iRobot Pet Proves: You Can Teach an Old Robot New Tricks

As much as we love them, our pets tend put us into hairy situations. And, I’m not talking about getting caught not scooping the poop, either. It’s a sad fact that we humans are far too content with constantly cleaning up their hair, dander, and all the other ungodly things our pets get themselves into.

We don’t have to take it anymore. iRobot’s Roomba 530/560 just got an upgrade for those pet parents who have had enough of the endless cleanup...
The 532 and 562 (dubbed the pet series) feature beefed up sweepers and large sweeper bins that hold three and a half times the fur of the previous models.

Priced $349 and $399 respectively, the pricier 562 is clearly the better bot. For a mere $50 bucks more you’re given the option of programming the vacuum to clean on a schedule that works for you. Also, instead of the three rooms you get with one full charge of the 532, you can get one more clean room out of the mechanical maid before it saunters back to it’s charging station.

The Roomba Pet series effortlessly cleans your home’s floors, giving you more time to enjoy the fun part of being a pet owner. These should arrive on our warehouse shelves very shortly.
[
iRobot]
Read more!

Robotic FX Booted, iRobot Back in the DOD's Good Graces

Many moons ago, we reported on the awarding of a lucrative government contract, that iRobot thought it had on lock down, to RoboticFX. Losing the DOD contract worth $279.9 mil was too big of a blow for iRobot to take lying down. They sued RoboticFX for patent and copyright infringement…RobotixFX freaked and started destroying evidence that supported iRobot's assertion.

The Feds were hip to this game and collected evidence of RoboticFX's scramble to destroy documents, trade secrets most likely gained through corporate espionage. They seized shredded documents dumped in clandestine dumpsters and hard drive/floppy disk erasers from the homes of those involved in the cover up.

The judge in the case filed an injunction against RoboticFX citing that their CEO “Jameel Ahed's admissions that he'd destroyed evidence ‘profoundly undermined’ his credibility”, what else are you going to say when they've got you on videotape. It was obvious that iRobot would win the case, so the judge wanted to stop RoboticFX from making any money from stolen trade secrets.

Now, we all know how much the Pentagon hates lairs and cheats...'sure', anyhow they gave RoboticFX the boot and iRobot has regained their former glory. Their brawny battalion of 3000+ bomb disarming robots will be tooling around airports and battlefields in no time.

..via Engadget/via Yahoo..
Read more!

Is iRobot's ConnectR, Connecting with their Customers?

[Image courtesy of iRobot]

posted by: Andrew Harris

Ok I'll admit, I'd rather have a robot clean my gutters, but iRobot's newest launch is...well sort of hard to picture. Apparently, Tele-presence isn't just a simple video chat anymore. With this bot you can rove around, talk, manipulate the camera view, zoom in and out, and basically creep up on people to listen and observe them remotely. Alright...so iRobot’s intended purpose is the much more market appropriate application of keeping in touch with loved ones whilst away, this seems somewhat benign, but suitable as well. I personally think they'd sell more if it was marketed as a "fidelity keeper". However, the bot is a bit conspicuous and most assuredly makes a racket. The fact that it has a speaker on it for two-way communications isn’t very Bond’ish either, maybe a bit Dick Tracy. Although heavy breathing can be creepy, it's not very well suited to be a spy-bot (trust me they have one in development). But, if you can’t stand the idea of missing those special in home moments like junior's first steps or the dog pooping on the floor, from the floor's perspective, than this is the bots for you...enjoy.

Read more!