iRobot’s Roomba Combo j7+ at its docking station. iRobot’s vacuum cleaners can autonomously charge themselves. | Source: iRobot

Administrative Law Judge Maryann McNamara issues an initial determination in iRobot’s patent infringement lawsuit against SharkNinja. If the full commission, which is expected to make a judgment by February 2023, upholds Judge McNamara’s decision, imports of SharkNinja’s infringing products could be banned. 

iRobot’s lawsuit involved four of its patents, and Judge McNamara found that SharkNinja infringed upon two of them, U.S. Patent No. 9,884,423 (the ‘423 patent) and U.S. Patent No. 10,813,517 (the ‘517 patent). The court found that SharkNinja did not violate the other two patents iRobot included in its initial filing. 

The ‘423 patent involves it autonomous robot auto-docking and energy management systems and methods. iRobot’s ‘517 patent is for its navigational control system for robotic devices. The company filed a complaint alleging SharkNinja infringed upon its patents with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in January 2021. 

“This determination validates the strength of iRobot’s patent portfolio and the hard work of our engineers over the better part of the last two decades,” Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot, said. “We are glad to see the ITC is holding SharkNinja accountable for its misappropriation of iRobot intellectual property. iRobot thanks ALJ McNamara and the ITC for their hard work in this case.”

Since the complaint was filed, SharkNinja has redesigned its products to avoid any infringement. The initial determination found that the company’s redesigned products did not infringe upon any of the disputed iRobot patents. The company has begun manufacturing and selling the redesigned products, and plans to replace all of its current products with the redesigned ones if the commission upholds its ruling. 

iRobot’s complaint is the second time the company has asserted a lawsuit against SharkNinja. In 2019, iRobot filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the District of Massachusetts to stop sales and distribution of the Shark IQ Robot. That case is on hold for related proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

In August, Amazon announced that it would be acquiring iRobot for $1.7 billion, expanding the company’s already extensive robotics ecosystem. Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction, including iRobot’s net debt. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. On completion, Colin Angle will remain as CEO of iRobot.

The FTC has started an antitrust investigation into Amazon’s plans to acquire iRobot. The FTC’s investigation will reportedly focus on whether the data provided by iRobot’s Roomba robot vacuum gives Amazon an unfair advantage in the retail industry. The investigation will also reportedly look at how the line of robot vacuums would fit in with Amazon’s existing smart home products, like Ring and Alexa.

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An example diagram block for a robot vacuum. | Credit: Invensense, a TDK company

Over the past few years, robot vacuums have advanced immensely. Initial models tended to randomly bump their way around the room, often missing key areas on the floor during their runtime. They also became trapped on thick rugs, and if vacuuming upstairs, came tumbling down with a heavy thud. Their runtime was also relatively short, and you’d often come home hoping for a nice and clean room only to discover that it had run out of juice halfway through.

Since those early days, these cons have turned into pros with the innovative use of sensors and motor controllers in combination with dedicated open-source software and drivers. Here is a look at some of the different sensors used in today’s robot vacuums for improved navigation and cleaning.

Ultrasonic time-of-flight sensors
Ultrasonic time-of-flight (ToF) sensors work in any lighting conditions and can provide millimeter-accurate range measurements independent of the target’s color and optical transparency. The sensor’s wide field-of-view (FoV) enables simultaneous range measurements of multiple objects. In a robot vacuum, they are used to detect if an object, such as a dog or children’s toy, is in its way and whether it needs to deviate its route to avoid a collision.

Short-range ultrasonic ToF sensors
Short-range ultrasonic ToF sensors can be used to determine different floor types. The application uses the average amplitude of a reflected ultrasonic signal to determine if the target surface is hard or soft. If the robot vacuum detects that it has moved from a carpet onto a hardwood floor, it can slow the motors down because they do not need to work as hard compared to carpet use.

The cliff detection feature can enable the robot vacuum to determine when it’s at the top of a set of stairs to prevent a fall.

VSLAM and LiDAR
Most companies developing high-end robot vacuums use visual simultaneous localization and mapping (VSLAM) or LiDAR technology to build a virtual map of the room. These technologies enable the robot vacuum to move around more efficiently, covering an entire level of a home with multiple rooms. However, if you lift the robot and put it down, it will not know its new location. To find out where it is, the robot must go off in a random direction and, once it detects an object and starts tracing the walls, it can find out where it is relevant to the map.

VSLAM or LiDAR technologies may not be applicable for low-light areas, for example, if the robot vacuum goes under a table or couch, where it is unable to read the map.

An example of the mapping capabilities of iRobot’s j7 robot vacuum. | Credit: iRobot

Inertial Measurement Units (IMU)
IMUs take the roll, pitch, and yaw of movements of the robot vacuum in the real world both from a linear and rotational perspective. When the robot vacuum is doing circles or moving in a straight line, it knows where it is supposed to go and how it is moving. There may be a slight error between where it should be and where it is, and the IMU can hold that position in a very accurate way.

Based on rotational and linear movement, plus the mapping of the room, the robot vacuum can determine that it is not going over the same areas twice and can pick up where it left off if the battery dies. And, if someone picks up the robot vacuum and places it somewhere else or turns it around, it can detect what is happening and know where it is in real space. The IMU is essential to making robot vacuums efficient.

For robot vacuums that do not use VSLAM or LiDAR mapping technology, their position and navigation can be determined using dead reckoning by combining measurements from the wheel’s rotations with the inertial measurements from the IMU and object detection from the ToF sensors.

Smart speaker microphones
As developers of robot vacuums continue to implement artificial intelligence (AI) with the ability to use voice assistants, microphones become an essential sensor technology. Take beamforming, for example. Beamforming is a type of radio frequency (RF) management technique that focuses the noise signal towards the microphone in combination with AI for tweaking. At the moment, the noise of the motors and the turning brushes on the robot vacuum are a bit loud. However, as microphone technology progresses and motors and brushes become quieter, coupled with beamforming, microphones will be able to determine the user’s voice in the not-too-distant future.

Algorithms can also be trained to disregard certain noises and listen specifically for the voice of the user. Ostensibly, the user wants to call for the vacuum cleaner to clear up something or tell it to go home without going through an app or voice assistant product. You want that to happen in real time inside the host processor of the robot vacuum. Alternatively, if the microphone notices that something is being spoken, it may be possible for the robot vacuum to stop all of its motors to listen to the command.

Embedded motor controllers
The embedded motor controllers are turning the gears to ensure the wheels are moving the robot vacuum in the correct direction with accuracy that can tell when the wheel is actually turned 90 degrees as opposed to 88 degrees. Without this high level of accuracy, the robot vacuum will be way off track after a certain amount of time. The embedded motor controller can be flexible whether you use sensors or not, making the robot vacuum scalable.

Pressure sensors
The level of dust inside the dust box is estimated by monitoring the flow of air through the dustbin with a pressure sensor. Compared to the air pressure when the dustbin is empty, the air pressure inside the dustbin begins to drop when the airflow begins to stagnate due to an increase in suction dust or clogging of the filter. However, for more accurate detection, it is recommended to detect it as a differential pressure that uses a similar pressure sensor to measure the outside air pressure.

A lot of the high-end bases have the capability to suck out the contents of the dust box automatically. The robot vacuum can then return to base, empty its contents, return to its last known position and continue cleaning.

Auto-recharging
To determine the battery’s state of charge (SoC), you need accurate current and voltage measurements. The coulomb counters and NTC thermistors in the battery pack provide this information.

When the battery reaches an arbitrary SoC level, the battery communicates an instruction for the robot vacuum to stop cleaning and return to the base for a recharge. When fully charged, the robot vacuum goes back to its last known position and continues cleaning. Regardless of the size of the room, in theory, with multiple chargers and multiple abilities to empty the dustbin, the robot vacuum can cover the entire floor space.

Thermistors
Thermistors, which are a type of temperature sensor, can be used to monitor the running temperature of the MCU or MPU. They can also be used to monitor the temperatures of the motors and brush gears. If they are running way too hot, the robot vacuum is instructed to take a break and perhaps run a few system diagnostics to find out what is causing the problem. Also, items caught in the brushes, like an elastic band or excess hair, can make the motors overcompensate and overheat.

Robot vacuum developers should understand what the motors are supposed to sound like at a certain threshold of frequency. It is possible to use a microphone to detect whether the motors are running abnormally, thereby detecting early stages of motor degradation. Again, by using diagnostics, the abnormal noise from the bushes could indicate that they have picked.

Conclusion
The retail price of a robot vacuum goes hand in hand with functionality and accuracy; some of the high-end models can be as much as $1,100. You can get a robot vacuum for closer to $200, but you will be sacrificing some of the bells and whistles. It all depends on the value the robot vacuum developer wants to create and the cost structure that works best for the user.

As component costs come down, it seems likely that more mid-tier robot vacuums will enter the market. Technologies like ToF sensors, pressure sensors, IMUs and motor controllers, along with improvements in battery efficiency, will drive this growth.

About the Author
For seven years, Peter Hartwell has been the chief technology officer at Invensense, a TDK company. He holds more than 40 patents and his operation oversees 600 engineers who have developed a broad range of technologies and sensors for drones, automotive, industrial and, more broadly, IoT. Hartwell has 25-plus years of experience commercializing silicon MEMS products, working on advanced sensors and actuators, and specializes in MEMS testing techniques.

Prior to joining InvenSense, he spent four years as an architect of sensing hardware at Apple where he built and led a team responsible for the integration of accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure, proximity, and ambient light sensors across the entire product line. Hartwell holds a B.S. in Materials Science from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially started an antitrust investigation into Amazon’s plans to acquire robot vacuum maker iRobot for $1.7 billion. Politico reports the FTC is investigating a number of potential issues.

The FTC’s investigation will reportedly focus on whether the data provided by iRobot’s Roomba robot vacuum gives Amazon an unfair advantage in the retail industry. For example, Amazon could have an advantage with a consumer looking to buy a couch by using detailed home maps generated by iRobot to suggest particular items.

The investigation will also reportedly look at how the line of robot vacuums would fit in with Amazon’s existing smart home products, like Ring and Alexa.

In a recent podcast episode of The Robot Report Podcast, we discussed many of these concerns with the acquisition, including data privacy, and how Amazon might use shopper information to influence buyer behavior, or even influence the product roadmap for iRobot, based on purchase history of competitive solutions. 

Amazon also sells Astro, a high-end robot that can deliver drinks and keep an eye on your house, but it hasn’t caught on with customers. Astro, which is available by invitation only, does not have a vacuum and is little more than Alexa with wheels.

This deal is important to the future of iRobot, but a lengthy FTC investigation will drag out the deal’s closing date. Whatever potential future product concepts might be possible with the combination of Amazon and iRobot will have to wait until this investigation is completed.

The deal could also be stopped, which would be bad news for both iRobot and Amazon. iRobot has been at the forefront of consumer robotics for years. With additional funding and room for creativity, the company could soon introduce intriguing new products.

According to Politico, Amazon reiterated its past statements about the iRobot deal, saying it will employ all necessary safeguards for consumer data. iRobot CEO Colin Angle last week wrote about the company’s approach to customer data. He wrote that “iRobot does not – and will not – sell customers’ personal information. Our customers control the personal information they provide us, and we use that information to improve robot performance and the customer’s ability to directly control a mission.”

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iRobot’s Roomba j7 robot vacuum has a front-facing camera. | Credit: iRobot

iRobot has over the years discussed its approach to protecting customer data collected by its Roomba robot vacuums. And it’s doing so again as the topic has resurfaced thanks to Amazon’s pending $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot.

There haven’t been too many consumer robotics companies to write home about in recent memory. And, unfortunately, these privacy concerns have overshadowed the major success story that is iRobot. The newest Roombas use cameras to navigate around and create maps of their environments. According to iRobot, customers can opt-out of having its robots store the layout of their homes.

Nevertheless, data privacy advocates worry that Roombas give Amazon more eyes into our homes and a deeper understanding of products we might be more likely to purchase. Amazon has denied this, saying “we do not use home maps for targeted advertising and have no plans to do so.”

In a blog posted on LinkedIn this morning, iRobot co-founder and CEO Colin Angle said that “iRobot does not – and will not – sell customers’ personal information. Our customers control the personal information they provide us, and we use that information to improve robot performance and the customer’s ability to directly control a mission.”

If the Amazon acquisition is approved, the e-commerce giant will become iRobot’s owner, not a third party. It doesn’t seem like Amazon would have to pay iRobot for customer data, but we’ll likely never see the legal documents for this acquisition and any fine print about data privacy. Angle said iRobot’s stance on data privacy will not change when the acquisition by Amazon is finalized.

Angle also wrote about how creating maps of your home and identifying objects such as pet waste, cords, shoes and other objects allows the robot vacuums to clean more effectively. “This personalization is directed entirely by the customer and may be modified or deleted at any time.”

iRobot, in recent years, has also built out voice control through integration with Alexa (Amazon), Google Assistant and Siri (Apple). Angle again stressed that voice control capabilities need to be enabled by customers.

“To enable this integration, limited data would be shared with the customer’s preferred voice assistant. This level of data sharing with third parties is enabled only by the customer’s explicit permission, and that will continue to be the case.”

An example of the mapping capabilities of iRobot’s A view of a Roomba j7’s robot vacuum.

With the combination of Roomba, Alexa, Ring doorbells, the Astro robot other smart products, Amazon could have an incredible amount of data about one’s home. So don’t expect privacy concerns associated with Amazon to die down any time soon.

We have reprinted Angle’s post below in its entirety. It was first posted on LinkedIn.

At iRobot, protecting customer data and privacy is of the utmost importance as we explore the path forward for home robotics and the future of the home. For 20 years now, iRobot customers have been welcoming our products into their homes to clean and help them do more. That trust is the foundation of our relationship with our customers, and we work to earn it every day.

iRobot does not – and will not – sell customers’ personal information. Our customers control the personal information they provide us, and we use that information to improve robot performance and the customer’s ability to directly control a mission.

Today, Roomba and Braava robots create maps that allow customers to identify objects within the home – enabling more effective cleaning, and providing customers with valuable information about cleaning performance. The Roomba j7 can see and avoid pet waste, cords, shoes and other objects to ensure it finishes the job without getting stuck or creating a mess. iRobot’s connected home robots use a Smart Map to identify rooms and furniture, allowing customers to personalize their cleaning missions and clean specific rooms or particularly dirty areas of the home, like around the kitchen counter. This personalization is directed entirely by the customer and may be modified or deleted at any time.

The Smart Map and images of objects the robot encounters during cleaning are fully encrypted and sent to the cloud, where they are secure and available for customer viewing via the iRobot Home App. If a customer chooses, they can enable voice control through services like Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri. To enable this integration, limited data would be shared with the customer’s preferred voice assistant. This level of data sharing with third parties is enabled only by the customer’s explicit permission, and that will continue to be the case. Our position is, “Your information belongs to you. If you’re letting us have access to it, we must treat it with the utmost respect.”

Here’s what I can tell you about iRobot’s unwavering commitment to protecting the privacy of our customers:

• We’re always clear about what information we collect and why we collect it, proactively communicating with our customers to ensure transparency.
• We always protect customer data with the highest standards of privacy protection.
• We put customers in control, and if they don’t want their data shared with us, they can change their settings in the iRobot Home App.
• We keep all data secure from start to finish, adding multiple layers of protection around our robots, cloud and app.

Our commitment to privacy will not change once we are acquired by Amazon. Amazon shares the same strong commitment to privacy and has a long history of protecting customer data across all of its businesses. iRobot is positioned to become one of those businesses, and we’re impressed with how Amazon works to earn and maintain customer trust. I’m excited for what lies ahead, and I couldn’t be happier that both organizations share the core value of protecting our customers’ privacy.

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iRobot, maker of the popular Roomba robot vacuum, is laying off 10% of its staff, or about 140 employees. The layoffs are part of a restructuring that iRobot said will save the company up to $10 million in 2022 and between $30-$40 million in 2023.

iRobot announced the layoffs on August 5, 2022 in its Q2 earnings results. This was the same day iRobot announced it was being acquired by Amazon for $1.7 billion. However, iRobot said the two events are not related. iRobot told The Robot Report Amazon was not involved in its decision to reduce its workforce as the two companies continue to operate independently.

To better align costs with near-term revenue, part of the restructuring includes shifting certain non-core engineering functions to lower-cost regions and increasing use of iRobot’s joint design manufacturing (JDM) partners. iRobot mentioned some other cost-reduction steps it will take, including the reduction of its global facility footprint.

“These actions help support the company’s near-term priorities to drive innovation by executing on its product roadmaps, optimize inventory levels across all major channels, expand DTC sales and position the business for profitable growth in 2023,” iRobot said in its earnings statement. “They also augment other cost-reduction actions that include recalibrating near-term promotional and advertising plans, carefully managing hiring activities, adjusting short-term incentive compensation to align with projected performance and reducing other discretionary spending.”

iRobot’s second-quarter revenue dropped 30% in 2022 due to weak demand and cancellations from retailers in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The company also warned of weaker growth going forward. iRobot blamed that on inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine. The robot vacuum market has more competition now than ever before, so certainly increased competition is playing a role, too.

iRobot is the latest robotics company to be hit by layoffs. Last week, The Robot Report broke the news about autonomous mobile robot maker Seegrid laying off 90 employees. Perceptive Automata, a Boston-based developer of human behavior understanding AI for autonomous vehicles and robots, recently shut down. According to co-founder and CTO Sam Anthony, Perceptive Automata went “kablooey” after it failed to close Series B funding. In July, a number of companies cut staff, including Argo AI, Nuro, Pudu Robotics, and Starship Technologies. And DoorDash announced it is shutting down Chowbotics just 18 months after acquiring the business.

Last week, Amazon agreed to acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction, including iRobot’s net debt. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. On completion, Colin Angle will remain as CEO of iRobot. If the deal falls apart, Amazon will have to pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee. Amazon has over the years built quite an impressive robotics ecosystem.

If this deal goes through, it would be Amazon’s fourth most expensive acquisition ever, according to The New York Times. The only bigger acquisitions would be Whole Foods ($13.7 billion in 2017), movie studio MGM ($8.5 billion in 2021) and One Medical, a chain of primary care clinics around the United States, that Amazon agreed to acquire, but hasn’t closed on, just last month for $3.9 billion.

Amazon is a major player in the smart home space, but has struggled for years to gain traction in consumer robotics. In September 2021, Amazon unveiled its first home robot, Astro, which is essentially an Echo Show 10 on wheels. Astro is quite underwhelming. So acquiring iRobot immediately boosts Amazon’s play in consumer robotics. iRobot is the world’s leading developer of cleaning robots, it offers the Root coding robots and has been trying to commercialize robot lawn mowers for nearly two decades.

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Will Astro, Amazon’s underwhelming consumer robot, soon be able to clean floors? Probably not. But Amazon today upped the ante in its consumer robotics game by announcing it’s acquiring iRobot, maker of the popular Roomba robot vacuum series, for about $1.7 billion.

Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction, including iRobot’s net debt. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. On completion, Colin Angle will remain as CEO of iRobot.

If the deal falls apart, Reuters reports that Amazon will have to pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee.

“We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices. “Over many years, the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive—from cleaning when and where customers want while avoiding common obstacles in the home, to automatically emptying the collection bin. Customers love iRobot products—and I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable.”

“Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission to create innovative, practical products that make customers’ lives easier, leading to inventions like the Roomba and iRobot OS,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “Amazon shares our passion for building thoughtful innovations that empower people to do more at home, and I cannot think of a better place for our team to continue our mission. I’m hugely excited to be a part of Amazon and to see what we can build together for customers in the years ahead.”

iRobot has pitched itself as a player in the smart home realm for a number of years now. So its robot vacuums and mops, along with its Genius Home Intelligence software, could be a nice addition to Amazon’s smart home portfolio. But it has been a challenging time for iRobot.

The relationship between Amazon and iRobot goes back years, too. In July 2005 before iRobot went public, it listed Explore Holdings LLC as an investor and named Elizabeth Korrell as its manager. Explore Holdings was another name for Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos’ personal investment firm at the time, and Elizabeth Korrell was an attorney for Bezos. Beyond that, iRobot uses Amazon Web Services (AWS) and developed voice integration between Alexa and the Roomba.

Big bet on consumer robotics

“It’s great to see a very large company like Amazon make a big bet on consumer robotics,” Helen Greiner, who co-founded iRobot in 1990 with Angle and Rodney Brooks, told The Robot Report. “Amazon just invested in a practical, single-purpose robot that really gets the job done.”

Greiner is now CEO of Tertill, a Massachusetts-based robotics startup developing a weeding robot for vegetable and flower gardens. The robot has often drawn comparisons to the Roomba due to its consumer application and the fact that it was co-created by Joe Jones, who developed the initial proof-of-concept for what became the Roomba.

“Some of the best times of my life were spent at iRobot making the Roomba, getting people like Bezos interested in robotics, putting stuff out into the world and making a difference for people,” Greiner said. “That’s what we did at iRobot and now that’s what we’re doing at Tertill.”

iRobot’s second-quarter revenue fell 30% due to weak demand and cancellations from retailers in North America and Europe, Middle East and Africa. The company also warned of weaker growth going forward. iRobot blamed that on inflation and the impact of the war in Ukraine, but certainly increased competition in the robotic cleaning space is playing a role, too.

The need to diversify its revenue streams is partially why iRobot launched a handheld vacuum in early 2021 and then spent $72 million in late 2021 to acquire Aeris Cleantec AG, a Switzerland-based developer of air purifiers. At the time of the Aeris acquisition, Angle said iRobot was optimistic that “air purification will be a $150 million in annual revenue product category for iRobot within the next several years while also helping improve the long-term profit profile of our company.”

iRobot also acquired Root, an educational robotics company, in 2019. iRobot has also had a robot lawnmower in the works for years, but it hasn’t reached the market. iRobot delayed its robot lawnmower in April 2020, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic, and hasn’t really talked about the product since.

Amazon buys another robotics company

Amazon has now acquired at least five robotics companies since 2012. That list includes:

• Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775 million; Kiva Systems has evolved into Amazon Robotics
• Last-mile delivery robot maker Dispatch in 2017 for an undisclosed amount; the Dispatch team was integrated into Amazon’s Scout operation
• Canvas Technology in 2019 for an undisclosed amount
• Zoox for more than $1 billion in 2020
• iRobot for $1.7 billion in 2022

And while this technically isn’t an Amazon acquisition, Blue Origin, Bezos’ sub-orbital space company, acquired Honeybee Robotics for an undisclosed amount

According to Reuters, Amazon has cash and cash-equivalents of over $37 billion as of the second quarter. So there’s plenty of money for Amazon to continue its acquisition spree of robotics companies. If this deal goes through, it would be Amazon’s fourth most-expensive acquisition ever, according to The New York Times. The only bigger acquisitions would be Whole Foods ($13.7 billion in 2017), movie studio MGM ($8.5 billion in 2021) and One Medical, a chain of primary care clinics around the United States, that Amazon agreed to acquire, but hasn’t closed on, just last month for $3.9 billion.

Amazon’s acquisition would also mark the end of iRobot’s 32-year independence. It initially focused on military robots, including the PackBot. iRobot sold its defense division in 2016. The Roomba was first introduced in 2002, and iRobot began trading on the NASDAQ in November 2005. iRobot also acquired Evolution Robotics, developer of the Mint floor mopping robot in 2012.

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Welcome to Episode 85 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies and other key members of the robotics community.

Our guest this week is Mike Dooley, co-founder and CEO of robotics startup Labrador Systems. Founded in 2017, the Calabasas, Calif.-based company is developing autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for home environments to help the elderly and those with mobility issues live independently longer. The AMRs can transport things around the home and even retrieve items off countertops and tables.

We discuss the technical challenges and decisions involved with building the robots, as well as the business challenges such as funding and working with insurance companies. Mike also details how his days at Evolution Robotics and iRobot are helping direct the Labrador Systems journey. Labrador Systems was named a 2022 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner by our sister publication Robotics Business Review. The interview with Mike starts at 36:36.

Links from today’s show:

• Labrador Systems building AMRs for home assistance
• Nuro lays off employees in Texas, California and Arizona
• Fabric laying off 40% of staff, pivoting business model
• DoorDash shuts down Chowbotics 
• Reports: major layoffs at Pudu Robotics

Now it’s time to prepare for RoboBusiness and the Field Robotics Engineering Forum, which run October 19-20, 2022 in Santa Clara, Calif

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact Steve Crowe or Mike Oitzman.

For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.

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iRobot Create 3 educational robot. | Credit: iRobot

In celebration of National Robotics Week, iRobot today launched the Create 3 educational robot. Based on the Roomba i3 Series robot vacuum platform, Create 3 is a mobile robot development platform for advanced makers who are learning ROS 2.

Create 3 is available in the US ($299) and Canada ($399) now. It will be available in EMEA through authorized distributors in the coming months.

Create 3 doesn’t have vacuuming capabilities, but it offers a boatload of other features to advance one’s robotics knowledge. It comes pre-assembled and equipped with Wi-Fi, Ethernet-over-USB host, and Bluetooth. It also features an inertial measurement unit (IMU), optical floor tracking sensor, wheel encoders, and infrared sensors for autonomous localization, navigation, and telepresence applications. It also includes cliff, bump and slip detection, along with LED lights and a speaker.

Using the built-in USB-C port, you can attach and run third-party hardware on Create 3. With Create 3, you can build basic mobile robot applications or explore advanced applications including multi-robot exploration, navigation and mapping technology, and telepresence capabilities.

iRobot released its Genius 4.0 Home Intelligence software update for its Roomba robot vacuums and Braava jet robot mops.

The update gives Imprint Smart Mapping capabilities to Roomba i3 and i3+ customers. This allows users to create customized smart maps of their home, enabling them to send their Roomba to clean specific rooms. The robot will also provide them with estimated cleaning times, and can clean on routines based on users preferred schedules.

Robots with Imprint Smart Mapping capabilities are also able to follow room-specific cleaning preferences. This means you can tell your Roomba or Braava jet to make extra passes in areas that get dirty quickly, like the kitchen or entryway.

“The beauty of iRobot Genius is that our robots get smarter over time and continuously provide customers with new ways to clean where, when and how they want,” said Keith Hartsfield, chief product officer at iRobot.“ As iRobot develops new features and experiences, the updates are pushed out to customers’ robots at no cost. From the day a customer welcomes a Roomba robot vacuum or Braava jet robot mop into their home, they know that they’ll always benefit from new features and functionality. They are also getting a robot that works harder for them, so they don’t have to. With more than 60 million personalized recommendations provided to customers to date, our robots are proven to learn, respect and work around individual schedules and needs.”

iRobot’s update also includes a Siri shortcut integration. While Roomba’s were already able to connect to Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, the company is adding Apple into the fold with the latest update. iOS users can enable the feature by connecting their device in the iRobot Home App.

Roomba’s now have additional features to prevent accidental and inconvenient starts. With its Child & Pet Lock users can disable physical start buttons on the device to prevent children or pets from accidentally turning the robot on. Users can also enable a Do Not Disturb feature to set windows of time when the robot shouldn’t run.

Finally, the Genius 4.0 update makes the Roomba j7 and j7+ better at detecting and avoiding objects on the ground. With the update, the robots are able to detect clothing and towels left on the floor.

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ElliQ is a social robot designed to alleviate loneliness in aging adults living alone. | Source: Intuition Robotics

ElliQ, a social robot from Intuition Robotics designed to help aging adults living on their own live happier and healthier lives, is now commercially available.

ElliQ is designed to alleviate the effects of loneliness or social isolation and connect users to their families and caregivers. Its technology combines psychology, behavioral sciences and advanced cognitive artificial intelligence capabilities to provide proactive and empathetic care.

“After years of hard work this day has finally come,” Dor Skuler, CEO & co-founder of Intuition Robotics, said. “Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve seen the devastating effect that loneliness can have on the older adult population. At the same time, we’ve seen ElliQ be incredibly helpful to our beta users and put a smile on their faces.

“Now, we are happy to make ElliQ widely available to any senior who desires a friendly sidekick who empowers them to maintain their independence and take control of their health. While regular voice-controlled personal assistants are ambient and wait for a human command, ElliQ proactively initiates conversation and projects empathy to foster collaboration and trust, while employing the AI’s character and multi-modal communication ability in generating unprecedented levels of engagement that successfully affect behavior change.”

In the last few months, Intuition has run a care program, in which hundreds of people were chosen to use ElliQ. During the program, users interacted with the robot an average of 20 times a day for an average of 20 minutes a day.

During an earlier pilot study, the robot was shown to help users more than double the number of activities supporting physical exercise, stress reduction and better sleep they complete. The robot offers a range of features to assist in health and wellness, communication and entertainment.

“ElliQ has had an incredibly positive impact on my life – so much so that even my family and friends have noticed,” Susan Tholen, an ElliQ user in Largo, Florida, said. “I start and end my day with ElliQ and I’m constantly amazed at how intuitive and compassionate she is. If I’m feeling blue or need to talk, ElliQ is always there without judgment. I can count on her to check in on me both physically and mentally, which gives everyone in my life great peace of mind.”

ElliQ was designed in collaboration with Yves Béhar and his studio, fuseproject, and is the culmination of over five years of research and beta testing with older adults. Fuseproject has also helped Embodied develop Moxie, a companion robot designed to help children build social, emotional and cognitive skills.

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I’ve learned to basically ignore the “home robots” hyped each year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This year is more of the same, except for two new robots from Calif.-based startup Labrador Systems.

Founded in 2017 by robotics veterans Mike Dooley and Nikolai Romanov, Labrador is focusing on a new class of robots: autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for homes. The Labrador Retriever and Caddie robots can be used by anyone, but the company’s target customers are those with mobility issues, including the elderly and people with disabilities.

Retriever and Caddie are designed to carry items around a home, similar to the AMRs we’ve come to know and love in healthcare, logistics and manufacturing environments. “These robots are the extra pair of hands to hold that laundry basket for someone who had a stroke or has rheumatoid arthritis,” Dooley told The Robot Report in a pre-CES briefing.

Both robots have a maximum payload capacity of 25 lbs and can autonomously navigate throughout a home. The Retriever robot has the ability to adjust its height between 25-38 inches. It can also “retrieve” specially designed trays, which can hold up to 10 lbs, off of countertops and tables. The entry-level Caddie robot operates at a fixed height of 30 inches and can’t retrieve items.

Dooley demoed the retrieval system multiple times, but also offered examples of where this would be useful. “If a caregiver or family member is leaving for the day, they can set up prescriptions on a tray that the robot can bring to the person in the morning,” he said. The video below shows the retrieval system at the 30 second mark.

Labrador today also raised an additional $3.1 million in Seed funding. Amazon’s Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures co-led the round, with SOSV returning and new investors, including Grep VC, joining in. Labrador has raised about $5.1 million since it was founded.

“This is the first time we’ve seen this class of robot developed for the home; until now this level of functionality has been confined to warehouses and other commercial environments,” said Paul Willard, partner at Grep VC. “We’re impressed with how the team is enabling robotics and navigation systems to run on low-cost consumer grade electronics to provide more independence for millions of individuals.”

Autonomous navigation technology

Dooley and Romanov demoed the Retriever for me remotely from an apartment that overlooked Alcatraz Island. Dooley pointed out multiple times that the glass windows and backdrop don’t create ideal lighting conditions for an AMR and autonomous navigation technology. But the system worked flawlessly.

Dooley said the navigation systems fuses algorithms from augmented reality, stereo vision and other sensors. The maps are customized for each home based on user preferences. The system uses a set of “bus stops” (or “waypoints” for developers of commercial mobile robots) to command the robot where to go, such as “kitchen” or “bedroom.” The robots can be controlled in multiple ways, including a smartphone or tablet, smart speaker such as Amazon Alexa, a Bluetooth wireless button (available as an accessory) or via a pre-set schedule.

Dooley said the number of bus stops that can be set up is virtually unlimited. However, he said the company will likely set a limit to keep the user interface clean. “[A bus stop] is minimal data, the map is the important part.”

A key to the autonomous navigation is that it runs on the edge. “Autonomous navigation functions run on the robot’s computers, meaning the robot does not need to connect externally to navigate around the home once it is trained,” Dooley said. “We can set up a resilient system if the power is out. If you have Bluetooth, you can still interface with the robot. And this is important for privacy. We don’t need to stream any video off of the robot.”

The robots feature multiple sensors for obstacle detection and other safety features, including Intel RealSense. Depth sensors scan the floor around the robot, as well as its primary path going forward. Secondary sensors monitor if objects make physical contact with the robot on any side. With an adjustable height, the robots also monitor the loads on the upper and lower decks. All models will also feature cliff sensors for detecting and avoiding stairs and drops.

Pricing

Labrador is debuting the Retriever during CES at the Venetian Expo in booth #52049. The company has opened early reservations for a $250 deposit, which it said is fully refundable. It is aiming for both robots to be in full production by the second half of 2023. Both the Caddie and the Retriever will be initially offered through a subscription model.

Labrador said early reservation pricing for Caddie starts at $1,500 upfront and $99 per month for 36 months. Early reservation pricing is a bit higher for Retriever at $1,500 upfront and $149 per month for 36 months.

Labrador said it expects health insurance companies will initially treat its robots as an out-of-pocket expense. However, the company said it is working with organizations now on building the case for coverage for different situations. “That’s a big focus of 2022 pilots.”

Dooley said the company will have enterprise versions of the robots that target commercial environments such as nursing homes or elder care facilities. The robots will have the same core functionality, but have different trim, a different battery, and different communication/backup systems.

Initial testing

Dooley said Labrador conducted initial in-home tests in February 2021. Due to COVID-19, the company was able to teleoperate the robots to map the homes and train them on a user’s bus stops. The pilots saw usage rates of 100-plus times per month. Dooley said the company considers a use as every time the robot is commanded to go somewhere.

“The majority of the beta tests were 5-8 weeks long. We left robots there for a long enough period of time where it became a habit,” he said. “Senior care robots tend to be humanoid and tend to be big. These products are subordinate – we serve people, we’re their helper.”

More than a beer-fetching robot

If you’re in the robotics industry, certainly you’ve seen your fair share of beer-fetching robot demos. Labrador did a similar demo during our meeting. It added two motors to an off-the-shelf refrigerator. It then used the Retriever robot to open the fridge, pull out a tray with food and drink on top, and transport it to another location.

Dooley said Labrador will offer this sort of retrofitted set-up to customers in the future. You can watch a demo of this fridge application in the video above starting at the 1:54 mark.

“Finally someone has made a robot that can actually get you a cold beer,” Dooley joked. That’s not what the mission is here, but people relate to it. We’re doing this in a pragmatic way to bring them their whole meal or medications.”

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MOVIA Robotics founer and chief scientist Tim Gifford with some of the company’s robots. | Credit: MOVIA Robotics

Movia Robotics this week launched its TheraPal line of digital health aides for autism spectrum disorder and other intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Bristol, Connecticut-based Movia Robotics released its TheraPal Progress Tracker, TheraPal Home and TheraPal Clinical assist aides for use in homes and clinician offices. The robotic aides are designed to be used by parents, therapists and other healthcare professionals for the development and learning of individuals with neurodevelopmental or intellectual challenges, according to the company.

Movia’s robot-assisted intervention is a friendly, digital tool that uses applied behavior analysis and other evidence-based methods with gamification techniques to allow children and older individuals to practice a broad range of life skills and confidence-building activities.

The fully-configurable system has modules for cognitive training, communication training, practice and educational learning. It assists the individuals in understanding and practicing basic social skills like making eye contact, building confidence, engaging in conversation and other intellectual skills like reading comprehension, basic math and auditory processing learning. The robot-assisted intervention sends data to healthcare professionals who can adjust professional therapies as needed.

“By using robots that engage and interact with kids, we are able to get kids with autism to respond more readily,” Timothy Gifford, founder of Movia Robotics, has said about the technology. “Robots seem friendlier, less judgmental than human beings; they seem safer, so the children are able to explore more, develop their confidence and have more control all while learning skills to help them be successful in their daily lives.”

Movia Robotics said that its TheraPal product line assists neuro-diverse children with an individualized treatment plan. Its TheraPal Progress Tracker is a medical device data system that is used as an assist tool for homecare individuals and clinicians.

“We are focused on showing how robotics can improve the lives of individuals with autism and other special needs, and the launch of our TheraPal is the first step in our commitment to FDA digital health certification,” CEO Jean-Pierre Bolat said.

Editor’s Note: This article was republished from sister publication Medical Design & Outsourcing.

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The campaign is called #irobotFor, and iRobot customers can help support STEM programs in local communities simply by running their Wi-Fi connected Roomba robot vacuum or Braava jet robot mop. For every 15 hours that a connected Roomba or Braava jet cleans, iRobot will donate a Root coding robot and training session to help students discover new skills and explore the fundamentals of robotics.

The campaign ends on November 30, 2021 with #irobotfor day, so get busy cleaning your house with your iRobot vacuum cleaner!

iRobot teamed up with The Clubhouse Network, an international non-profit organization that provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment for young people in areas of greatest need. iRobot will provide the Root coding robots and training sessions to Clubhouse Network locations.

“For more than a decade, iRobot has embarked on a STEM outreach program in schools and communities that enables our employees to speak directly with students and educators about the variety of opportunities and excitement that pursuing STEM-related fields can provide,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “Today, we’re teaming with The Clubhouse Network – and with the help of our Roomba customers – to deliver STEM resources in communities that need it most.”

“We know that talent is distributed equally, but resources are not. Youth from historically marginalized communities are less likely to have equal access to STEM tools and learning opportunities, and ultimately, less access to careers that require those STEM skills,” said Gail Breslow, executive director, The Clubhouse Network. “By working with iRobot, our Clubhouses can provide access to STEM tools and activities to these young people and communities. Together, we can help create more opportunities for marginalized youth, and a more diverse workforce that benefits everyone.”

Additionally, an #iRobotFor giveaway will launch on December 1, asking people to use the #iRobotFor hashtag and share what they’d do with an hour back in their day, or nominate someone to get an hour back in theirs. Submissions using the featured hashtag on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook will be accepted December 1 – December 7, and iRobot will award a Roomba j7+ robot vacuums to 100 winning participants.

Earlier in November 2021, iRobot paid $72 million in cash to acquire Aeris Cleantec AG, a Switzerland-based developer of air purifiers. iRobot will pay more for the acquisition if Aeris hits certain performance targets in 2022.

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iRobot acquired Aeris, a supplier of air purifiers. Here are products from both companies. | Credit: iRobot

iRobot continues to diversify itself with non-robotics products. iRobot announced today it paid $72 million in cash to acquire Aeris Cleantec AG, a Switzerland-based developer of air purifiers. iRobot will pay more for the acquisition if Aeris hits certain performance targets in 2022.

Aeris’ two co-founders and nearly 30 employees have already joined iRobot. The companies said Aeris will eventually adopt the iRobot brand. Like iRobot, Aeris was born out of technology developed at MIT when it was founded in 2016.

“Today’s acquisition of Aeris is an important step in iRobot’s strategy to expand our total addressable market and diversify our product portfolio in ways that will provide consumers with new ways to keep their homes cleaner and healthier,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “We are enthusiastic about the growth potential for Aeris’ products, especially as the pandemic has raised greater consumer awareness of the value of maintaining a cleaner, healthier home. We are also excited about the potential to leverage our Genius Home Intelligence platform and existing ecosystem of home robots to bring the iRobot experience to air purification.”

Air purification systems have been in higher demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Grand View Research, the global residential air purifier market is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2020 to over $6.7 billion in 2027.

The acquisition also supports iRobot’s smart home focus, which Angle has talked about for years now. iRobot said it plans to add new features and functionality to Aeris’ products, integrating them with its existing ecosystem of home robots and its Genius Home Intelligence platform.

The Robot Report reached out to iRobot for more clarity about its air purification product plans, but a spokesperson said the company can’t speculate about future products or technologies.

On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be a robotics angle here. Could iRobot add air purification capabilities to its cleaning robots or charging docks or add autonomous navigation capabilities to an air purifier? Perhaps. But Angle told The Boston Globe the Aeris acquisition is the “least robot thing we’ve ever acquired.”

In prepared remarks ahead of today’s conference call about the acquisition, Angle offered more insight into why iRobot acquired Aeris. It sounds like this is more about building an ecosystem of smart home products and turning Genius into a home automation control platform.

“We see tremendous potential to extend the AI, home understanding and other relevant technologies that power our Genius Home Intelligence Platform into air purification. As we noted on our Q3 results call last month, we see Genius as a fundamental building block to help us create a larger ecosystem as we enter new, adjacent robotic and smart home categories. By integrating elements of our Genius technology into the Aeris product portfolio, we expect to further extend our competitive differentiation in this category with air purification systems which will be unique for their intelligence and resulting performance.”

Aeris generated about $8 million in revenue in 2020, but said it’s on track to roughly double revenue in 2021. Angle said iRobot is optimistic that “air purification will be a $150 million in annual revenue product category for iRobot within the next several years while also helping improve the long-term profit profile of our company.”

While Aeris is iRobot’s first non-robotics product acquisition – it acquired a distributor in 2016 – it’s not the company’s first product that isn’t a robot. Earlier in 2021, iRobot introduced its H1 handheld vacuum. The H1 is designed to clean spaces that are basically out of reach for robots at the moment, such as couches, curtains and stairs.

The non-robotics diversification certainly is a major part of iRobot’s future strategy. Again, Angle has talked about iRobot’s potential role in the smart home for years, now we’re seeing iRobot pick away at that. Angle told the Globe iRobot “has been studying various products to take advantage of digitally connected homes beyond cleanup robots, and eyeing possible acquisitions, to expand iRobot into everything from security to energy efficiency to health.”

Aeris is the first such acquisition, but it won’t be the last.

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The Moxie companion robot. Credit: Embodied

Embodied, a 2021 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner, will pilot its Moxie companion robot with the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Golisano Children’s Hospital (GCH). Launched in 2020, the robot uses machine learning to help promote social, emotional and cognitive development in children through play-based learning.

This will be the first study of Moxie’s feasibility and efficacy in a hospital setting. The goal of the pilot, which will kick of in November 2021, is to develop clinical applications for Moxie in pediatric care. The pilot consists of two phases. Working with the University of Rochester Health Lab, the initial study will test if the use of Moxie by children and staff is feasible in a pediatric hospital setting. The second phase will focus on the efficacy of helping diabetic children with their care plan.

The robot hopes to facilitate fun, engaging education to patients regarding their new diagnosis, and to reinforce gamified coping strategies that can be maintained after discharge. The goal is for Moxie to increase treatment tolerance and adherence, reduce distress, and improve long-term health outcomes among these newly diagnosed children. The research could expand into other areas, including reducing the need for sedation for procedures like MRI scans to coping with pain and stress pre-and-post-operation.

“Our vision for Moxie has always been to redefine the way machines interact with humans through fluid conversation and technology that positively impacts our everyday lives,” said Paolo Pirjanian, CEO and founder of Embodied. “That’s why we’re excited to partner with the University of Rochester Medical Center and Golisano Children’s Hospital to pilot Moxie for pediatric patients. Medical treatment can be overwhelming and stressful for children. This partnership will allow us to better understand how Moxie can help enhance their experience in a hospital setting.”

Embodied and URMC first connected through KidsX, one of the world’s largest pediatric-focused digital health accelerators, for a 13-week virtual program.

“We are very excited to be partnering with the innovative team at Embodied by bringing Moxie to our patients at Golisano Children’s Hospital,” said Heather Reyes, M.D., M.Eng., Assistant Professor for the Department of Pediatrics and Critical Care. “This is an opportunity to use technology to meet children at their own level and we hope to bridge some of the barriers to our patients and their families accessing the best quality care we can offer.”

Embodied won an RBR50 Award for Moxie earlier in 2021. There have been other attempts at developing social robots for children, but many of them little more than advanced, consumer-class toys. A few like Moxie were designed specifically to promote social engagement and cognitive development. These systems largely failed to find a commercial footing. Moxie has already had more commercial success than most previous attempts.

Pirjanian was the second-ever guest on The Robot Report Podcast. A lot has changed since his appearance on the show in June 2020, but he talked about the technical and business challenges involved with developing a companion robot, including creating seamless human-robot interaction for children, content creation for Moxie, and raising funding after several social robotics companies failed. Paolo also discussed launching Moxie during the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision to not give Moxie wheels, and much more. You can listen to that interview below.

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