Joseph L. Jones

Robots at the tipping point: the road to iRobot Roomba

Consumer robotics has achieved its first significant commercial success with the arrival of the iRobot Roomba Robotic Floorvac. Roomba has succeeded in the marketplace where other robots failed or feared to tread. Like many good products, Roomba has been rewarded for putting customers interests first. Roomba accomplishes a task customers care about and does so at a price competitive with other methods. No breakthrough technologies were required, just familiar components used in new ways. A simple set of principles helped designers provide value to our customers by keeping the focus on the application, robot cost and functionality, and system complexity.