From Building Military Prototypes To Popular Consumer Robots

from the quite-a-process dept

Business Week is running an interview with the CEO of iRobot, where he talks about how it's quite different running a company producing a very popular consumer robot gadget (the Roomba vacuum cleaner), as compared to a company building complex expensive robot prototypes for industry and the military. As he points out, the biggest issue was (for the first time) they actually had to pay attention to the cost of making the robot, and had to make tough calls on what features to leave out. There was also a bit of an issue learning how to do mass production of robots and handle customer service issues associated with consumer products. Sounds like an interesting transformation of a company. He also makes a very good point when asked about vacuum companies looking to compete: it's not the vacuuming part that's complex about the Roomba - it's the robot - so, he believes they'll be able to stay ahead. Besides, it certainly sounds like they don't plan on sticking to robotic vacuums as their only consumer product going forward. For now, though, it's been a great way to get people comfortable with the idea of having a "robot" in their homes. On a somewhat related note, Engadget has a feature about how to get into hardware check mode with your Roomba and make it do cool things.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    John Bartley K7AAY, 7 May 2004 @ 1:03pm

    Roomba service quality is enviable

    Twice, we've had the occasion to call for service issues on our Roomba Mk. I, and both times, the service has been superb. When a part had to be shipped, we had it 2 days later, with very little push on our part to make it happen. The other issue was also handled extremely well.

    This is the QOS we used to receive from Sears, Maas Brothers and Burdines, waybackwhen in the day when price was not king. Today, I only get that QOS from T-Mobile and Micron, and every other manufacturer or vendor offers a gauntlet-style challenge to extract service from them.

    Roomba is well worth study.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.