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Irobot Wheres My Robot

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by Kevin Maney
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Aug 22 2007 12:00am EDT

iRobot, Where's My Robot?

I enjoy the folks at iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner and the PackBot military assistant robot. CEO Colin Angle and his crew have an innovative vision of robots that does NOT include anything resembling C3PO or Rosie from The Jetsons. Instead, Angle has told me several times, iRobot sees robots as special-purpose devices -- the way Roomba is a floor cleaner. Someday, your housework won't be done by a single Rosie -- it will be done by a SWAT team of special-purpose 'bots skeetering around the house.

rosie.jpg

The only thing is...so far iRobot has only been able to come up with floor cleaners. Angle keeps promising that a startling home-helper 'bot is coming from his company, but it remains in iRobot's secret lab. The company today unveiled new versions of Roomba -- again, not something more spectacular.

Come on, Colin. Bring on the clothes-folding robot.

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