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iRobot
What happens when a robot company sells off a division?
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...
11 August 2016, by
Frank Tobe
iRobot’s $199 floor mopper designed for Chinese markets
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...
31 March 2016, by
Frank Tobe
iRobot sells off defense & security division
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...
04 February 2016, by
Frank Tobe
Residential robotic vacuum cleaner market poised for stellar growth
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 ...
28 May 2015, by
Vipassa Kakroo
Over 70,000 robotic vacuum cleaners sold on a single day
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 ...
20 November 2014, by
Frank Tobe
Rethinking iRobot, Samsung and Dyson robotic vacuum cleaners
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 ...
29 October 2014, by
Frank Tobe
Why is Japan the first to get Dyson’s new 360 Eye?
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...
10 September 2014, by
Reno Tibke
Recent robotic vacuum launches change industry from niche to mainstream
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...
10 September 2014, by
Frank Tobe
Housework 2.0: The battle of the robot vacuum cleaners begins!
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...
05 September 2014, by
Hallie Siegel
iRobot is on a tear
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%....
17 February 2014, by
Frank Tobe
Startup Series #5: Rodney Brooks, Steve Cousins & Pioneers Festival
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...
10 December 2013, by
Andra Keay
iRobot unveils new AVA 500 mobile robot for professionals
New iRobot AVA 500, planned for 2014 delivery, navigates autonomously and can be sent from point A to B using an iPad....
11 June 2013, by
Frank Tobe
iRobot shipped 421.000 home robot units in Q1, 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...
23 April 2013, by
Wolfgang Heller
Active military robots around the world
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...
15 March 2013, by
Ioannis K. Erripis
iRobot buys back own shares up to $25M
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...
25 February 2013, by
Wolfgang Heller
First autonomous navigation remote presence robot to receive FDA clearance
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...
24 January 2013, by
Wolfgang Heller
Patent Watch: Robotic fabricator
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...
24 January 2013, by
Wolfgang Heller
CES Robotics 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 ...
04 January 2013, by
Wolfgang Heller
CMU’s Robot Hall of Fame inducts four
"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...
26 October 2012, by
John Payne
iRobot buys rival Evolution Robotics for $74 million to expand hard-floor cleaning tech
iRobot celebrated Roomba's 10th birthday quietly teeing up a $74 million acquisition of rival Evolution Robotics Inc.
See on www.engadget.com...
19 September 2012, by
Andra Keay
Credit Suisse picks 7 automation/robotics stocks
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...
22 August 2012, by
Frank Tobe
The beginning of something important: InTouch Health and iRobot’s RP-VITA
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...
01 August 2012, by
Frank Tobe
The beginning of something important: InTouch Health and iRobot’s RP-VITA
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 ...
01 August 2012, by
Frank Tobe
InTouch Health & iRobot announce RP-VITA
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...
27 July 2012, by
John Payne
Why robot startups now? Part 2
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...
11 May 2012, by
Andra Keay
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
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...
22 March 2012, by
Frank Tobe
iRobot and Willow Garage debate closed vs. open source robotics at cocktail party
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...
22 March 2012, by
Frank Tobe
Harvest automation
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 ...
06 February 2011, by
John Payne
