IRobot Discontinues Looj Gutter-Cleaning Robot

For the last two years or so, robot maker iRobot has been paring its product lineup to focus on its best-selling consumer devices.
IRobot quietly stopped selling its Looj gutter-cleaning robot in February, a company official told me last week. The Bedford, Mass.-based company is putting its focus on the Roomba vacuuming robots, Braava mopping robots and Mirra pool cleaning robot.
Customers can still purchase Looj through select retail partners online while supplies last. IRobot will continue to support Looj customers with online resources, including product manuals, parts, and support. And iRobot will continue to sell Looj accessories at iRobot.com for the time being.
IRobot introduced Looj in September 2007. It is a portable remote-controlled robot with a long, narrow body and tank treads designed to power through rain gutters. A spinning auger with flexible flaps at the front of the device throws leaves and other debris out of the gutter as it moves.
The Looj joins the Scooba floor-washing robot in the gone-but-not-forgotten department at iRobot. IRobot stopped selling Scooba in early 2016 to focus on its Braava line.

Photos: iRobot's Looj gutter-cleaning robot.

CES 2015 highlights and lowlights: Wearables, drones and androids

This year marked my 15th trip to the annual Consumer Electronics Show, officially called the International CES.
Every year I approach CES with a mix of excitement and dread. I enjoy seeing all the cool new gadgets and hearing from industry leaders about hot technology trends. But the show is a logistical hell and is physically taxing.
What follows are some observations from this year’s show.

Buzzword of the show: Wearable

Every year after CES, I choose a buzzword for the show. It’s usually an adjective that a lot of different companies were throwing around to describe their products. This year’s buzzword was pretty obvious going into the show. That buzzword is “wearable.”
The wearables category was big at CES 2015, including smartwatches, fitness bands, health and activity trackers, virtual reality goggles, augmented reality glasses, wearable cameras (GoPro, etc.), wearable robots (exoskeletons from ReWalk Robotics and Ekso Bionics) and even a wearable drone (the Nixie).
But a close second in terms of buzzwords was “360.” There were action cameras capable of recording 360-degree photos and videos, and surround-sound stereo speakers that project music in all directions. There also were 360-security cameras and 360-sensor arrays for smart cars.

CES buzzwords through the years:

2010: Green
2011: Smart
2012: Ultra
2013: Super
2014: Curved
2015: Wearable

Best keynote speech: Intel

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich gave the best keynote presentation at CES. He kept it lively and informative. He focused on Intel’s role of providing enabling technologies for such things as wearable devices, cyber security, 3D scanning and printing, robots, drones and wireless PCs.
It being Las Vegas, Krzanich also realized that you have to entertain your audience.
His presentation opened with a female cellist playing “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. She was joined on stage by dancers who were recorded with Real Sense 3D sensors, which created artistic images broadcast on big screens. They were joined by a beat boxer and a group of vocalists performing a cover of “Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons. (CES posted some photos to Twitter here and here.)
Intel’s keynote also featured fun product demos, including smart unmanned aerial vehicles flying in a “Game of Drones.”

Worst keynote speech: Samsung

Boo-Keun Yoon, president and CEO of Samsung’s consumer electronics division, gave a super dull keynote that featured a parade of boring guest speakers.
The presentation was too much speechifying about the Internet of Things without any showbiz pizzazz.
Making matters worse, Yoon was the opening-night keynote speaker. CES deserves a better speaker to kick off the show.
For years, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was the opening-night keynote speaker. His presentations were always must-see events. Last year, Intel’s Krzanich gave the opening speech. And in 2013, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs had the honor. Both gave worthy keynotes.

Best press conference: Toyota

Toyota Motor held the best press conference at CES. The company focused on its efforts to commercialize hydrogen fuel-cell cars. The event was enlightening, newsworthy and important, explaining why hydrogen fuel-cell cars are important to the planet.
The Toyota press event featured compelling introductory remarks by noted futurist Michio Kaku, a regular on TV science shows.

Funniest corporate failure: Panasonic

Panasonic’s communications staff needs a good proofreader.
At the company’s press conference, Julie Bauer, president of Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company, was introduced on stage with a big-screen slide that misspelled company as “comapny.” Whoops.
At Panasonic’s booth, a wayfinder map misspelled adventure as “advernture.”
I wasn’t looking for typos. Those two just jumped out at me.

Worst android at CES 2015: Toshiba

Toshiba’s creepy robot hostess Chihira Aico made her/its debut at CES 2015. She/it sang songs and spoke to the crowd at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Chihira Aico is a prototype for an android that could be a companion and personal assistant to the elderly, Toshiba said. The robot is designed to look like a 32-year-old Japanese woman. (See articles by the News Hub, International Business Times and MSN.)

Best android at CES 2015: Elektrobit

Humanoid Cylon Number Six from “Battlestar Galactica” made an appearance at CES 2015.
Actually it was actress Tricia Helfer who played the sexy Cylon on the science-fiction show.
Helfer, a motorsports enthusiast, discussed the importance of navigation and driver assistance technologies in motor vehicles, along with executives from Ford and Elektrobit Automotive.
She later hosted an autograph session on behalf of Elektrobit in the Ford exhibit.
On a related note, CES 2015 was lacking in star power, compared with previous years that were packed with celebrities.
In addition to Helfer, other notable celebs at the show included music artists Stevie Wonder, Neil Young and Tiesto and sports stars Shaquille O’Neal, Clyde Drexler and Tony Hawk. Marshall Headphones sponsored a concert featuring Tenacious D.

Incoming HP CEO has odd pronunciation

At Intel’s keynote, Dion Weisler, executive vice president of Hewlett-Packard’s Printing and Personal Systems group, came on stage to talk about his company’s new 3D printing business.
The Australian-born Weisler is the future CEO of HP Inc., the PC and printer business being spun off from enterprise-focused Hewlett-Packard this year.
Weisler pronounces the H in HP as “Hay-ch.” It’s a little odd, kind of like how Nick Cannon pronounces singer with a hard G.

Most entertaining CES booth: Nikon

Nikon let visitors take 360-degree images using 48 connected Nikon D750 cameras.
It was part of the company’s Nikon 360-degree Project. Participants could share their images on social media or via email.
Check out this doofus trying to do a flying karate kick.

Most uplifting view of the coming robot apocalypse

Paolo Pirjanian, chief technology officer at iRobot, said public discussion about a robopocalypse warms his heart.
Speaking at a panel on robotics, he gave his unique perspective on the possibility of a robot takeover.
“From a scientist’s perspective, (the idea of a robot uprising) is a very optimistic perspective … to think that robotics will advance to the point where they will take over the world,” Pirjanian said. “We are far away from that. We are at a very early stage of robotics currently. There are still decades, if not centuries, of technology development that has to go into robotics to get close to human-type intelligence.”

Other roundup stories on CES 2015:

CES 2015: The final word (CNet; Jan. 10, 2015)

12 Best and Worst Things We Saw at CES 2015 (Rolling Stone: Jan. 9, 2015)

A glimpse into the future: 5 top trends at CES (USA Today; Jan. 10, 2015)

CES 2015: Why I’m disappointed that drones, wearables and TVs dominated this year’s show (The Inquirer; Jan. 9, 2015)

Photos:
4K Ultra HD TV sets on display at the Hisense booth at CES 2015 (CEA photo)
Smartwatches on display at the LG Electronics booth at CES 2015 (CEA photo)
Ascending Technologies drones fly at the Intel keynote at CES 2015 (CEA photo)
Futurist Michio Kaku discusses a hydrogen-power future during the Toyota press conference at CES 2015 (Toyota photo)
Panasonic slide with misspelled company name (Screenshot)
Panasonic booth map at CES 2015 with misspelled word adventure (Patrick Seitz photo)
Toshiba android Chihira Aico
Actress Tricia Helfer as Cylon Number Six in “Battlestar Galactica”
Nikon 360-degree Project photo from CES 2015
Cover of “Robopocalypse” novel by Daniel H. Wilson.

Robot Hall of Fame hits another rough patch

Every two years, the Robot Hall of Fame chooses a new class of inductees. And as with recent induction years, the virtual hall of fame is having trouble getting its act together.
I recently corresponded via email with Shirley Saldamarco, a faculty member with the Carnegie Mellon University Entertainment Technology Center, who is involved with the Robot Hall of Fame.
“To paraphrase our past president, here we go again,” she said on Aug. 22. “Although the RHoF is still around, we are struggling.”
This year’s class of inductees is in a “holding pattern” because of finances and a leadership change at the CMU School of Computer Science, which created and oversees the Robot Hall of Fame, she said.
“I feel cautiously optimistic that we will continue,” Saldamarco said.
It’s a shame that the Robot Hall of Fame doesn’t get more corporate sponsorship. It’s a great way to honor robots from science and industry that have helped mankind and fictional robots that have inspired future engineers and scientists.

Photos: 
iRobot’s PackBot military robot, inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame in 2012 (top); 
Robby the Robot from the 1956 sci-fi movie “Forbidden Planet” and as seen at the Roboworld exhibit at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, inducted in 2004. 

Resources: 

Robot Hall of Fame page on Wikipedia.

Robot Hall of Fame page at Carnegie Mellon University.

Robot Hall of Fame welcomes two iRobot machines and WALL-E

The Robot Hall of Fame this week enshrined two machines built by iRobot – its Roomba vacuum cleaner and PackBot military workhorse. It also added fictional trash-collecting robot WALL-E from the Disney-Pixar movie of the same name.
The Pittsburgh-based hall, which honors real robots from science and industry and fictional robots that serve as inspiration, held a ceremony Tuesday to induct two sets of robots.
The 2012 class of inductees includes Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO humanoid, iRobot’s PackBot bomb disposal robot, Boston Dynamics’ four-legged BigDog and WALL-E. I accurately predicted three of the four selections this year.
The ceremony, held at Carnegie Science Center, also honored the 2010 class, which was never formally enshrined. That class includes NASA Mars exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity; iRobot’s Roomba; the da Vinci Surgical System; the characters Huey, Dewey and Louie from the 1971 film “Silent Running”; and T-800, the character played by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator” film series.

Photos: iRobot’s PackBot at work (top) and Robot Hall of Fame poster. 

Robot Hall of Fame 2012 endorsements

If the news media can endorse political candidates, I figure I should be able to endorse my picks for induction into the Robot Hall of Fame.
This year, the public is able to vote from a list of nominees in four categories.
Here are my selections for the 2012 inductees to the robot shrine.
In the industrial and service category, I picked iRobot’s PackBot military robot. The other nominees are cool, but the PackBot has saved the lives of countless U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The PackBot has been a workhorse, disposing of road-side bombs and conducting reconnaissance missions. It has paved the way for future, more capable robots to be used by soldiers and police forces.
In the education and consumer category, I chose VEX Robotics Design System, a kit for designing and building robots for schools and competitions, including the FIRST Tech Challenge. It’s had a big impact on the lives of many future engineers.
In the research category, I selected BigDog, a four-legged robot the size of a small mule developed by Boston Dynamics for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Anybody who’s seen the YouTube videos of this robot in action is sure to be amazed.
And finally in the entertainment category, I picked WALL-E from the 2008 Disney Pixar movie about a lovable waste-collecting robot who finds love. WALL-E is going to have some stiff competition from Rosie the robot maid from the “The Jetsons” however.

Photo: iRobot’s PackBot in action.

Glad the Robot Hall of Fame is back in business

I love robots and halls of fame. So I was pleased to find out earlier this month that the Robot Hall of Fame has resumed operations after a two-year hiatus.
Created by Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame honors real-world robots from science and industry and fictional robots from pop culture. The hall has a physical presence at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.
The hall will induct two sets of robots at a ceremony in October.
The first group was selected in 2009, but was never inducted. That group includes NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, iRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, and Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci Surgical System. It also includes the T-800 Terminator from the sci-fi movie “The Terminator” (1984) and the charming maintenance robots Huey, Dewey and Louie from the sci-fi film “Silent Running” (1971).
The second set of robots to be inducted will be chosen in an online vote later this summer from nominees selected by an expert panel of jurors. They will be announced at the Oct. 23 ceremony at the Carnegie Science Center.
While I’m a fan of all robots, I’m particularly interested in space exploration robots and robots from movies and TV shows.
When I was a kid I closely followed the Mars Viking lander missions and loved the character “Robot” on the TV show “Lost in Space.” Neither of those robots has been selected yet. But now that the Robot Hall of Fame is back in business, it’s possible.

Related story:
Roomba, Terminator Finally To Enter Robot Shrine (Investors.com; July 13, 2012)

Photo: Robot B-9 from “Lost in Space” (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Terminator timeline reset; Autonomous military robots on the way

Pop culture enthusiasts had a lot of fun this spring by noting that Judgment Day from the “Terminator” movie and TV series was to occur on April 21, 2011.
That date came and went without incident.
But it looks like progress on making real-life Terminator robots – and perhaps our robot apocalypse – is running just a few years behind.
At the Robotics Summit Virtual Conference & Expo on Wednesday, Tim Trainer, vice president of operations for iRobot’s government and industrial division, spoke about advancements in military robotics.
Right now, iRobot makes mobile robots for reconnaissance and bomb disposal. These robots are used by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq to keep soldiers safe. But these robots can’t think on their own.
The current operations model requires one operator to one robot, Trainer said.
“The future of robotic systems and innovations rests with autonomy,” he said. “Our goal is to drive it to robotic squad members.”
Companies like iRobot are working to give military robots the capability to execute a desired task or mission without continuous operator guidance, Trainer said.
“Ultimately where are we going? Robotic organizations, where we give a whole mission task to perhaps a robotic organization and it carries those tasks out either in conjunction with or independent of human operators,” Trainer said.
Going from today’s 100% operator control to “mission autonomy” of 1% operator control could happen in 10 years, assuming government investment, he said. Under the scenario of mission autonomy, one person could control an army of 50 or more robots.
Tomorrow’s autonomous robotic systems will be capable of performing as teammates and independently perform mission-level activities, he said. In his presentation, Trainer even showed an artist’s representation of Terminator-like robots working with military personnel. (See above photo.)
Trainer predicted that partial task autonomy for military robots (25% operator control) could occur in two years, with one person controlling one to three robots. Task autonomy (10% operator control) could occur in five years, with one person controlling five or more robots. And mission autonomy (1% operator control) could occur 10 years from now. (See iRobot chart below for detailed timeline.)

Roomba maker iRobot opens two pop-up stores

Pop-up stores will be a common sight this holiday season.
With retail vacancies the highest in at least a decade, store chains and manufacturers are signing short-term leases to open temporary stores for the Christmas shopping season. See story at Investors.com.

Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot just opened two pop-up stores to sell its Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, Scooba floor-washing robots and Looj gutter-cleaning robots. The holiday stores are located in malls in Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Photo of iRobot pop-up store in Atlanta.

Mother’s Day gift ideas: mop and exercise equipment

For generations, men have been told that the worst gifts they can give women are products for cleaning the home or for working out.
Cleaning products, like vacuum cleaners, are a message to women that they should tidy the home, reinforcing a sexual stereotype. Exercise gear is a message to women that they need to lose weight or get into shape, implying that they aren’t attractive.
For this Mother’s Day, iRobot is promoting its floor-washing robot Scooba, which is basically an intelligent mop. And GameStop is marketing Nintendo’s Wii Fit, a fitness video game, as “fun for Mom.”
Sure, Scooba is a great time-saver for mopping the kitchen floor, but it still requires some work. (Filling the robot with cleaning solution and emptying the dirty water when it’s finished.) IRobot also sells Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners.
And Wii Fit may be a fun video game, but it is still a fitness product.
I wonder how well those marketing campaigns have worked.

Pictures above:
Advertisement for iRobot’s Scooba (top) and GameStop’s promotion for Nintendo’s Wii Fit.

Terminator, Roomba in Robot Hall of Fame

The Robot Hall of Fame has chosen the T-800 Terminator from the 1984 film “The Terminator” and iRobot’s Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner for its latest class of inductees.
The other members of the class of 2010 are NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity; Intuitive Surgical’s DaVinci Medical Robot System; and Huey, Dewey, and Louie from the 1971 film “Silent Running.” Check out the press release here.
Carnegie Science Center and Carnegie Mellon University announced the inductees Tuesday at a press preview of Roboworld, the Pittsburgh science center’s new robotics exhibition opening June 13. Roboworld will be the permanent home for the Robot Hall of Fame. The hall honors both real world robots and fictional robots.
The five inductees (actually eight, but who’s counting) are all fine choices. For the second year in a row, real robots outnumber the fictional ones among the selections. That’s a testament to the maturation of the robotics industry.
My only complaint is that the group won’t be formally inducted until a ceremony next year. So, the Robot Hall of Fame is skipping a year of inductees. The last three classes of inductees have been done every two years. As a robot enthusiast, that’s disappointing to me. There are enough interesting robots to be inducted annually. Hopefully with the Roboworld exhibit opening, inductions will take place on a yearly basis after next year.