iRobot

We’ve looked at robots that use a variety of ways to get around, from caterpillar treads, to wheels, legs, wings and even combustion-driven pistons. But the title of weirdest (not to mention unsettling) method of robot propulsion we’ve come across has to go to the shape-shifting ChemBot from iRobot. The ChemBot, which looks more like the Blob than most people’s preconceived ideas of what a robot should be, moves around by changing its shape in a process its creators call, “jamming skin enabled locomotion.”  Read More

The new iRobot Warrior 700 robot looks like the (much) bigger brother of the company’s PackBot. In fact the Warrior is a much larger, more powerful platform designed to deliver, well, PackBots (among other missions). The Warrior 700 can carry a PackBot at the end of an articulated arm, and insert the it through a window for reconnaissance, explosive ordnance disposal, rescue, or other missions.  Read More

March 26, 2009 When consuming your five a day of fruit and vegetables, have you ever stopped to consider the back breaking labor and significant resources involved in their production? According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratories (CSAIL), the robotic, computerized answer to minimizing these factors could be just around the corner. Students at the laboratory have undertaken a project that utilizes robots to take the thinking and manual labor out of producing specialty crops such as fruit and vegetables.  Read More

January 9, 2009 Consumer robotics manufacturer iRobot is demonstrating the second generation Looj Gutter Cleaning Robot at CES, which is newsworthy in that the original model won last year’s 2008 Best of CES Innovations Award and it’s still the only product of its kind. The Looj, makes gutter cleaning faster (it can clean up to 60-foot of gutter in10 minutes), easier and safer by reducing ladder work and reaching in precarious positions. The new Looj comes in three models starting at US$130, and has been significantly redesigned with additional features that help it break up clogged leaves and debris and improve overall performance.  Read More

Best known to Gizmag readers for its range of home helper bots, iRobot is now expanding its line-up to include the growing need for public safety robots. The new iRobot Negotiator is a low-cost, tactical robot designed to meet the basic reconnaissance needs of public safety professionals, such as police and fire departments, counter-terrorism forces and domestic security experts.  Read More

Education has long been based around the three R's, but now for computer science students throughout the U.S., a fourth R is making ground - Robotics. A program that began in 2006 through the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) using robots as the circuit breaker in introductory computer science courses is being expanded to 28 more high schools and universities. Gizmag spoke to Dr. Tucker Balch, director of IPRE, to learn more.  Read More

Best known for its ventures in land-based military vehicles and home-helper robots, iRobot has now branched out into the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) market. The company will commercialize "Seaglider" technology from the University of Washington, a system which assists civilian, academic and military personnel in taking oceanographic measurements at a lower cost than traditional research vessels or moored instruments.  Read More

iRobot is known to consumers as the creator of all types of home helpers, from the gutter cleaning Looj to the floor scrubbing Scooba. The company has now expanded its iRobot Verro Pool Cleaning Robot line to include two new models, the Verro 100 and 500.  Read More

March 5, 2008 Most notably known to consumers for its Roomba robot vacuum range and an assortment of home help bots, iRobot has received an award under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) LANdroids program to develop a small, mobile communications relay robot that would empower US warfighters with communications.  Read More