02 Jun iRobot & IoT – Taking the Roomba to the Next Level
Episode 81
There’s no denying it, robots are cool, even more cool when you call them cyber-physical systems, which is what they are, but they’re also IoT systems. And applying the thinking of IoT to robots makes them even cooler and more valuable because instead of being discrete systems, they can be integrated as a component of an IoT environment, working together with other components, to deliver outcomes. In this episode of the IoT Business Show I speak with Chris Jones of iRobot about the Roomba and its place in the IoT world.
In this episode of the IoT Business Show, I speak with Chris Jones of iRobot about the Roomba and its place in the IoT world.
Chris is Vice President of Technology at iRobot Corporation and has almost 20 years of experience in robotics research and development across academia, government, and industry. At iRobot he’s responsible for long-term technology planning and strategy.
My concept of the software-defined product (SDP) – the technical star of my book, IoT Inc, was inspired by the software-defined network and cyber-physical systems. In both cases, and in the case of the SDP, the core insight is the clear separation of the physical self from the cyber, or software self. It is this virtualization of the physical that’s behind the true value of IoT. In this form, the physical (in this case the Roomba 900 series) can be interfaced with other IoT products to deliver outcomes. This, in my view, represents the next step in value creation beyond where we are today in robotics.
Here’s What We’ll Cover in this Episode
- The history of iRobot and the massive install base of Roombas.
- The future of the Roomba in the smart home.
- The types of data the Roomba 900 series collects – including dirt detect maps.
- The technical break down of the Roomba – it’s a mobile IoT product!
- The future uses of AI (and it’s not for Dolores-like emotional intelligence (mistake?))
Mentioned in this Episode and Other Useful Links
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