Wikipedia

iRobot

This article is about the robot company. For other uses, seeI, Robot (disambiguation).

iRobot Corporationis an American technology company that designs and builds consumerrobots.It was founded in 1990 by three members ofMIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, who designed robots for space exploration and military defense.[2]The company's products include a range of autonomous homevacuum cleaners(Roomba), floor moppers (Braava), and other autonomous cleaning devices.[3]

iRobot Corporation
Company typePublic
Nasdaq:IRBT
IndustryRobotics
Founded1990;34 years ago(1990),Delaware,U.S.
Founders
HeadquartersBedford, Massachusetts,U.S.
Key people
Products
RevenueDecreaseUS$891 million(2023)
DecreaseUS$−264 million(2023)
DecreaseUS$−305 million(2023)
Total assetsDecreaseUS$734 million(2023)
Total equityDecreaseUS$196 million(2023)
Number of employees
1,113 (December 2023)
Websiteirobot.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

A planned takeover deal byAmazon.comfor US$1.7billion, announced in August 2022, collapsed in January 2024 amid antitrust scrutiny by theEuropean Commission.[4]

History

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iRobot was founded in 1990 byRodney Brooks,Colin Angle, andHelen Greinerafter working inMIT'sArtificial Intelligence Lab.In 1998, the company received aDARPAresearch contract which led to the development of thePackBot.[5]

In September 2002, iRobot unveiled its flagship home robot, theRoomba,which went on to sell a million units by 2004.[6]iRobot began being traded on theNASDAQin November 2005, under ticker symbol IRBT.[7]On September 17, 2012, iRobot announced that it had acquiredEvolution Robotics,manufacturer of automated floor mopper Mint.[8]

In addition to deployment as bomb-disposal units with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, PackBots have been used to gather data in dangerous conditions at theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disastersite,[9]and aniRobot Seagliderdetected underwater pools of oil after theDeepwater Horizon oil spill.[10]In February 2016, iRobot announced that it would sell its military robotics business toArlington Capital Partners,in order to focus more on the consumer market.[11]

In November 2021, iRobot announced that it had acquired Aeris Cleantec AG, a Swiss air purifier manufacturer. iRobot began selling Aeris-designed air purifiers through its own brand in 2022.[12]By 2020, iRobot had sold more than 30 million home robots, and deployed more than 5,000 defense & security robots.[13]

Attempted acquisition by Amazon (2022–2024)

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On August 5, 2022,Amazonannounced its intent to acquire iRobot in a deal worth US$1.7billion. The deal was subject to federal approval from the U.S.Federal Trade Commission(FTC) and other regulatory agencies.[14]In September 2022, the FTC requested more data from both companies, amid concerns about Amazon's market power and the privacy implications of it gaining information about consumer floorplans.[15]

In June 2023, the UK'sCompetition and Markets Authoritycleared the acquisition, saying it wouldn't lead to competition concerns in the country.[16]TheEuropean Commissionlaunched a formal investigation into the proposed purchase in July 2023, citing that it would "allow Amazon to restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners ('RVCs') and to strengthen its position as online marketplace provider."[17]In July 2023, Amazon reduced the offer price to $1.42billion after iRobot raised $200million in new debt to fund its daily operations.[18]

In January 2024, Amazon and iRobot announced they would end their plans to merge in the face of opposition from EU antitrust regulators.[4]This resulted in Amazon paying iRobot a $94millionreverse breakup fee,iRobot laying off 31percent of its employees, and CEO Colin Angle departing.[19]Gary Cohen was appointed as the company’s new chief executive in May 2024.[20]

Current home robots

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Roomba

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Main article:Roomba
Roomba 805 on its charging dock

Roomba is an automatedvacuum cleaningrobot first released in 2002. Roomba is powered by a rechargeable battery, and many models are available with a docking station to which the robot returns to recharge at the end of its cleaning cycle. They work in conjunction with accessories that use bothIRandRF.

The company intentionally allows customers to hack the robot because they want people to experiment and improve the product. The API for the serial has been published and the serial port made easily accessible to make modifications easy to perform.[21]

In 2015, iRobot released an updated Roomba called the Roomba 980, with a camera that usesVSLAMtechnology to map out a room and the objects in the room to clean the entire floor of a home. The Roomba 980 also includes carpet boost, increasing suction when the Roomba detects itself on carpets or rugs. This was also one of the first Roombas to include Wi-Fi connectivity with app control.[22]

In May 2022, iRobot announced the new operating system and software platform for its Roomba vacuum cleaners, iRobot OS. The company stated the move from iRobot genius to iRobot OS will aid in giving their products a deeper understanding of the user’s households and the users habits, in addition to voice commands and greater objected identification.[23]

In October 2022, iRobot released the Roomba Combo, which includes mopping capabilities. The robot is able to differentiate between hardwood floor and carpet, and it lifts its mop to the top of the robot when transitioning to carpet.[24]

Braava

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Braava 380t damp cleaning

Braava is iRobot's floor mopping robot, designed to work on hard-surface floors. Braava uses disposable or microfiber cleaning cloths for damp and/or dry cleaning. The 380t model comes with a Channel 4 NorthStar Navigation Cube, which is set on a high surface and directs the robot around the area it cleans.

The design was known as the Mint until 2013. It was developed byEvolution Robotics,which was acquired by iRobot in 2012.[25]

Create

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Main article:iRobot Create
An unmodified iRobot Create with Command Module (small green attachment)

Create is ahobbyrobot, released in 2007. Create offers users the possibility of changing or adapting the robot's functions through experimentation with the basic elements of robotics as well as by adding sensors, grippers, wireless connections, computers, or other hardware.

Root

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Root is an educational robot designed for use by children learning how to code. It is programmed through a tablet or smartphone.[26]iRobot acquired Root Robotics in 2019.[27]

In development

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Terra

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In 2019, iRobot received FCC approval to move forward with their plans to commercialize arobotic lawn mowercapable of using wireless localization technology, which they announced would be branded as "Terra".[28]Terra usesmappingto navigate and mow the lawn in a straight-line pattern. It uses smart beacon stakes to localize itself in the yard, and is taught a boundary by the user (where the robot should avoid going, such as a garden). Terra includesWi-Ficapabilities and a docking station for recharging. Terra was available as a beta program in 2019 in Germany and the United States.[29]The program was indefinitely postponed in March 2020.

Discontinued products

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Scooba

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Main article:Scooba (brand)
Photo of the now-discontinued iRobot Scooba 380 in 2009

Scooba was iRobot'sfloor-washing robot.The product became commercially available in limited quantities in late 2005 before a full product release in 2006. Early models required either a special non-bleach cleaning solution or whitevinegarto wash hard floors. Newer units could use plain water. Several versions were marketed. iRobot discontinued the Scooba line of products in favor of the Braava line of floor moppers in 2016.[30]

Dirt Dog

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Dirt Dog was a variant of Roomba designed for workshop use that was released in 2006. The product picks up small objects such asnuts,bolts,dirt, and debris from a workshop or similar floor. The unit was able to be used on hard floors, shop carpets and industrial floor surfaces. The Dirt Dog was discontinued in late 2010.

My Real Baby

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My Real Baby was a robotic toy marketed by iRobot from 2000 and produced in partnership with the toy manufacturerHasbro.It is no longer in production. This product, which was meant to look like a human infant, employed animatronic facial expressions and was developed from an emotionally expressive and responsive robot developed by iRobot corporation called "IT."

ConnectR

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ConnectR was a videoconferencing robot which was prototyped in 2010. It did not pass pilot tests and was not sold commercially.

Verro

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Verro was aswimming-poolcleaning robot released in April 2007.[31]

Looj

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Looj was a gutter-cleaning robot released in September 2007. Looj is not anautonomous robot,but rather a remote-controlled robot patterned after a toy tank with an auger mounted on the front. The robot fits inside most gutters to clean out debris stuck inside them, such as leaves and pine needles. It has long treads on its side which allow it to move inside the gutter. The auger dislodges and removes almost all of the debris inside the gutter by flinging it sideways into the air. Looj also has a detachable handle/remote that is used to carry and operate the robot. It was discontinued in 2017.

Mirra

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Mirra was aswimming-poolcleaning robot, the successor of Verro. Mirra cleaned a pool's floor and walls of large and small debris. It was discontinued in 2014.

Military and policing robots

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APackBotScout robot shown with its second pair of treads in the horizontal position. This robot is conducting search and rescue atground zeroafter the9/11terrorist attacks.

In April 2016, iRobot sold off its Defense & Security unit, with a new company being formed called Endeavor Robotics.[32]This unit became part ofTeledyne FLIRin 2019.[33][34]

First Generation Robots

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  • Genghis(1991) was iRobot's first robot. It was designed as a test platform for researchers. The robot is currently at theSmithsonian Air and Space Museum
  • Ariel(1996) is a crab-like robot designed to remove mines, both in and out of water.
  • Urbie(1997) was aproof of conceptrobot designed for urban environments. The platform was designed with twotank-like tracks so it could climb stairs. Urbie was field tested atFort Benning,Georgia,United States; one model was gifted to a local high school on indefinite loan in 2005. High school students at Columbus High School inColumbus, GA,reconditioned the robot and created a usage manual for future students to continue to benefit from Urbie's list of talents. Urbie is built around a light, machined aluminum chassis. The exterior consists of flat aluminum plates, bent at the front and back, which are attached to the chassis with small hex screws. 2 dc motors power the forward rotating arms, while 2 slightly larger dc motors power the body length treads. From the outside, Urbie is an exact replica of the PackBot Scout. The front compartment holds 2 banks of LEDs, one white light, the other infrared. The center-front compartment holds a video camera and an infrared camera. Both cameras' images are transmitted back to a handheld LCD screen and remote control console via a single antenna. The image that is transmitted back is controlled by a mechanical switch, thrown remotely inside the chassis by a remote controlled actuator. The motors are controlled the same way that a remote control airplane or car is. The ability to reverse the tread direction on both sides gives the robot a 0m turn radius. In 2006, the exterior body was refinished, the antennas were repaired (replaced by a fishing pole) and some of the interior electronics were updated. The robot is simply constructed, with basic electronic controls, and is the same physical design as the current PackBots, it only lacks the digital processor.
  • SWARMis anartificial intelligenceresearch project designed to develop algorithms for swarms of hundreds of individual robots. This project is sponsored byDARPA.

PackBot

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Main article:PackBot
  • PackBotis a series ofmilitary robotsdesigned for situational awareness, reconnaissance, explosive ordnance disposal and other missions. As of 2009, the US military had more than 2000 PackBots that were on station in Iraq and Afghanistan.[35]

SUGV

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Main article:Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Warrior

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Main article:iRobot Warrior
  • Warrior,currently in development (expected deployment in 2008[36])[needs update],is a 250 lb (110 kg) machine that can travel up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) through rough terrain and up and down stairs while carrying payloads weighing over 100 pounds (45 kg). Its potential uses includebomb disposal,battlefield casualty extraction andfirefighting.[37]

R-Gator

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Main article:iRobot R-Gator
  • R-Gator,a product of a partnership withJohn 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.[38][39]

Negotiator

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Main article:iRobot Negotiator
  • Negotiatoris a man-portable civil-response surveillance and reconnaissance robot.[40]

Transphibian

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Main article:iRobot Transphibian
  • Transphibianis a man-portableUUVand bottom crawler that autonomously inserts itself into the water and operates in a shallow area. It is designed for mine detection, harbor defense and surveillance.[41]

Chembot

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  • Chembotis aDARPA-funded prototype of a shape-shifting robot without motors, wheels or any rigid elements. It runs on chemical power and is made usingdielectric elastomers,which are extremely flexible and can alter their shape in electric or magnetic fields. Ultimately, the program aims to build a robot that is completely squishy and able to squeeze through a hole 'the size of a 10 pence coin'.[42]

Ember

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  • Emberis a prototype miniature, tracked robot, weighing around 1 lb and costing so little to make that it is intended to be virtually disposable.Embermoves at walking pace, can right itself when it is turned over and is controlled by a simple touchscreen application on an Apple iPhone.Emberis a military robot designed to boost radio communications and capture video footage to aid infantry warfighters.[42]

AIRarm

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AIRarm is an inflatable arm robot developed by iRobot. The inflatable arm uses pumps to inflate the arm. Since the arm uses strings and actuators, no motors were used at the joints.[43]

FirstLook

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FirstLook is a small reconnaissance robot weighing 5.2 lb (2.4 kg) with a top speed of 3.8 mph (6.1 km/h) and line-of-sight control range of 200 m (219 yd). It has visible and thermal cameras and infrared sensors to gather and transmit images of buildings, caves, or other locations. It can participate in explosive ordnance disposal by carrying 2.5 lb (1.1 kg) of C4 explosive to an IED. The robot has the ability to mesh together a network of feeds from other robots to extend the range of its sensors. The FirstLook has CBRN detectors and is semi-autonomous, meaning it can perform tasks like course correction and flipping itself over without direct intervention. 100 were bought byJIEDDOin March 2012 and the Pentagon has ordered hundreds more.[44]

Medical robots

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RP-VITA

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  • RP-VITA, or Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant, is a medical robot jointly produced with InTouch Health. The robot will be cloud-connected and have access to a patient's medical record, and will also be able to plug in diagnostic devices such as stethoscopes, otoscopes, and ultrasound.[45]

Research and dual-role robots

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Ranger

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Main article:iRobot Ranger
  • Rangeris a man-portableUUVthat supports technology development related to mine warfare, expeditionary warfare, homeland defense, underwater surveillance / reconnaissance and other missions. Ranger is also suitable for ocean research and commercial applications related to search and survey.[46]

Seaglider

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Main article:Seaglider
  • Seaglideris a long-range dual-roleautonomous underwater vehicle,which was produced by iRobot from 2008–2013 under an exclusive manufacturing agreement from theUniversity of Washington.[47][48][49][50]Capable of operating for months over thousands of kilometers on a single battery charge, networked Seagliders provide scientists and naval intelligence with cost-effective real-time access to oceanographic measurements.[51][52][53]The Seaglider is also used in military applications where it is more usually designated as anunmanned underwater vehicle.

Criticism

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Training data on Facebook

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When training data for the Roomba J7 vacuum robot ended up on Facebook, like a test person sitting on a toilet, testers were assuming that they did not expect to give up their privacy and such data leakage, while iRobot took the standpoint that such persons are paid and expect their data to be shared. iRobot sent 2 million images to Scale AI, an image annotation service provider, and mentioned it terminated its business relation with Scale AI.[54][55]

Unregulated use of reserved frequency

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iRobot has been criticized for attempting unregulated use of 6240-6740 MHz band, and asking for an FCC exemption to do so. This band is for use for the lawn mowing robot without needing to use an electronic fence as a boundary marker, instead by using radio beacons. The band falls into a band reserved forradio astronomyuse, thus interfering with radio telescope observations ofmethanol's 6.66852 GHz emissions.[56]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"US SEC: Form 10-K iRobot Corporation".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.February 27, 2024.
  2. ^Eng, Dinah (August 14, 2014). "iRobot: From R2-D2 to practical robots."Fortune. Retrieved March 1, 2017
  3. ^O'Brien, Matt (August 31, 2016)."iRobot CEO says vacuum cleaners clear path to robot future".Associated Press. Archived fromthe originalon 2017-02-25.RetrievedFebruary 24,2017.
  4. ^abMattioli, Dana; Mackrael, Kim (January 29, 2024)."Amazon, iRobot Abandon Deal Amid Regulatory Scrutiny".The Wall Street Journal.Archivedfrom the original on January 29, 2024.RetrievedJanuary 29,2024.
  5. ^"IRobot awarded $3.3M to build new DARPA robot".www.bizjournals.com.Retrieved2021-02-04.
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  10. ^"iRobot and healthcare".Xconomy.Retrieved25 May2015.
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  29. ^"Robot Lawn Mower".www.irobot.com.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-02-14.Retrieved2019-02-14.
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  31. ^iRobot Verro Pool Cleaning RobotArchived2007-05-17 at theWayback Machine
  32. ^"Janes | Latest defence and security news".
  33. ^Maffei, Lucia (October 4, 2019)."FLIR buys Aria patents, aiming to merge ground and drone robots for military use".American City Business Journals.
  34. ^Heater, Brian (August 5, 2022)."Amazon is buying iRobot for $1.7B".TechCrunch.
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  38. ^"Government & Military - Federal & Military Sales - John Deere US"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 27 September 2011.Retrieved25 May2015.
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  42. ^abHarris, Mark (2009-05-31)."iRobot where the Terminator is coming to life".The Times.London. Archived fromthe originalon October 16, 2009.Retrieved2010-05-05.
  43. ^Ackerman, Evan (22 August 2012)."iRobot Developing Inflatable Robot Arms, Inflatable Robots".IEEE Spectrum Automaton.Retrieved24 August2012.
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  45. ^Halverson, Nic."Robot Doctor Will Now See You".Discovery News.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-10-22.Retrieved2012-07-25.
  46. ^"IRobot Corporation: Ranger".Archived fromthe originalon 2009-03-17.Retrieved2009-03-11.
  47. ^"IRobot Secures Licensing Agreement For Underwater Seagliders".29 June 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 29 June 2008.
  48. ^"iRobot Maritime Robots - 1KA Seaglider".21 May 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 21 May 2010.
  49. ^"iRobot Corporation: Press Release".6 June 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 6 June 2011.
  50. ^"Seaglider Licensed to Kongsberg".www.ocean.washington.edu.22 May 2013.Retrieved2021-10-29.
  51. ^The Christian Science Monitor (19 June 2008)."No one lives in this submarine".The Christian Science Monitor.Retrieved25 May2015.
  52. ^Thomas Ricker (11 June 2008)."iRobot to convert UW's academic Seaglider into military drone".Engadget.AOL.Retrieved25 May2015.
  53. ^"From the deep: UW Seaglider draws U.S. military attention - The Daily".12 July 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 12 July 2012.
  54. ^"A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?".MIT Technology Review.Retrieved2023-05-03.
  55. ^Guo, Eileen (16 January 2023)."Roomba: Wie private Fotos eines Staubsauger-Roboters auf Facebook landen können".heise online(in German).Retrieved2023-05-03.
  56. ^Brooks Hays (17 April 2015)."Why astronomers hate the lawn-mowing Roomba".Space Daily.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related toIRobot.
  • Official website
  • Visit to iRobot and interview with Joe Dyer.The Sunday Times31 May 2009, Mark Harris
  • New York Times article about military robots including iRobot's packbot
  • iRobot on antisniper device
  • iRobot 310 SUGV
  • Business data for iRobot Corporation:
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