IRobot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The correct title of this article is iRobot. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
This article is about the robot company. For other uses, see I, Robot (disambiguation).
iRobot Corporation
Image:Logo_iRobot.PNG
Type Public (NASDAQ: IRBT)
Founded 1990
Headquarters Burlington, Massachusetts
Key people Rodney Brooks, Founder/CTO
Colin Angle, Founder/CEO
Helen Greiner, Founder/Chairman
Industry Robots
Products Domestic robots
Military robots
Revenue $161.97 million (2005)
Employees 258 (2005) [1]
Slogan Business Mechanisms to Accelerate Change
Website www.iRobot.com


The iRobot Corporation is a public corporation (NASDAQ: IRBT), based in Burlington, Massachusetts, that designs robots for businesses, homes, and the military. iRobot's best known products are the Roomba, an autonomous home vacuum cleaner, and the Scooba, a similar robot that scrubs and cleans hard floors. The company also makes a line of PackBots, robots for military use (such as with bomb squads and SWAT teams). The three iRobot founders – Rodney Brooks, Colin Angle and Helen Greiner – were inspired to found the company after working in MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab. Rodney Brooks is currently the director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

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iRobot was founded in 1991 and in 2000 it was incorporated in Delaware. The company lost money every year from its inception to 2003.[2] The company went public on November 9, 2005 and raised $120 million by selling 5 million shares at $24.[3] iRobot builds a number of remote telepresence robots for both commercial and home use, for which there is a growing market.

  • My Real Baby was iRobot's first move into the toy business, released in 2000. This product is a highly realistic doll which uses animatronic facial expressions. The doll started out as an emotionally expressive and responsive robot called "IT." The finalized My Real Baby was produced in a partnership with Hasbro, but is no longer in production.
  • Roomba, iRobot's vacuum cleaning robot, was released in 2002. Since Roomba's successful launch into the home robots market, other companies have launched their own automatic vacuum cleaners, including Sharper Image's eVac and the Cleanmate by Metapo. The company announced in May 2006 that it has sold 2 million Roombas, making it the most successful household robot of all time.
  • Scooba, iRobot's floor washing robot, was released in May 2005. It is similar to the Roomba except that it uses water to clean hard floors and replaces mops and buckets. The product became commercially available in limited quantities in late 2005, before a full rollout in the first half of 2006. It still is not available in many overseas markets, and requires either a special non-bleach cleaning solution made by Clorox Corp., or vinegar. As of 2006, there are two versions of the Scooba, a $399 and a $299 version.[4]
  • Dirt Dog, a workshop robot, was released in 2006. It picks up small objects such as nuts, bolts, dirt, and other debris from the shop floor. The unit can be used on hard floors, shop carpets and industrial floor surfaces.[5]
  • iRobot Create, a hobby robot, was released in 2007. The iRobot Create Programmable Robot is a durable, reliable, fully assembled programmable robot with out-of-the-box operation. 10 built-in demos and 32 built-in sensors allow you to control Create and experiment with robotics. An open cargo bay and 25-pin expansion port allow you to add your own sensors, grippers, wireless connections, computers or other hardware.

A PackBot Scout robot shown with its second pair of treads in the horizontal position. This robot is conducting search and rescue at ground zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
A PackBot Scout robot shown with its second pair of treads in the horizontal position. This robot is conducting search and rescue at ground zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

iRobot has an extensive line of robots designed for use in military or policing functions.

  • Genghis (1990) was iRobot's first robot. It was designed as a test platform for researchers. The robot is currently at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
  • Ariel (1996) is a crab-like robot designed to remove mines, both in and out of water.
  • Urbie (1997) was a proof of concept robot designed for urban environments. The platform was designed with two tank-like tracks so it could climb stairs.
  • PackBot Scout is a rugged military surveillance robot which is designed to be deployed by a single soldier to investigate areas which may be dangerous or inaccessible. Using a still camera, the robot beams images back to the controller. The robot has been used in both Iraq and Afghanistan. PackBot research is supported by DARPA.
  • PackBot Explorer is an advanced Scout with sound, live video feed and other sensors. The robot is designed for investigating hostage situations or surveying battle damage.
  • Swarm is an artificial intelligence research project designed to develop algorithms for swarms of hundreds of individual robots. This project is sponsored by DARPA.
  • Warrior, currently in development (expected deployment in 2008[6]), is a 250 lb machine that can travel up to 12 miles per hour through rough terrain and up and down stairs while carrying payloads weighing over 100 pounds. Its potential uses include bomb disposal, battlefield casualty extraction and firefighting.[7]
  • RGator, a product of a partnership with John Deere Corporation, is a small utility vehicle with a robotics package added. It is capable of autonomous operation including waypoint following with obstacle avoidance, following dismounted infantry and other vehicles and semi-autonomous operation such as teleoperation with obstacle avoidance. Vehicles are currently in production.

  1. ^ http://www.canada.com/technology/news/story.html?id=ccbb6511-0e7f-4783-ae87-7a11fdfa8a14
  2. ^ http://www.canada.com/technology/news/story.html?id=ccbb6511-0e7f-4783-ae87-7a11fdfa8a14
  3. ^ http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/11/09/test_of_robotics/
  4. ^ http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=2174932&cp=2174940
  5. ^ http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2475131
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ [2]

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