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iRobot Cofounder Helen Greiner Interviewed

Posted by simoniker on from the fresh-princess dept.

ptorrone writes "Engadget has interviewed Helen Greiner, Chairman and CoFounder of iRobot. She talks about the future of home robotics, the new self-docking Roomba Robot Vacuum as well as their other line of robots, the PackBots. iRobot's PackBot unmanned reconnaissance and bomb disposal units (the interview includes a photo of a blown-up PackBot from Iraq). Plus, for the curious, the Packbot is running a Linux OS with iRobot's Aware robot control software."

4 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Probably gonna be redundant...but... by CdBee · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Did anyone else think this was about the Will Smith movie? (I, Robot)

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  2. cool new Roomba model by jeffehobbs · · Score: 3, Insightful


    iRobot is a cool company; if you need replacement parts for your Roomba, the friendly people on the phone are more than happy to mail them out post-haste to you.

    So the new Roomba models head back to their base to recharge themselves. That's really cool. But can they be put on a timed or daily schedule? That would address the top two questions I got asked about my first-gen Roomba.

    ~jeff

  3. Re:Soldier by jekewa · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Uncle Sam takes the lives of people very seriously. While they are rightly upset when you foolishly endanger expensive equipment (eg, the "discussion" about the $80M airplane with Tom Cruise in Top Gun), they really would rather have the pilot than the plane back if they can't have both. And they'd rather have the robot operator instead of the robot. Now, if the robot operator were trying to play chicken against tanks with his robot, yes, there'd be stern words.

    Poor little iRobot possibly saved the lives of more than one bomb-squad soldier, or more lives for unlucky troops walking or driving nearby.

    If a soldier was to pick up the pieces, it would be either to attempt a repair and reuse (another good reason to use them instead of people), prevent the bad guys from getting our technology, or just to be responsible with debris in a field.

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  4. 5 years 10% unemployment by kallistiblue · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I think that robots are going to really make a huge impact in the work force.

    • automated check out
    • Mop Robots
    • Commercial Roomba units
    • lawnmower bots
    That's going to eliminate a lot of jobs. Granted, their jobs that not many people want, but unemployement will be a HUGE problem.

    Robot Dealer

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