In July 2019, investments in robotics, autonomous vehicles, and drones increased, despite a decline in the number of transactions.

Reported robotics investments in June 2019 focused on transportation, AI and software, manufacturing, and healthcare.

iRobot, best known for its robotic vacuum cleaners, has added to its educational product line with its acquisition of Root Robotics.

Hate cleaning? Well, iRobot is looking to take cleaning off your to-do list with two new robots that can work together to get the job done. It’s like your own person fleet of cleaning robots. iRobot’s new Roomba s9+ robot vacuum and Braava jet M6 robot mop have Imprint Link Technology that allows the robots to…

MassRobotics continues to make strategic partnerships as it helps the Massachusetts robotics cluster grow and develop. Its latest partners include Analog Devices, Honda, and Lockheed Martin.

It is finally happening. Kind of. iRobot will launch in 2019 its Terra robot lawn mower. The company has not announced specific availability or pricing, but it did say the Terra robot lawn mower will be available this year in Germany and as a beta program in the U.S. This is a much-anticipated announcement —…

Massachusetts-based iRobot (NSDQ:IRBT) today reported a 34% surge in third-quarter revenue and easily beat analysts’ consensus earnings projections. The company posted third-quarter profits of $22 million, or 76¢ per share, on revenues of $205.3 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, for a bottom-line gain of 13.21% on sales growth of 21.8% compared with Q3…

SharkNinja, a well-known marketer of home consumer products, has entered the American robotic vacuum market with a product that is priced to compete against iRobot’s Roomba line of floor cleaners. Their new ION Robot navigates floors and carpets and docks and recharges automatically. It sells at a very favorable price point to iRobot’s.

Industrial grippers have made headlines recently, mostly thanks to breathtaking new prosthetics, smarter material-handling machines and fairly brisk robotic innovation. However, traditional pneumatic grippers still dominate industrial-assembly and robotic applications. That’s because pneumatic grippers are reliable, come in myriad sizes and grip quickly. They’re also cost effective and simple to control, according to Peter Farkas, […]

By Frank Tobe, Editor/Publisher, The Robot Report At a break in a conference in San Diego, I was sitting enjoying my tea, when up walked Rodney Brooks (of Rethink Robotics and Baxter fame) and said (with a mischievious smile): Rodney Brooks “I have a bone to pick with you! Robotic vacuum cleaners didn’t just become…

By Frank Tobe, Editor and Publisher, The Robot Report Max Nisen of Business Insider wrote recently of a list of seven stock picks discovered in a Credit Suisse report on long term trends. One of those trends was increasing global automation (particularly in China) and the seven picks relate to companies poised to benefit from…

 By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot Report Last week I attended the 7th Annual Remote Presence Clinical Innovations Forum hosted by InTouch Health in Santa Barbara, CA, a two-day users conference disseminating the latest information regarding a wide range of telemedicine-related topics through presentations and workshops. The keynote address, by Yulun Wang, Chairman and CEO of…

A version of this post originally appeared on Automaton, IEEE Spectrum’s robotics blog. By Frank Tobe, editor/publisher, The Robot Report What’s the best approach to building commercially successful robotics companies? Here are two arguments from two prominent people in the robotics industry: Identify a need that can be filled with a robotic solution in a large…

By Frank Tobe. Publisher, The Robot Report Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s Sentry ROV We’ve read about their use in last year’s Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill and their underwater repair work, traipsing the corridors and collecting rubble at Fukushima nuclear power plants, the exploits of James Cameron and his amazing underwater photos and movie…

by Frank Tobe and Manoj Sahi The consumer robotic market has been on a roller coaster ride of evolution and market penetration. The amount of money companies and consumers were paying for robots and the features that they were getting ultimately did not match up. Low-cost service robots have similar problems. The technologies and robot…

Las Vegas, January, 2011 iRobot had a booth at CES 2011 in Las Vegas to show their upgraded line of robotic vacuum cleaners and a few other consumer products. In addition to iRobot, there were other booths showing Korean and Chinese versions of robot floor-cleaning devices. Ava, iRobot’s telepresenceconcept mobility device But this little gem…