What's Next For iRobot? 88
An anonymous reader writes "Ten years since the debut of the Roomba vacuum cleaner and military PackBot, robots are mainstream but still not in every home. Meanwhile, a new generation of robotics companies is taking off. Where does that leave iRobot, the godfather of the field? With its military business taking a hit from the U.S. defense budget, the 22-year-old public company is looking to reinvent itself with new kinds of robots, including a telepresence machine for doctors and hospitals and, further down the road, inflatable robots that could be cheaper, safer, and more portable than their metallic predecessors. The question is whether these new machines will be successful enough to keep the company growing — and add to its legacy in robotics."
Remind me (Score:1)
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Re:Remind me (Score:5, Funny)
$14.52. What does that have to do with anything?
He was testing your Internet research skills. You win this round.
Re:Remind me (Score:4, Informative)
Should have asked about Maxim semiconductor stock price for a real "jeopardy style" research project.
See they bought dallas semiconductor, who sold a whole line of "i-products" back when apple still meant an apple2-gs.
The iButton was like a 256 byte (byte, not kilo or mega or giga byte, just byte) one wire interface storage device. They had a whole herd of one-wire devices. Basically the one wire was really one wire plus ground and it was kind of like sneaking power for I2C off the data bus. Thats a good research question.
Also its a pessimistic outlook... onewire went nowhere and its pretty much gone now. Insinuating that irobot is going the way of the ibutton.
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a relic of an old computerised heating project that never saw completion
So you had a bunch of Pentium 4 systems laying around? My P4 laptop kept me warm through cold winter nights.
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Re:Roomba sucks (but not in the way I paid for) (Score:4, Informative)
Agreed. I have a roomba that rarely goes out of it's cradle. It's just not smart enough to maneuver around the dozens of obstacles in the basement here. It does OK upstairs were there is more furniture and less 'stuff' - it's great under beds and sofas - but a quiet, smarter Roomba that doesn't choke on Labrador Retriever fuzz would be another sale. I like the idea, just doesn't quite work.....
Re:Roomba sucks (but not in the way I paid for) (Score:4, Interesting)
The biggest problem I have with it is that when it decides that it is done a room, it tends to hide. It might be under the middle of the bed, or tucked under the sofa in the back corner, but it's rarely in a spot where I don't have to get on my belly to retrieve it.
I named mine Saul after Saul Goodman. Better call Saul!
Re:Roomba sucks (but not in the way I paid for) (Score:4, Interesting)
It broke a little while back, and while waiting for the part I had to pull out my old vacuum. That was a terrible experience after having a Roomba for a couple of years now. Btw, your issue of never it finishing out in the open, while exactly true, is not a problem if you have the remote for it. Took me a few times of crawling under the bed to realize that.
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Same here. Have the Pet one for the basement/rec-room/man-cave/whatever. Runs twice a week. Only issues I've had are when he wonders into the laundry room or closet and can't get back out. Some times he may try to crawl under the couch and get stuck, or if my 5 year old leaves some toys out he may try to pull them in.
Over all, great investment for me. Keeps the cat/dog hair in check. And I don't have to lug the big vacuum downstairs and go through that hassle.. I like him.
He does need maintenance o
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Of course, the world would soon be absent of humans, since men would ditch chicks...since they'd have the fun and none of the crap you have to put up from them with.....
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You'd still be out of luck...women generally don't go for the "nice guy" types. If you come in a too nice of a guy, you end up in the friend zone, and you're not gonna get laid.
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I have a dog, though not a labrador (a crosbreed, not unlike a Dutsch sheperd dog). She doesn't shed a tenth of a labrador, so that matters a lot. In the shedding weeks (only a couple of weeks a year) I need to use the high capacity bin and empty it once every two days. Usually the normal bin lasts 4 days or so (unless I have a party. My friends don't make a terrible mess, but m
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I dunno, my parents have three dogs and a cat (the dogs are a big black lab, a little shelty, and a medium sized long-haired mutt of some sort) and pet hair is exactly why my mom bought and loves the Roomba. She's had two now -- some dirt cheap thing that may be a knockoff brand, I don't remember (which she still has and it still works, but doesn't get used as often) and something along the lines of the 630 I think, though it's also a few years old now. Before buying these things she was vacuuming three or
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Yup. The Roomba has lots of issues. I think the newer ones at least have a larger dust container, so they don't fill up instantly with dog hair like our did.
Mine had a NiCd battery pack that had a horribly short life span. They should at least use NiMH, if not Li-ion. It should be rated at 1000 cycles to last for three years of daily use.
They could make it a lot smarter. In addition to the exploration algorithm, they should be able to memorize the layout of the walls (possibly with a Wi-Fi web-based AP
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My Roomba works great, but I'm a minimalist (lots of open space). I've been amazed at the battery life, it still works fine after hundreds of cycles. I have not had to replace anything in the 3 years I've had it.
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A NiCd battery pack is not the problem. The problem is the charge-discharge circuit. If you do charge balancing on both charge and discharge -- and that requires doing individual cell monitoring and shunting -- a NiCd has life quite comparable to NiMH.
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But tibit, they didn't engineer it that way; did they?
They didn't improve the circuit and offer it as a paid or free upgrade. They sold the fancy-looking handle and let us pay for the razors (batteries).
After I was in another $100 in 3 month "disposable" batteries (yes, after trying to load balance at a time when I was traveling out of state regularly..) I was out. I recognized their business model and it isn't in the consumer's interest. It's what schick pioneered; let the customer pay-and-pay-and-pay.
I'd
Roomba batteries require maintenance (Score:2)
You didn't use google to find out that the charge circuit needs to be periodically reset [google.com], as even iRobot admits [irobot.com], or the robot will convince itself the battery's dead when it actually isn't?
An expensive mistake, that I also made on my first roomba.
What I really want is a roomba that looks like a trilobite, and a scooba that looks like a snail, and a looj that actually works.
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I know they didn't engineer it that way, but no matter what battery pack they'd have used, it'd end up with the same problem. So blaming it on Ni-Cd ain't it.
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I have to agree. I have one of each. The Neato XV-11 is "smart" and 2 years later I'm still on my first battery. I don't remember the XV-21 from when I bought my XV-11. If I was buying one now I'd get the XV-21. I use it for all the rooms (1 floor) except the master bedroom in which some of the furniture is too low for the Neato to get under.
The Roomba I now only use in my master bedroom. Gone through 2 batteries in 2 years, and *every* time it finishes I have to remove the "brushes" and cut (with small sur
Re:Sounds like they're going to invent.. (Score:4, Funny)
Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm FLAILING TUBE MAN!!
Um, AC, I donno how to say it, but that tube... um... its not an arm... I think the robot likes you.
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No, it's just curious.
It wishes an exchange of information and is trying to create an ad-hoc network with one of its series of tubes.
They are headed in the right direction... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They are headed in the right direction... (Score:4, Funny)
In the headlines for October 3rd 2017
IROBOT ACQUIRES REALDOLL
"We all knew they were coming...wait! wait! You know what I mean!" - anon
"The day an unemployed iron worker can lay in his Barcalounger with a Fosters in one hand and a channel flicker in the other and f--k Claudia Schiffer for $19.95, it's gonna make crack look like Sanka."- Dennis Miller on Virtual Reality - 6/16/95
Having failed to exterminate humanity twice...it tried a different approach. Well played skynet....well played.
Pest control (Score:3)
They need to design hunter-killer pest control robots next. Why bother fogging your apartment with deadly pesticides when you can let a few (roach/bedbug/beetle/spider)-hunting bots loose for targeted annihilation?
Yes, I know, "What could possibly go wrong?"
Re:Pest control (Score:4, Funny)
They need to design hunter-killer pest control robots next. Why bother fogging your apartment with deadly pesticides when you can let a few (roach/bedbug/beetle/spider)-hunting bots loose for targeted annihilation?
Already have one, works great! [wikipedia.org]
Re:Pest control (Score:4, Funny)
I have two. Unfortunately, one of mine likes to catch big palmetto bugs (a gigantic semi-flying roach found in Florida) in her mouth, then runs through her special door into the house, races up the stairs, jumps up onto her daddy's bed, and spits them out to proudly demonstrate her hunting skills and offer her daddy a late night snack, which he inevitably declines...
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He doesn't kill then quick, either - no, my sociopathic feline prefers to cripple them, then let them screech themselves to death under the porch outside my bedroom.
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Is it using lasers? If not, it doesn't count.
Re:Who Cares (Score:4, Funny)
Look at Kodak. It's nearly dead, but no one seems to care.
We film photographers do. Both of us.
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What's so special about film? At least for high sensitivity uses, digital pretty much wins. Even PowerShot G1X has less noise at ISO 1600 than the best color film would, AFAIK. Professional DSLRs, I'd think, bury film when it comes to pretty much everything, don't they?
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For small cameras, digital rules. Same with 35mm. Medium format digital cameras cost US$10,000 to $50,000 while film cameras cost far less. But there is no large format digital cameras, and my 4x5 (100mm x 125mm) Sinar is equal to a 200 to 800 megapixel camera if you scan the film. Digital has yet to match 4x5 and is far away from 8x10 film.
I shoot full-frame Nikon digital for color, but nothing comes close to 4x5 film for large prints.
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The problem with medium format and larger film stock is the sensor. Give
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Exactly. Wafer yield is a huge cost driver.
For those who are unfamiliar with camera terminology, "full frame" refers to a sensor size equal to 135 film (24mm x 36mm) commonly called "35mm". APS-C sensors have an area half that size (or smaller), so you get almost twice the number of sensors per wafer. Another issue is the steppers used in the fabrication process are big enough to make a APS sensor in one shot, but a full-frame sensor requires two overlapping shots (so I'm told), leading to alignment issu
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I agree. When one talks about large format, film wins. But you can't really hold those in your hand for very long ;) I have a russian 60x60mm ripoff of the Hasselblad and that thing is certainly good in place of a brick in case you needed to bash someone's head in. I think that cameras that are meant to be carryable on a neckstrap (or wriststrap) are a different class from anything big format. I'd think it's a tad unfair to even try to compare a dSLR to anything large format. It's like apples to apple wine
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I'd think it's a tad unfair to even try to compare a dSLR to anything large format. It's like apples to apple wine ;)
You are right - two totally different cameras. However, I was responding to your question:
Professional DSLRs, I'd think, bury film when it comes to pretty much everything, don't they?
And the answer is "not in the case of large format film".
Cameras are just tools to make images and prints. I make large prints, so for me it is not unfair at all. I was using a dSLR for large images, but went to 4x5 film for much sharper images. Google "Clyde Butcher" if you want to see a modern master who creates massive prints.
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I've done a few rolls of 60 ISO 60x60mm (start to finish, developing the negative and enlargements myself) and that's sure as heck a different medium. The largest enlargement I could make is approx. A4 paper size, and it looked pretty damn stunning in spite of a very amateurish process and conditions. That was back in elementary school, I haven't touched it for 2 decades since :(
A sex-bot that also vacuums (Score:5, Insightful)
Now, if only it could cook....
Build a better Roomba? (Score:2)
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Why does the Neato battery last longer? Is it a more expensive material? If so, is the cost passed on to the consumer? I've had problems with Roomba battery duration also.
I've had 2 Roomba's. They do their job if you keep the brushes etc. clean, but they don't handle the unexpected very well and are relatively slow and noisy, especially on wooden floors.
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The Roomba battery is either subject to a larger discharge current per unit volume, or is not properly managed during both charge and discharge. Usually the latter. There's no technical reason at all to have a battery-powered appliance that won't properly work with one or two dead cells in a battery pack (save for shorter discharge time).
Lawnba? (Score:3)
I know that there is another company that has long made a Roomba-like lawn mower. It uses buried wires, much like the invisible fence many pet owners use. It would be awesome to have one that eliminates the wires by using GPS and other location technologies to let you map out the area to be mowed.
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A device running around at "random" in your garden, with sharp blades spinning - what could possibly go wrong....
But yes - They should release one.
Apple sued them (Score:2)
better roombas first (Score:2)
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I own a Sharper Image vacuuming robot that would totally rock and beat my two Roombas like an unloved child, if its battery could manage to last for longer than 6-9 minutes. It's not a wimpy sweeper... it's a big, mean, dustbuster on wheels with REAL vacuum that can suck up a wad of cat hair from 2 feet away. I really wish I could come up with some way to retrofit a better power source onto it.
Yeah, I've considered mounting a pivoting rod to the ceiling fan like a big festoon and powering it directly with
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Push vacuums get hair caught in them also. However, one tends to ignore it because it has enough power to compensate. The brush becomes a hair-ball brush. With Roomba's you have to clean it more often because it's not as powerful.
A robot probably wouldn't be safe with that much power: the cat's tail or your sock would be long gone before you noticed something was wrong.
I notice many new push vacs don't even have rotating brushes, just fixed position brushes. I haven't noticed a resulting quality difference,
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How about a vacuuming pack-bot (Score:1)
Inflatable Robots by Otherlab (Score:2)
iRobot is missing an opportunity (Score:1)
iRobot has gained a lot of experience in robots, but they are missing an opportunity to make it big because they do not have focus. They produce such a wide range of products - Military and domestic - none of which has the "Wow factor". I think if they focussed on building something which did a useful job really well, they could become the Apple of robotics. The time is really ripe for it and if they don't fill this gap someone else will.
General purpose robot (Score:2)
Robotics today is where computers were in the 1960's. Back then computers were built for specific tasks, but were not intended to do stuff they weren't specifically designed for. It took the general purpose computers of the 70's and 80's to start the computer revolution. Same thing is needed in robotics. A general purpose robot platform; modular, upgradable and programmable. I'd love to have a robot for all the boring everyday tasks like cleaning, unloading the dishwasher, make my morning coffee and so on.
Rhoomba! (Score:1)
Yeah, but think of their profits, if... (Score:2)
...their latest model, the "Romney," gets elected!
How about an advanced general purpose cleaner? (Score:1)
for far longer than I've been alive I find it quite depressing that our consumer
products remain so simplistic.
None of these robots are at all advanced with nearly no adjustable moving
parts nor any attempt at doing anything beyond simple and purely reactive A.I.
Shouldn't we by now have enough capabilities to create a robot that
is more than just a very crude little toy car that moves randomly?
I talking about something t
I had a Roomba once... (Score:2)
Invent a programmable Voteba (Score:2)
in order to vote with more influence...oh wait...Diebold already sells those.
Onion gots it covered: (Score:1)
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-roomba-blender-makes-smoothie-out-of-everythin,29539/ [theonion.com]