Consumer Robotics

We don’t often cover personnel moves, but this one is too important to pass up. Helen Greiner today was named CEO and Chairman of Tertill Corporation, which was formerly known as Franklin Robotics. The North Billerica, Mass.-based startup develops the Tertill weeding robot for vegetable and flower gardens. Of course, Greiner co-founded iRobot in 1990, alongside…

iRobot introduced the Roomba i3+ today, its lowest-cost robot vacuum that features a self-emptying cleaning base. It also features iRobot’s new Genius Home Intelligence Platform for personalized cleaning control. The iRobot Roomba i3+ robot vacuum is available now in the U.S. ($599) and Canada ($749) at iRobot’s online store. It’ll hit retailers in September. The…

The Soft Bubble Gripper developed by a Toyota Research Institute team combines sensors and advanced materials to more safely handle objects in a step toward household robots.

UL 3300 is UL’s first consumer and commercial robot certification document that addresses human-robot interaction safety concerns.

If you own a high-end robot vacuum or mop from iRobot, it’s about to get easier to use.

Paolo Pirjanian, CEO at Embodied, will discuss how the relationship between humans and machines is evolving, including how robots and robotic technology can be applied for social good.

iRobot acquired Root Robotics in June 2019 to boost its STEM offerings. And it’s certainly doing that today with the introduction of the iRobot Root rt0 coding robot. The iRobot Root rt0 ($129) is equipped with many of the same features and sensors as the original Root rt1, but it’s $70 less expensive. The iRobot Root…

Roybi has developed social robots to entertain and educate children and met the challenges of keeping the price point down and addressing the pandemic head on.

The great lyric poet Billy Idol once sung, “Eyes without a face, got no human grace, you’re eyes without a face.” This profound statement has been ringing loudly during this period of social distancing and masked encounters. As I professed on several webinars to understand the mechanics of reopening with robots, I have been challenged…

Welcome to Episode 2 of The Robot Report Podcast. Join Steve Crowe and Eugene Demaitre every Wednesday for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community. Eugene and Steve this week talk with Paolo Pirjanian, Founder and CEO of Embodied, which is developing the Moxie companion robot that…

Lantronix, which provides edge computing, IoT, and embedded computing systems, helped Misty Robotics build the Misty II educational and open development platform with Qualcomm technologies.

Intuition Robotics, which raised funding shortly before global shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has reported positive results from beta testing of its ElliQ digital companion in relieving isolation among older people.

A new survey has found that Americans have become somewhat more accepting of AI and robots, but developers will still have to take skepticism and job fears into account.

While other social robotics startups have struggled, Embodied has spent the past four years developing Moxie to help children with social interactions.

COVID-19 won’t stop lawns from being mowed, but it looks like you’ll be doing it the old-fashioned way for even longer. iRobot delayed the launch of its long-awaited Terra robot lawn mower. And the Bedford, Mass.-based company didn’t specify a future launch date for the product. In its Q1 2020 earnings call, iRobot said it “suspended…

iRobot has created a new division, iRobot Education, to house all of its education products and services under one roof. iRobot Education includes the Root coding robot, Create 2, a new iRobot Coding platform, and the company’s STEM outreach program. “With students and teachers nationwide currently homebound, virtual learning resources, educational content and tools have…

Contrary to popular belief, older people don’t fear humanoid robots, found German psycholgists.

NTT Disruption, a San Francisco-based company that is part of Japanese telecommunications company NTT Corporation, recently acquired assets from Jibo, the social robotics company that shut down in November 2018.  NTT Disruption acquired the following three patents from Jibo: Persistent Companion Device Configuration and Deployment Platform Embodied Dialog and Embodied Speech Authoring Tools for Use with…

We reported last June Anki already had a prototype of its next consumer robot prior to shutting down. The Robot Report has learned there were multiple products in the works, and none of them are what you’d expect. First, meet Bingo, a security robot with a German Shepherd-inspired design. Anki was working on two versions…

Intuition Robotics, which has developed the ElliQ social companion for older adults and the Q cognitive agent, has received funding from investors including Toyota AI Ventures, iRobot, and Samsung.

The Cutii companion robot is mobile, uses AI to learn its users’ habits and preferences, and enables seniors to stay in contact with loved ones, according to CareClever.

The Misty as a Concierge open-source application template from Misty Robotics is intended to make it easy for developers to create skills for a variety of settings.