iRobot, have just released By Your Side, a song devoted to the PackBot.

I can't really say I like the song, but, hey, does Foster-Miller have a song about the Talon? Methinks not! Take that, you Brits! Click through the link for a listen.

Tags: iRobot, Lansdowne, PackBot

iRobot Should Buy Kiva Systems, Maker of Robotic Warehouse Robots

Why I think Kiva Systems is the perfect partner, right now, for iRobot: Kiva is revolutionizing warehousing, with their unique, orange-colored warehouse robots that double worker productivity, slash electricity use, and minimize human error.

Fortune had a fabulous profile of Kiva, whose robots are used by such mega companies as Staples and Zappos. But the company is still in the very early stages and needs additional funding. iRobot should use some of its cash and swallow it up, giving it an entryway into true industrial robots on the cheap. Kiva has about 100 employees, making it one fifth the size of iRobot.

Another bonus: Kiva is based in Woburn, Mass., not all that far from iRobot's headquarters, so integration shouldn't be too hard.

I think Kiva's on to something very big, sort of like the Intuitive Surgical of Warehousing.

Check out this video at Kiva.com.

Tags: iRobot, robot, Kiva

Terminator Robotic Vision Video

This is from Fast Company, and it shows a potential future robotic vision technique, a la the Terminator. (BTW, iRobot is developing robotic vision using LIDAR, a technology that was mentioned on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).
Tags: iRobot, robot vision

Seaglider Video Shows Record-Breaking Climate Trip Under the Arctic

USNews has a new article on the record-breaking, 6-month trip under the Arctic ice to monitor water flows, monitoring climate change.

Here is a fantastic new video of the glider project is at this link.

The Seaglider was developed by the University of Washington but is being commercialized by the iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT), maker of the Roomba.

Seagliders BTW are a LOT cheaper than, say, a $3 billion Seawolf manned submarine, and that doesn't even count the lifetime costs of the crew, the nuclear fuel, upkeep, disposal, et al. I could easily see a scenario where tens of thousands of Seagliders are dispatched around the globe for various purposes. Now, if only Seaglider could clean up all that Ocean Trash like a Roomba! Would be kinda cool if it could digest floating plastic.

IMHO, there will be an ever expanding array of underwater robots as the technology gets cheaper and cheaper and the benefits of exploring the oceans gets higher and higher. The possibilities seem endless.

Click on the Seaglider tag below for all of our earlier coverage of the project, including an earlier video from a week ago.

Tags: iRobot, Seaglider, Arctic, climate change, global warming, robot

Treehugger wants iRobot to adopt friendlier recycling policies

iRobot gets razzed by, well, Treehuggers. Worth a look if you work at iRobot.

Tags: iRobot

R-Gator gets Xbox/Adobe Air controls, may be equipped with REDOWL/machine gun

Wired's Danger Room finds a post from the Flash Blog showing a new Xbox controller and Adobe Air interface for the R-Gator unmanned vehicle from iRobot and John Deere. The post mentions that the R-Gator could be equipped with the REDOWL sniper detection system and return fire with a mounted M-50 machine gun.

This is the first news we've heard about the R-Gator in quite a while, and is encouraging. iRobot's web site only lists R-Gator as a research project rather than a shipping product.

Tags: iRobot, robot, R-Gator

Poll: 60% Want Square Roomba With Better Corner Cleaning

It's not a scientific poll, but 60% of 78 Robot Stock News readers voting in a poll backed the development of the Square front design Roomba if it meant better cleaning, although 40% either said no or "Hell No!" to the idea.

New poll: Would you buy an iRobot lawnmower? (Vote on the poll at the top right of the blog).

Heartland Robotics' Rodney Brooks Explains His Vision

In this YouTube video, iRobot co-founder and founder of Heartland Robotics Rodney Brooks talks about his visions for the future of industrial robots. You can see how the guy is a genius, but also why iRobot may have been a bit scared of the complexity and bleeding edge nature of his vision:

Tags: Heartland Robotics, robot

New iRobot Promo Video Shows Robotic Boat!

Robot Stock News has found a new 1-minute iRobot Promo Video available today on YouTube, and for the first time it shows a robotic boat! This is the first time I've ever seen a robotic boat from iRobot, which is NOT an announced product, although robotic ships have occasionally shown up as potential future products on roadmaps shown by iRobot to stock analysts. The robotic boat is about 29 seconds into the video. iRobot already has a whole host of underwater robots under development, including the Seaglider, which recently set a record of 6 months under the Arctic ice cap. iRobot isn't the only company to develop robotic boats; BAE Systems is among the companies that have done so. Robotic boats have been suggested for such tasks as fighting piracy -- a hot topic of late given the Somali pirates -- and blocking terrorist attacks on larger, manned ships.

Here's the video (enjoy!):


Tags: iRobot, robot, robotic boat, Navy

iRobot CEO Colin Angle Interviewed

iRobot CEO Colin Angle gives an upbeat interview to a local TV station:

Colin is sporting a new hairdo and an unusual jacket and tie. He also noted that with the distress faced by smaller robot companies, there may be opportunities for acquisitions.

Hat tip, byronangel

Tags: iRobot

Pleo Resurrected by iRobot Chinese Contractor

Remember in Jurassic Park when they brought the dinosaurs back from extinction? Well, the Pleo robotic dinosaur is getting resurrected too, courtesy of its manufacturer, Jetta Company Ltd., which also makes parts for iRobot's products. Jetta purchased the assets of bankrupt Ugobe last month.

Robots Rule spoke to the company, which confirmed a plan to relaunch Pleo and provide products such as battery replacements.

Also worth a look: GoRobotics.net highlights a video of Ugobe's former chief tech officer describing the rise and fall of Pleo in a lecture at Stanford University.

In the meantime, the Pleo is on clearance for $154, almost $200 off the original $349 list price.

hat tip, simpsonsez!

Tags: iRobot, robot, Pleo, Ugobe

The Economist Profiles Roomba and Other Domestic Robots

The Economist praises the Roomba in an article on domestic robots. Nothing new, but worth a look.

Roomba Robot Vacuum Knockoff Featured by Iranian Company?!

As I was doing my regular checks of new robot videos on YouTube, I came across a cheezy commercial for a robot vacuum that appears to be nearly a perfect ripoff of the Roomba 400 series vacuum (the older generation). except with a much smaller trash bin. Here it is:

The video appears to have been posted by an Iranian importer, who says he imports robotic vacuums from Korea. If that's so, I'd assume that the language in the video is Korean? Anyone who can read it, please post a translation in the comments or email me at thorn_stevens (Plus the @ symbol) and yahoo.com. (Korea, by the way, has the highest market penetration of robotic vacuums of any country in the world).
The video appears to show what I can only assume would be violations of several iRobot patents, including its patent on virtual wall technology. Although I'm sure Iran wouldn't care about a U.S. patent. But this kind of thing should be on the minds of iRobot's lawyers. Can they file suit in Korea? What's the status of their international patent portfolio? iRobot has successfully defeated other copycats before. I don't think a product like this would do well in the United States, but I would worry about Asian consumers buying cheap knockoffs from a local brand.

Tags: iRobot, robot, Roomba, YouTube, Korea

iRobot's Seaglider Breaks Record for Arctic Navigation

The Seaglider underwater robot apparently set a new record of six months of autonomous navigation under ice in the Arctic, where it is taking measurements for climate change studies.

Here's the YouTube video:


Tags: iRobot, Seaglider

Lawnbott LB1200 Videos Show Revolutionary New Robot Lawn Mower in Action

There's a lot going on in the robotic lawn mower space, where our favorite robot company, iRobot, is in danger of being left way, way behind.

We've noted the recent emergence of the $999 SmartMow, a disc-shaped robot very similar to iRobot's own designs for a robot lawnmower, but we still think that the LawnBott LB1200 Spyder we profiled a year ago is the revolutionary product that can take robotic lawnmowing into the mainstream. The price is still too high - $1399 with limited U.S. distribution - but the technology is spot on. It's the first and only robotic lawnmower that does not need the cumbersome installation of a perimeter wire. Just drop and mow. Moisture sensors let the Spyder know if it's mowing grass, and bump sensors keep it away from obstacles. To avoid mowing your neighbor's lawn, you'll have to have some kind of a barrier, although I wouldn't be surprised if neighbors team up and share these guys.

The 18-pound wonder, which features lithium batteries, handles smaller yards up to 5,500 square feet, hills up to 27 degrees grade, and has near-silent operation so you can run it at any time of day or night without pissing off the neighbors.

About $10 a year in electricity plus other maintenance (far less than the maintenance of a gas mower) is all you need. Beats paying the local rascals $25 a week to mow, doesn't it? I'd get one, except that my lawn has a hill closer to 40 degrees. Maybe when they come out with a more robust version? Or, maybe, just maybe, iRobot will finally get in the action?

Here are the videos I promised:






Tags: iRobot, robot, Robomower, robotic lawn mower, Lawnbott, lawnmower