Tag: IROBOT

Share Your fancy iPod case, your Palm Pre, even your fantastic GPS-enabled directional unit: it all originated here. This is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where every tech company worth its salt comes to show off its wares, and where tech writers, for the most part, question the validity of their jobs. In the past, we at Switched have been pretty right on: we still think 3-D TV is a ...

iRobot just unveiled an updated model of its autonomous, floor-washing robot, Scooba, which, at just 6.5-inches across, is half the width of its predecessor. The 3.5-inch-tall Scooba 230 will launch this spring and cost $299. The pint-sized bot comes with all the bells and whistles of most other smart mops -- sensors that make sure it doesn't roll down stairs and bumpers that protect your walls. ...

Most robot hands operate with claw-like pneumatic "fingers" that mimic human hands. But a new type of gripper -- developed by researchers from the University of Chicago, Cornell and the iRobot Corp (with funding from DARPA) -- eschews the traditional "hand" design for an amorphous gripper made out of a balloon, some coffee grounds and a vacuum. The grounds-filled gripper starts out soft and ...

What it is: The robot cleaning revolution apparently has arrived. Years after the first Roombas were introduced into homes around the world, Neato stepped up to the plate with its impressive XV-11. Now, just a few months later, Evolution Robotics has launched its own proprietary floor-cleaning robot, the Mint, and it has some solid sweeping skills of its own. Why it's different: In some ways, ...

Forget 'The Social Network,' 'The Expendables,' 'Piranha 3-D' and 'Charlie St. Cloud'; the big-budget, dance-crazy, sci-fi flick 'Endhiran' will quite obviously be the best film of the year. Starring the inimitable Rajnikanth (who also happens to be India's highest paid film actor) and the former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, 'Endhiran' follows a scientist who has created a robot for his son. The ...

It's 2008 and we've finally achieved the ultimate goal of modern robotics. No, not singularity... better: a cross-promotional marketing deal between the world's leading robots. Meet the Wall-E edition of iRobot's Roomba 530. The special edition Roomba is just like the original 530 only with the addition of that magnificent sticker for a extra ¥5,000 (about $50) premium. 400 units of the ...

Not that it's any surprise, but according to a patent filing (which we were unable to ourselves unearth from the abyss that is the USPTO), iRobot would appear to still be working on the "Mowba," or whatever the hell the lawn-cutting robot is that they were talking up years ago. We're not sure you really need to pore over 80+ pages of sketches and drawings to get the idea though, especially since ...