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iRobot
What happens when a robot company sells off a division?
Frank Tobe
11 Aug 2016
Spin-offs are disrupting, but often necessary. Here are two recent examples: iRobot sold off its Defense & Security Business Unit to a private equity firm, and Harvest Automation sold the IP an...
iRobot’s $199 floor mopper designed for Chinese markets
Frank Tobe
31 Mar 2016
iRobot has been streamlining its operations to focus on consumer products and enhancing shareholder value. Recent moves to divest their defense division, launch a low-cost Braava Jet floor cleaner...
iRobot sells off defense & security division
Frank Tobe
04 Feb 2016
In a transaction valued at $45 million, iRobot has sold its Defense and Security division to Arlington Capital Partners. Sean Bielat, who takes over as the CEO, says the new company wil...
Residential robotic vacuum cleaner market poised for stellar growth
Vipassa Kakroo
28 May 2015
Although robotic vacuum cleaners have been on the market for over a decade now, it is only recently that they have started to become pervasive. Innovations in technology have allowed manufacturers to ...
Over 70,000 robotic vacuum cleaners sold on a single day
Frank Tobe
20 Nov 2014
Just last month Rod Brooks chided me that robotic vacuum cleaners were already mainstream in response to what I had written: that they had just recently moved from niche to mainstream partly because ...
Rethinking iRobot, Samsung and Dyson robotic vacuum cleaners
Frank Tobe
29 Oct 2014
At a break in a conference in San Diego, I was sitting enjoying my tea, when up walked Rodney Brooks (of Rethink Robotics and Baxter fame) and said (with a mischievious smile):
I have a bone to pick ...
Why is Japan the first to get Dyson’s new 360 Eye?
Reno Tibke
10 Sep 2014
This post originally appeared on Akihabara News.
The Dyson 360 Eye autonomous vacuum cleaner went public in Tokyo on September 4th, and it got a lot of attention - enough to make almost any prod...
Recent robotic vacuum launches change industry from niche to mainstream
Frank Tobe
10 Sep 2014
Recent robotic vacuum cleaner product launches by Dyson and Samsung have transformed what once was a niche market of early adopters and robot enthusiasts into a marketplace of serious consumer produc...
Housework 2.0: The battle of the robot vacuum cleaners begins!
Hallie Siegel
05 Sep 2014
The public may be expecting to see robot cyborgs battle it out in distant galaxies, but back here on earth the battle of the robots is taking on a distinctively quotidian reality. The double announcem...
iRobot is on a tear
Frank Tobe
17 Feb 2014
On February 5th iRobot reported their quarterly and annual report. 4Q revenue was up 25% from the previous year and full year 2013 revenue of $487 was up 12%....
Startup Series #5: Rodney Brooks, Steve Cousins & Pioneers Festival
Andra Keay
10 Dec 2013
Robolution panel at the Pioneers Festival in Vienna.
It’s not every day you get to ask pioneering robot startup founders about their journey. The Robolution panel at the Pioneers Festival in Vien...
iRobot unveils new AVA 500 mobile robot for professionals
Frank Tobe
11 Jun 2013
New iRobot AVA 500, planned for 2014 delivery, navigates autonomously and can be sent from point A to B using an iPad....
iRobot shipped 421.000 home robot units in Q1, 2013
Wolfgang Heller
23 Apr 2013
iRobot Corp., the leader in home consumer robotics, has shipped 421.000 home robot units in the first quarter of 2013, compared with 392.000 for the same quarter one year ago, according to data releas...
Active military robots around the world
Ioannis K. Erripis
15 Mar 2013
This is a brief presentation of some of the most widely used robots (or remotely controlled, semi-autonomous systems) from militaries around the world. There are numerous other projects that are curre...
iRobot buys back own shares up to $25M
Wolfgang Heller
25 Feb 2013
iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic technology-based solutions, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program. Under the program, iRobot...
First autonomous navigation remote presence robot to receive FDA clearance
Wolfgang Heller
24 Jan 2013
Based on the following press release, iRobot, a leader in delivering robotic solutions, announced that the RP-VITA Remote Presence Robot has received 510(k) clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis...
Patent Watch: Robotic fabricator
Wolfgang Heller
24 Jan 2013
iRobot Corporation and Rayheon BBN Technologies Corp. have filed a US patent entitled "Robotic Fabricator", a completely autonomous all-in-one product fabrication robot that handles manufacturing (inc...
CES Robotics 2013
Wolfgang Heller
04 Jan 2013
The annual CES - Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, is always a great opportunity for trendspotting and innovation hunting in consumer electronics including consumer robotics. CES 2013 ...
CMU’s Robot Hall of Fame inducts four
John Payne
26 Oct 2012
"The Robot Hall of Fame inducted four robots chosen for the first time by a popular vote — Aldebaran Robotics' NAO humanoid, iRobot's PackBot bomb disposal robot, Boston Dynamics' four-legg...
iRobot buys rival Evolution Robotics for $74 million to expand hard-floor cleaning tech
Andra Keay
19 Sep 2012
iRobot celebrated Roomba's 10th birthday quietly teeing up a $74 million acquisition of rival Evolution Robotics Inc.
See on www.engadget.com...
Credit Suisse picks 7 automation/robotics stocks
Frank Tobe
22 Aug 2012
Max Nisen of Business Insider wrote recently of a list of seven stock picks discovered in a Credit Suisse report on long term trends. One of those trends was increasing global automation (particularly...
The beginning of something important: InTouch Health and iRobot’s RP-VITA
Frank Tobe
01 Aug 2012
Last week I attended the 7th Annual Remote Presence Clinical Innovations Forum hosted by InTouch Health in Santa Barbara, CA, a two-day users conference disseminating the latest information regarding ...
The beginning of something important: InTouch Health and iRobot’s RP-VITA
Frank Tobe
01 Aug 2012
By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot ReportLast week I attended the 7th Annual Remote Presence Clinical Innovations Forum hosted by InTouch Health in Santa Barbara, CA, a two-day users con...
InTouch Health & iRobot announce RP-VITA
John Payne
27 Jul 2012
http://youtu.be/hoAPTpwkFtw
In a joint press release, US companies InTouch Health and iRobot have announced a new telepresence robot for hospitals. The robot called "RP-VITA" builds on iRobot's AVA p...
Why robot startups now? Part 2
Andra Keay
11 May 2012
2. Broader Financial Climate
A positive indicator for robotics startups is the improving financial climate. There are signs that the US housing market is stabilizing. Fannie Mae, the government bac...
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2012
What's the best approach to building commercially successful robotics companies? Here are two arguments from two prominent people in the robotics industry:
Identify a need that can be filled with...
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
Frank Tobe
22 Mar 2012
A version of this post originally appeared on Automaton, IEEE Spectrum's robotics blog.By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot ReportWhat's the best approach to building commercially successful rob...
Harvest automation
John Payne
06 Feb 2011
And so it begins! The January 14th episode of Robots Podcast features an interview with Joe Jones, CTO of Harvest Automation (previously with iRobot).
Harvest Automation didn't start out ...
