Google Android@Home and Cloud Robotic Apps on Wheels

Google announced at Google IO conference 2011 that they will supply Android@Home framework for home automation to developers, giving them the ability to think of "every appliance in your home" as a potential accessory for your phone. The Google team teased ideas like lights turning on and off based on calendar events, applications talking to washing machines, games automatically adjusting for mood lighting, and basically little green dudes taking care of all the menial duties in your house. One amazing demo was a concept, Android-powered device hub called Tungsten. Using RFID embedded into CD cases the device was able to detect the CD and add it to your library. Another touch and it started automatically.
Google + iRobot = AVAndroid

Image: Reuters, iRobot AVA with Motorola Xoom

Google also said it teamed with iRobot to create a Android applications for the iRobot Ava mobile robotics platform. iRobot CEO Colin Angle showed off a prototype AVA robot which will actually be on the market and available to developers later this year. The AVA robot works by grafting an Android tablet onto a mobile style of robot body that looks a lot like a pillar with a wide wheelbase. That base then attaches to a Motorola Xoom tablet that is not only the brains of the robot, but its sensor array. AVA is able to make maps of the areas that it navigates, as well as avoiding both stationary and moving objects, with a speed of up to 2 meters per second. The developers used an Android-based tablet because it had what they needed, but according to sources close to the project, that they are open to working with other types of tablet PCs. Business oriented versions of the robots are expected to go on sale in 2012.

Google + Android + ROS = Cloud Robotics
Developers at Google and Willow Garage announced a new rosjava library that is the first pure-Java implementation of Robot Operating System (ROS). This new library was developed at Google with the goal of enabling advanced Android apps for robotics. The library, tools, and hardware that come with Android devices are well-suited for robotics. Smartphones and tablets are sophisticated computation devices with useful sensors and great user-interaction capabilities. Android devices can also be extended with additional sensor and actuators thanks to the Open Accessory and Android@Home APIs. The new rosjava is currently still under active development (alpha release mode) and there will be changes to the API moving forward. For early adopters, there are Android tutorials to help you send and receive sensor data to a robot.

ROS Kinect Hacks 

Image: Willow Garage, TurtleBot

Willow Garage develops hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications. By investing in open source and open platform models, they aim to facilitate the use of personal robotics in everyday life.
The new TurtleBot is a mobile robot base with 3D sensing designed to explore on its own, build 3D pictures, transport objects, and more. TurtleBot comes with the best low-cost hardware components to give you a capable, autonomous platform for developing robot applications. The iRobot Create, Kinect, netbook, and gyro are all integrated together to get the most out of each.
The TurtleBot Complete kit sells for $1199.99 and includes everything you need to get started.

European Workshop about the Future of Domestic Robotics

Workshop: Pioneered in Europe, commercialised elsewhere: domestic service robots in the past, present and future:
Domestic Robotics 2001-2021

New Mini Spy Robot from iRobot

Credit: iRobot, 110 FirstLook

iRobot has released a new small ground robot called iRobot 110 FirstLook, that provides hasty situational awareness, performs persistent observation and investigates confined spaces. FirstLook is ideal for a range of infantry missions and special operations, including building clearing, raids and other close-in scenarios. It is

The robot can be used for situational awareness in a wide range of mission environments, maintain a persistent presence for more than six hours, can investigate tunnels, ditches, culverts and other hard-to-access places.

The robot weighs less than 2,2 kg and is only 25 cm long, 23 cm wide and 10 cm tall. The robot is throwable and survives 4,5 meter drops onto concrete and is waterproof to 90 cm. It is maneuverable in a variety of environments. The robot climbs steps up to 20 cm high, overcomes curbs and other obstacles, turns in place and self-rights when flipped over. FirstLook operates efficiently in challenging conditions. The robot gets more than 6 hours of runtime on a typical mission and up to 10 hours performing stationary video monitoring. The robot uses IR illumination to enhance low light and no light operations. Four built-in cameras with configurable video compression provide high situational awareness, allowing observation points in front of, behind and on both sides of the robot. The robot also includes twoway audio communication. The wrist-mounted, touchscreen operator control unit (OCU) is battery-powered and includes a built-in radio. Digital mesh networking allows multiple FirstLook robots to relay messages over greater distances, increasing Line of Sight and Non-Line of Sight capabilities. The robot offers multiple public and military radio band configurations.

US Ground Robots for Hazmat Mission in Japan

Credit: iRobot, 510 PackBot for HazMat  

One week after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan causing the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima site the Japanese government has asked for robotic help from other countries. One of the first robots that will arrive are from USA donated by iRobot.
NECN Eileen Curran reports that on Thursday morning, the Japanese military contacted US company iRobot asking for help. iRobot is donating two of its 510 PackBots and two 710 Warrior Robots to Japan, along with two week support of six employees. The packbots will be equipped with a hazmat sensor and the warriors will be fitted with a special gripper that can hold a fire hose. iRobot employees won´t be going into the nuclear power plant but actually teach the Japanese military how to use the robots. Nothing was said about the radiation risk for the robots.
According to a leading rescue robot expert microprocessors and especially CCD cameras are highly sensitive to radiation- and thus will unpredictably fail.

The iRobot 510 PackBot for HazMat Technicians detects and identifies dangerous chemical, radiological and organic compounds, providing warfighters, first responders and SWAT teams with critical information on a range of missions

The iRobot 710 Warrior is a powerful and rugged robot that carries heavy payloads, travels over rough terrain and climbs stairs while performing a variety of critical missions such as Bomb Disposal / EOD (IEDs / VBIEDs / UXOs), Route Clearance and Surveillance / Reconnaissance.

From Smartphones to Smart Robots

Despite economic crisis the global market for personal computing devices that enable users to access the web and exchange voice, image and text with family and friends is growing fast, while the market for consumer robots, that free users from dirty and dull home tasks, is growing very slowly. Who´s to blame?

2.8 Billion Smartphones 2015
According to a new research report by Swedish Berg Insight, global shipments of smartphones increased 74 percent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 1,200 million units in 2015. The global user base of smartphones increased at the same time by 38 percent year-on-year to an estimated 470 million active users in 2010. In the next five years, the global user base of smartphones is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.9 percent to reach 2.8 billion in 2015.
Smartphones are receiving more attention from handset manufacturers, network operators and application developers. Most importantly, an increasing number of users are now discovering how smartphones can act as a substitute for PC, camera, music player, phone, game console, chat machine, calculator, brain booster.

12-15 Million Domestic Robots 2015
Domestic robots entered the market ten years ago but might have to go a long way before they can attract consumers and investors compared with hot smartphones. (See stock chart below)
According to the Service Robot 2010 report by International Federation of Robotics, IFR, global sales of domestic robots increased only 2 percent in 2009 to 1,6 million. IFR estimates sales to reach 11,4 million units for 2010-2013. The global user bas of domestic robots increased 2009 to 8,6 million units, of that 5,5 million robots for domestic tasks and 3 million entertainment robots. iRobot, the global leader in domestic robotics, has sold about 6 million domestic robots since 2002. So far only 1% of the 500 million households worldwide have invested in robotic home help. Price and performance of cleaning robots are still not good enough to threaten traditional cleaning technologies or low-paid human workforce. Consumers are much more attracted of ego-boosting platforms for communication and fun than of  robotic home cleaners illustrated by the stock graph below.
5 Year Stock Growth Comparison Apple (blue), iRobot (red): Apple + 431%, iRobot 4,3%

Google Finance March 9, 2011

Apple Post-PC Blockbuster Sales:

2001-2010: 220+ Million iPods

2007-2011: 100 Million iPhones

2010: 15 million iPads in (9 month), $ 9.5 billion 

Apple Store: 

200 million accounts with CC+1 click purchase

iTunes: more than 10 billion tracks downloaded

Book Store: 100 million books downloaded

App Store: 350.000 apps, $2 billion to developers

Apple has succeeded to lead the digital music
revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. Apple has shown high growth potential for innovative, user-friendly solutions below the $500 mark. Market Intelligence iSuppli predicted in July 2010 Apple will ship 100 million iPads 2010-2012.
100 million household robots year 20xx?
If domestic robotics wants to gain acceptance as an attractive and useful technology for millions of households domestic robotics players might to rethink and change their strategies. They might need to develop innovative user-centric, reliable and safe solutions that focus on health, quality of life and green household management, based on disruptive technologies that can fit into new socio-economical and techno-ecological structures. The need for smart home automation and household management will increase in the coming decades driven by an older population, more single households and shortage of workforce. The window of opportunity is still open for robot entrepreneurs and creative teams.

Tiny Floor Washer Robot for Men “spraying urine"

According to a survey by Western-style toilet manufacturer Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. in 2007 about 60 percent of adult Japanese men do not sit on the toilet to urinate. The survey of 518 men and an identical number of women whose ages ranged from their 30s to 50s showed that the younger the man, the more likely he is to sit down while peeing instead of the traditional method of standing up. Fuji TV conducted a test in which they placed special paper on the floor in a toilet stall and had a man use it in a traditional standing manner. The result was a floor covered with pee! Check video here.

Credit: iRobot

New Robot for "urine spraying" Men
Market leader iRobot might solve this problem with its latest floor washing robot, the tiny Scooba 230, unveiled at CES this year. The Scooba 230 has a three-stage cleaning system that washes, scrubs, then squeegees the floor – a process than iRobot claims neutralizes up to 97% of household bacteria. Unlike iRobot’s original Scooba, the Scooba 230 measures just 6.5 inches in diameter and 3.5 inches tall, so it can clean nooks and crannies that larger vacuums or robots cant reach. The Scooba 230 can clean rooms up to 150 square feet, so it’s ideal for the kitchen or a bathroom. Today, iRobot officially launched the Scooba 230. The robot costs $300, and comes with 2 virtual walls and 4 packets of hard floor cleaner.
Toilet Washer Robot
The next step might be a toilet washing robot. Some ideas and prototypes are already under way such as the toilet cleaning robot prototype developed at the department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Ariel University Center, Israel. The robot attaches to the toilet seat and brushes around the bowl. Check out the video below.

iRobot 2010 revenue up +34%

2010 revenue increased 34% to $401 million for the full year, while adjusted EBITDA more than doubled to $49 million or 12% of revenue. iRobots international home robot revenues grew 66% to $151 million. 
iRobot continued to focus on strengthening the balance sheet resulted in year-end cash and investments of $122 million, up 59% from $77 million a year ago. 
in 2011 iRobot plans to develop high-quality robots for multibillion-dollar automated home maintenance and remote presence markets.
iRobot's intellectual property is protected by more than 100 defensible worldwide patents that we will continue to defend should we detect infringement. Likewise, our brands are protected by 18 trademark registrations in the United States and more than 65 trademarks internationally. 
For fiscal year 2011 management expects revenue of $450 - $465 million and earnings per share of $0.90 - $1.0. 
(Source: iRobot, iRobot CEO Q4 2010 Results - Earnings Call Transcript)

iRobot´s second telepresence robot trial

At CES 2011 iRobot has jumped for second time on the telepresence wagon and presented a telepresence prototype robot called AVA. Recently checked, iRobot has no information about AVA on its website. The second launch of a prototype telepresence robot as new platform for robot app developers seams very weak and confusing. A CEO statement reported by cnet  like "It could be serving drinks or act as a mobile alarm clock", demonstrates serious lack of telepresence vision and customer value focus. AVA has either release date nor price, so we'll have to see if it can be more successful than the ConnectR product.

High-tech AVA is no design hit with its pedestal and tablet PC added top. According to reports of engadet it can move in any direction, with a top speed of about 6 feet per second, thanks to software from the company's military robots like PackBot. AVA is equipped with two PrimeSense sensors, the same ones used in the Kinect for Xbox 360, as well as microphones and speakers, laser range finders, scanning acoustic sensors, and bump sensors for obstacles.
For more details take a look at the interview of PC Magazine's Lance Ulanoff with iRobot CEO Collin Angle.

Two new cleaning robots from iRobot

iRobot Corp. has announced two new cleaning robots: the iRobot Scooba 230 - a floor washing robot small enough to clean in tight spaces and around bathroom fixtures - and the iRobot Roomba 700 Series, the smartest and most effective Roomba vacuum cleaning robots to date. Both will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 6.

iRobot® Scooba® 230 - Floor Washing Robot 
Scooba 230 is a powerful and compact cleaning machine. At 3.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches in diameter, the robot easily cleans in tight spaces, including under and around furniture and bathroom fixtures. The robot's three-stage cleaning system washes, scrubs and squeegees floors, neutralizing up to 97 percent of common household bacteria*. Scooba 230 holds enough cleaning solution to scrub up to 150 square feet of linoleum, tile or sealed hardwood floors in a single cleaning session.
iRobot Roomba 700 Series
The sixth-generation iRobot Roomba 700 Series includes the same state-of-the-art features that Roomba users have come to know and introduces new innovations that make the robot more effective and easier to use. The newest Roomba robots include an updated and improved three-part cleaning system along with several new features and upgrades.

US $14 Million Order to iRobot from the U.S. Army

U.S. iRobot Corp., leading provider of robotic technology-based solutions, announced that it has received a $14 million order from the U.S. Army TACOM Contracting Center in Warren, Mich. According to a release, the order calls for the delivery of iRobot Aware 2 robot intelligence software and spare parts for iRobot PackBot tactical mobile robots. This order will allow the Army to upgrade its existing iRobot 510 FasTac fleet to the iRobot 510 PackBot multi-mission robot.
This is the 20th order under the $286 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) xBot contract. The current total contract value now stands at approximately $143 million.
iRobot has delivered more than 3,500 unmanned ground vehicles to the military and civil defense forces worldwide.
(Image: iRobot)

US $ 3.84 Million SUGV contract for Boeing and iRobot

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and partner iRobot Corp. [NASDAQ: IRBT] announced Oct 10, that they have received an initial contract with the U.S. Air Force to provide Small Unmanned Ground Vehicles (SUGV) to its Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team. The contract calls for up to 70 model 310 SUGV robots, with an initial value of $3.84 million. The Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity contract will run through September 2012.
Boeing and iRobot developed the SUGV family of vehicles under a strategic alliance that began in 2007. It is designed to give warfighters real-time awareness of critical situations and to allow them to complete missions from safe standoff distances. It is ideal for a variety of mission types, including EOD, route clearance and reconnaissance.

As the prime contractor, Boeing provides program management, contracts, and quality-control support from offices in Huntsville. iRobot is responsible for engineering, manufacturing, training and logistics services, with the majority of work conducted in Bedford, Mass.

DARPA unveils new robotics program

Early investments in mobile manipulators, or robots, have led to a family of ground platforms now used in military operations for many missions, including countering improvised explosive devices. Although these robots save lives and help reduce casualties, they have limitations. Most require significant human interaction, which increases the time required to complete tasks. Robot performance under human remote control is limited by video fields of view, perspective and communications bandwidth.

DARPA's latest effort, the Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program, envisions robots with a high degree of autonomy requiring only high-level supervision by an operator. This simplifies human control and could drastically improve execution of tasks. If successful, these future robots could perform multiple military missions. The goal of the four-year ARM program is to develop software and hardware that enables a robot to autonomously grasp and manipulate to perform complicated tasks with a human providing only high-level direction.

Three research teams are participating in the hardware track of this program: iRobot, Sandia National Laboratories and SRI International are developing designs for a new multi-finger hand with an emphasis on robust design and low cost. Six teams working in the software track will develop software that enables the robot to perform several tasks. Software researchers include Carnegie Mellon University, HRL Laboratories, iRobot, NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SRI International and University of Southern California.
(Source: DARPAPublicAffairsOffice Aug 2010)

Home Robot Visions from iRobot

iRobot CEO and co-founder Colin Angle told recently in an interview about his company´s plans in the senior home healthcare arena. Angel is facing an elderly care crisis in the next 20 years, because of shortage of care personal. Elderly live longer and will need more help at home such as vacuum cleaning, helping out of bed, getting dressed, getting to the bathroom. Angle talks about a "robot buddy" that he can call and activate to drive around in his mothers home to make sure that his mother is OK. Instead of sensor based home surveillance he proposes a mobile platform for on-demand virtual visits and social interaction via videoconferencing.

Angel´s view is that the development of the technology platform has to be funded by government agencies before companies can start industrializing for low-cost production and mass marketing via retail and online.

A market boost may be the US the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS), which is a mechanism to reimburse people staying at home for technology and services that allow them to stay at home. This will create a great economic opportunity for companies that can deliver cost-effective solutions for independent living.

Angel´s vision of a telepresence robot is not new. Already in 2007 iRobot had launched ConnectR a telepresence robot but it was not practical enough to meet user expectations. Meanwhile competing telepresence systems have established on the market as reported here before but if they will succeed in the long run is an open question. Many technical, legal and ethical issues have to be considered before mobile videorobots can enter elderly´s homes.

Angel´s vision of a robot buddy isn´t new either. Joe Engelberger, the father of robotics, considered in Discovermagazine, March 2000 "a household robot to be an appliance--one that cooks and cleans, offers an arm, handles security, fetches and carries, does my bidding in response to natural language, and carries out the kind of a conversation that an 85-year-old person does. We can do that right now."

10 years after Engelbergers over-optimistic statement the step from a mobile telepresence robot to an intelligent home buddy that can do real homework is still huge. Despite great research efforts, technological advances and promising prototypes it seems that it will take many years, before household robots can help elderly to stay independent.

Investing in Robot Stocks

In 2003 Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot, gave a TED-talk predicting "robots will invade our lives". In 2007 Bill Gates predicted in Scientific America the robotics industry as the "next PC industry". Roboticists in Japan, South Korea, USA and Europe predict that robots will enter our homes and do everything from vacuum cleaning, dish washing, cooking, monitoring children and elderly in the near future. A multi billion growth industry is expected to develop in the next couple of years, but no one can say with any certainty when this will happen. So far, the number of robotics companies traded at the stock market are few and dominated by industrial robotics , only a few are related to service or consumer robotics.

Investing in robotics stocks has been a disappointment so far as shown in the stock graph below. In the last five years leading consumer robotics company iRobot (IRBT) has lost 45 percent of its stock value. Even industrial robotics companies such as Japanese Fanuc (6506), German KUKA (KU2) or US Adept (ADEP) have lost value caused by financial crisis and recession starting in 2007-08.

Source: Google Finance

But one robotic stock that did very well during the recession is Intutitive Surgical the global technology leader in robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (MIS). The Company's da Vinci® Surgical System offers surgeons superior visualization, enhanced dexterity, greater precision and ergonomic comfort for the optimal performance of MIS. In June 2003 the share was trading at $6.02, now it is trading around $ 360.

Source: Google Finance

US National Robotics Week 2010

The first annual National Robotics Week will be held from April 10-18, recognizing robotics technology as a pillar of 21st century American innovation, highlighting its growing importance in a wide variety of application areas, and emphasizing its ability to inspire technology education. National Robotics Week is the result of a 2009 effort by leading universities and companies to create a “national roadmap” for robotics technology, which was initially unveiled at a May 2009 briefing by academic and industry leaders to the Congressional Caucus on Robotics. U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14), co-chair of the caucus, and other members have submitted a formal resolution asking Congress to support the designation of the second full week in April as National Robotics Week.During National Robotics Week, numerous public events and activities will be held in cities across the country.
The effort is organized by iRobot Corp. and The Technology Collaborative, a Pittsburgh-based non-profit economic development organization.

US President supports Robotics Educational Programs

Robotics Education has advanced as an important tool for science and techology education in the U.S and get public support by president Barack Obama. In his speech at the National Academy of Science Annual Meeting on April 27, 2009 he said: "I want us to think about new creative ways to engage young people in science and engineering, whether it's science festivals, robotics competitions, fairs that encourage young people to create and build and invent — to be makers of things, not just consumers of things."

On Nov 23 when launching the Educate to Innovate Campaign he expressed his believe "that robotics can inspire young people to pursue science and engineering."

This is great support for robotics educational programs such as First Lego League, botball.org and robot platforms such as iRobot Create, Lego Mindstorm, VEX Robotics, Modular Robotics.

SPARK is an educational robotics web portal that was started by iRobot that supports Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education in American schools. The webportal features links to curricula and activities for students in kindergarten through college. SPARK includes information on a variety of robotics platforms as well as articles demonstrating how educators around the United States are utilizing robotics to teach students.

$700 Million for Military Robots

Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle(SUGV) have fast grown into a multibillion-dollar business. Massachusetts company iRobot has already delivered around 2,700 robots to militaries around the world. Some of those were part of a December 2007, $300 million U.S. Defense Department contract that iRobot won after prevailing over an upstart that purloined its technology. A second Massachusetts firm, Foster-Miller, won a contract in 2008 for another $400 million to supply thousands of its TALON robots. Both iRobot's PackBot and Foster-Miller's TALON are mostly used to locate and detonate improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which have proved to be one of the Taliban's deadliest weapons.

iRobot Healthcare Robots

iRobot announced the creation of a new product unit: healthcare robots. CEO Colin Angle said the overall goal is to add “one million hours of independent living” to seniors’ lives.

President of the healthcare business unit will be Tod Loofbourrow. The new business unit is committed to exploring the potential of robotics as an assistive technology to promote wellness and enhance quality of life for seniors. In this role, Loofbourrow will be responsible for all aspects of the group’s strategy, research and operations. He will report directly to Angle.

iRobot is now targeting the market for eldercare robots based on the experience of the short-lived ConnectR project they worked on last year. ConnectR was designed to facilitate telepresence, such as between a parent and child in different geographical locations. Telepresence has applications in remote physician visits, or for adult children to check up on their elderly parents. Combine iRobot’s experience with telepresence with their innovative ways to automate common household chores in a user-friendly way, and you have a compelling case for a useful, assistive robot that may allow elderly people to live independently for a greater length of time.

Warehouse Robots on the Move

Amazon.com seems to look at more efficient ways to operate its factories with the help of robots. The company's recent acquisition of Zappos points in this direction. The factories Amazon acquired from Zappos had robots helping speed up the process of order fulfillment. Zappos was working closely with Kiva Systems, a startup building these sorts of robots.



Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has also invested $7 million in Heartland Robotics, a startup working on industrial robotics. One of the co-founders of Heartland Robotics is Rodney Brooks, who had also founded iRobot, the leading military and vaccum cleaning robot manufacturer.

iRobot acquires Durham underwater robot technology firm

Leading robotics company iRobot has acquired Nekton Research, a developer of unmanned underwater robot technology. “We believe that the underwater market is the next frontier for robots” said Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot, in a statement. “This acquisition positions us for leadership in robot solutions on both the land and sea.” Nekton customers include several U.S. military clients – the Office of Naval Research, Naval Undersea Warfare Command, naval Air Systems Command and U.S. Special Operations Command.