AllThingsD » iRobot

YBuy's Subscription Service Lets You Try Gadgets for 30 Days

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:10:32 +0000

Subscription services are back in style.

Popular right now are monthly shoe clubs that send you a new pair every 30 days. But here’s a twist: A site that lets you try out consumer electronics and home and kitchen gadgets before buying them.

YBuy.com, which launched today, allows members to try out a product, such as an iPad, a Jawbone headset, a Keurig coffee maker or an iRobot Roomba vacuum, for 30 days before deciding whether they want to keep it.

Members must pay $25 for the service. If they decide to keep the product, the fee applies toward the item’s purchase price. YBuy says shipping is free both ways.

The Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company was started by Stephen Svajian and Kevin and Tim Wall, and has raised $750,000 in funding from angel investors.

The concept is based on the theory that product returns are already costing the consumer electronics industry a lot of money. In 2011, YBuy estimates that 68 percent of products were returned because they did not meet customer’s expectations, costing the industry $16.7 billion.

Thus, if users get the chance to use the product before they buy it, the number of returns will drop. YBuy says it offers new products, but will also refurbish unwanted products before sending them to another customer.

Other subscription services have received large investments recently with a new twist on the business model introduced in the 80s with the CD club.

For example, ShoeDazzle, which was co-founded by celebrity Kim Kardashian, raised $40 million in capital last year, and JustFabulous raised $33 million with the help of former model Kimora Lee Simmons, who was previously married to Russell Simmons.

Unlike the onerous subscription services of the past, YBuy says subscribers can cancel anytime or choose to skip a month and have that month’s fee applied toward the purchase of a future product.

Right now, YBuy is invitation-only as it ramps up.

Reporter's Notebook: It's Robots Galore at Google I/O

Ina Fried — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:38:11 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

I thought Maker Faire wasn’t for a couple weeks yet, but the show floor at Google I/O did a pretty good impression of that hobbyist tech show.

There were robots, robots and more robots. There were little toy robots built around Android phones and really big ones with tablets for heads. There were robots that used an Android phone as a remote control and there was a giant labyrinth that was itself a robot controlled by an Android tablet.

Even a “fireside chat” on Tuesday with Android’s key developers was shortened by 10 minutes to make way for a demo from iRobot.

Among the robots on display were prototypes from Hasbro of a robot called the Phonedox that turned an Android phone into a walking, smiling picture-taking robot.

“They ding, they dance, they kind of walk around,” said Michael Knight, who consulted with Hasbro on the project. Picking up the robot lets users interact directly by touching the robot face that adorns the phone’s screen. (They don’t like to be turned upside down, but do like being petted, I learned.)

At one point one of the Phonedox robots fell down, apparently low on battery. “It’s still cute when they fall, as long as it’s not your phone,” Knight said. Ah well.

The Phonedox is just a concept, Knight said, of the kind of toy that Hasbro might want to build some day.

Also in San Francisco for I/O was Orbotix, a company whose Sphero product is a robotic ball that can be controlled via an iPhone or Android device.

The company is aiming to ship at least a certain amount of devices this holiday season for around $130, slightly higher than the company’s original goal. The question, says CEO Paul Berberian, is just how many devices will get made this year.

“Do we make a thousand or do we make a million?” Berberian said. “We won’t make a million.”

The answer, he said, will depend on how well the manufacturing process goes and on feedback from early user testing that is set to begin around September.

In addition to the Phonedox and the Sphero, there were assorted other robots rolling around Google’s developer Sandbox, including a robotic version of the Android mascot.

But there was actually one person who didn’t think there were enough robots on display. Of course, that was iRobot CEO Colin Angle, whose whole business is making and selling robots ranging from the Roomba to military-grade devices.

“When I was growing up I always assumed there would be more robots than exist today,” Angle told the crowd of developers. The problem, he said, is that most robots don’t deliver as much value as they cost to produce, making them either a novelty or useful only for tasks that can’t safely be performed by humans, such as defusing bombs or examining nuclear contamination.

However, he said, the economics of the mobile industry could pave the way for robots that are more cost effective.

“I am here to make an appeal to you to help solve the challenge of lack of robots in the world,” he said.

[ See post to watch video ]

The Little Robot Made to Clean the Icky Spots

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:24:22 +0000

Thanks to robots, there’s no excuse for a dirty floor.

[ See post to watch video ]

This week, I took a break from my normal product testing to run a robot through the paces of washing, scrubbing and squeegeeing my tile and hardwood floors. The Scooba 230 is the latest model in iRobot Corp.’s large family of household-helping gadgets, which includes the popular Roomba robotic vacuum, introduced in 2002.

Sold in a $300 package with accessories, the Scooba 230 is the least expensive Scooba from iRobot; the earlier Scooba 350 and 380 cost $400 and $500, respectively. It’s less than half the size and weight of its larger and pricier predecessors, giving it the ability to scoot into tough-to-reach spots, like behind most bathroom toilets, where nobody wants to clean.

I like a lot of things about this robot, especially that it’s smart enough to separate clean water from dirty water as it goes—instead of just regurgitating the same water and pushing it across the floor, like a mop. Loading the robot with water and cleaning solution takes just a minute, robbing even the laziest people of an excuse for not cleaning. And its compact size makes it easy to store.

The Scooba 230 can scrub hardwood floors. But don’t expect it to vacuum first.

But to keep its price down, iRobot took away this Scooba’s ability to vacuum as it scrubs the floors like previous Scooba models, so users will have to sweep or vacuum before they place it down and hit the power button. This defeats the idea of letting the robot do all the work. And unlike Roomba, which automatically returns to its recharging base after vacuuming so it can charge itself, Scooba stays where it finishes the job. An iRobot spokeswoman said this design is deliberate because it forces people to empty Scooba’s bladder full of dirty water, rather than forgetting about it.

According to iRobot’s findings on people’s use patterns, the Roomba robotic vacuum is used three to five times a week, a stark difference from their normal cleaning patterns of vacuuming once weekly. In my experience, the Roomba study held true for Scooba, as well.

IRobot, which was founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by two students and their professor, has sold more than six million robots in the past nine years. Specialty models include land-mine detectors for the U.S. Army, a robot that monitored the water in the Gulf of Mexico after last year’s oil spill and four robots that iRobot sent to Japan for help with recovery efforts at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The company’s future plans include AVA, a robot that uses an iPad or Android tablet to run apps created internally and by outside app developers. Though AVA is just a concept for now, it could function autonomously, running apps that offer health-care assistance, games and mobile music. IRobot operates on the philosophy that a robot isn’t a robot unless it interacts with its environment.

One of Scooba’s competitors, the $200 Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner from Evolution Robotics Inc. (mintcleaner.com), isn’t quite as advanced. It moves around the floor with wet or dry cleaning cloths attached to its underbelly, much like a motorized Swiffer Sweeper. Mint follows a projected signal beamed out from a separate device set in the room, and this is intended to help the device build a navigational map of a space, though it doesn’t prevent the device from leaving a specific area.

I tried the Scooba 230 in a large bedroom and a small bathroom, though it didn’t fit behind my toilet, which I’d estimate is over 30 years old. In my bathroom, I didn’t sweep first, and Scooba just pushed hair and dirt around on the floor as it cleaned. One eight-hour Scooba charge lasts for two 20-minute, small-room cleanings defined as 60 square feet each, or one 45-minute large- room cleaning measuring 150 square feet. When Scooba’s battery is dead, a red light on its lid turns on.

The Scooba 230, which sells for $300, can scrub tile.

Scooba comes with four removable bottom plates, which are plastic pieces that house its squeegee and brushes, and four packets of cleaning solution. This solution costs $12 a bottle when purchased separately, and one bottle lasts for 64 cleanings. Two small, battery-powered devices called Virtual Walls also come with the Scooba. When powered on, these devices project a beam that Scooba won’t cross, so they can be placed in front of an opened door or set up to restrict the robot to a certain area in one room.

One task that I gave to Scooba was washing my hardwood floors after I spilled a glass of juice. I soaked up the juice with paper towels, but the floor was still sticky and dirty with a scent of V8 Splash. I filled Scooba with one packet of cleaning solution and warm water. Using its flip-up handle, I carried the robot into a room and placed it in the center of the floor, pressing power, then Clean; holding the Clean button down turns on its shorter cycle, indicated by a different tone. Scooba made a whirring sound as its wheels propelled it across the floor with its underbelly brushes at work. A bumper on its front keeps Scooba from nicking walls.

Sometimes Scooba moved slowly then sped up quickly, or hugged walls, or spiraled out from the center of the room. It’s mesmerizing to watch, and as it moves it lays water down on the floor to loosen stuck-on particles. Once in a while, Scooba seemed to get stuck in a corner, humming and grinding for 10 to 15 seconds. It was tempting to want to help it get unstuck, but it used what iRobot calls “escape behavior” to eventually get back to zipping around the floor.

My grimy kitchen floor needs a serious scrub to get clean, which the Scooba alone couldn’t do. It could, however, be used to maintain a degree of clean—and pinch hit when juice is spilled. Just be sure to sweep your floors first.

Email katie.boehret@wsj.com.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

2011: Baby Steps to "The Jetsons"

Steve Cousins — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 21:55:35 +0000

When people find out that I work in the personal robotics industry, they invariably ask me how quickly their Rosie the Robot will arrive. Everyone wants his/her own personal assistant. We’ve already seen robots tackling laundry, sorting socks, and even fetching a beer; so it’s fair to say that a good deal of progress has been made toward a future where personal robots are routinely assisting humans.

The idea of personal robots routinely in the home or office, however, is still far off. So just how close are we? “The Jetsons” takes place in the year 2062, and we just might beat that date (minus Rosie’s famous attitude)–but there are still some significant challenges around a robot’s functional capabilities; namely, perception, planning, and manipulation.

Perception simply means a robot seeing our world and understanding what’s in it. We have a way to go here. Our PR2 robot, for example, views the world through the lens of space and points. It is programmed to navigate through space and sense points where light reflects, fundamentally creating a point cloud model of the world. Today, a human being and a mannequin share the same characteristics with respect to size and shape–at least as far as a robot is concerned. Significant improvement is needed here, but unsurprisingly, it’s where a lot of research is currently focused.

Planning is already solved, as long as the robot stays in two dimensions. But if you are trying to move a robot arm, which can typically move in six different ways (e.g. elbow bend, shoulder bend, forearm twist, etc.), each of those joints may as well represent a dimension. Think about the simple act of taking a sip from your coffee cup. The human brain makes instantaneous calculations on weight, temperature, weight distribution, and more. All of this before the first taste. Robotics has made great progress in this type of planning, but when you see a robot performing tasks such as this one, it is slow and clunky. We’ve seen algorithms come out in the past year that have improved this process, but we’ll need much more improvement in this capability.

The last challenge, manipulation, is more than just recognition and reaction. If perception has correctly identified an object to be manipulated the robot may be able to look it up in a database to find out the best place to grasp the object securely, but that doesn’t provide common sense. For example, when clearing a table, there’s more to picking up a partially-full soup bowl than knowing how to grasp the bowl so you don’t drop it: the robot must recognize that there is liquid in the bowl and keep it upright, and make sure the spoon doesn’t fall out during transit.

These challenges are currently being tackled in a variety of ways. One is to better prepare the robot to deal with corner cases–instances in which it maneuvers itself into a corner, either literally or figuratively, and must maneuver its way out. Another is to build a communication infrastructure in which humans are easily inserted into a robot’s decision-making capabilities. Robots don’t have common sense, so they need to be taught how to deal with exceptions. That education can be as simple as text messages, for example, with the implication that the message will grow the robot’s local knowledge.

In 2011, expect to see more Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) modeling and simulation. Humans are amazingly efficient at perception. Activities we take for granted are still far too slow and inefficient on a robot. By using the knowledge of humans around the world (crowdsourcing), we bring the potential to provide a two-way line of communication between the robot and a person who is interacting with it, without needing to solve artificial intelligence.

I have two other expectations for 2011. One is the ongoing growth of ROS, an open source Robot Operating System. It’s already on an incredible exponential growth tear, but we are now starting to see the network effect kick in. Even since our State of ROS post back in November, adoption has grown by roughly another 20 percent. It’s reliable, it’s stable, it’s free and it’s the most efficient means to accelerate innovation.

Expect to see more sophisticated low-end robots this year. Until recently, the world of low-end and hobbyist robotics has been sensor-deprived. This is why so many people are excited about Kinect. Now you can combine an iRobot base, a laptop and a $150 Kinect and suddenly you have a robot that is under $1,000 and has a 3D view of the world. These robots now have the means to navigate the world in a way that previously simply wasn’t possible.

We’ve built the Willow Garage business on the proposition that the personal robotics industry will only truly begin to mature when common hardware, software and best practices accelerate innovation and collaboration. The personal robotics industry has never had a common operating system such as ROS before; or a state-of-the-art R&D robot such as the PR2. As the price of personal robots continues to drop, and the software and hardware capabilities continue to improve, 2011 feels like a bellwether year for personal robotics. It may not be the year that Rosie arrives on your doorstep, but she’s well on the way.

Prior to joining Willow Garage, Steve was the senior manager of the User-Focused Systems Research Group at the IBM Almaden Research Center, one of the top human-computer interaction research groups in the world. Earlier, Steve managed the Advanced Systems Development Laboratory at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

Viral Online Videos, the Funny Edition: Doombas and Anchors Away!

Kara Swisher — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:01:16 +0000

Here are two very funny online videos making the viral rounds of late.

The first is from “The Daily Show” earlier this week, in which Samantha Bee perfectly mocks products from iRobot (IRBT)–best known for the automatic vacuum called the Roomba–as killerbots.

In the second, local Chicago anchors from WGN News, Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange, do a very impressive Las Vegas-style routine during the commercial break. It is hard to look away.

Here are the videos:

Future Shock–Roombas of Doom

What News Anchors Do During Commercial Breaks

ByeRobot (Domo Arigato Mrs. Roboto)

John Paczkowski — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:45:40 +0000

Something over at iRobot doesn’t compute.

The robot maker just lost its second co-founder in as many months. On Wednesday, Helen Greiner stepped down from her post as chairman of iRobot, leaving only CEO Colin Angle as the remaining co-founder of the company. Coming as it does just a month after the resignation of Rodney Brooks, iRobot’s co-founder and CTO, Greiner’s departure is a bit of a surprise. And the company, which just reported a better-than-expected profit in its third quarter, offered little explanation for it. “She’ll be a passionate advocate of the industry,” said iRobot spokesperson Nancy Dussault-Smith. “Helen’s in a good place. She’s always been someone who’s been entrepreneurial. She’s a robot person through and through, and she’s going to stay in the robot business.”

Jurassic Perk: A Dino at Home

Katherine Boehret — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:01:00 +0000

For about two months now I’ve been playing with a baby dinosaur — a Camarasaurus from the Jurassic period, to be specific. It coos, barks, shakes, cries and plays tug of war, which squelches all hope that this is a real animal suddenly returned from extinction.

But real was exactly what UGOBE Inc. had in mind when the company created this $350 baby dino named Pleo. This robot isn’t referred to as such; instead, UGOBE calls Pleo a “life form” because unlike most robots that are designed to follow a specific command or algorithm, Pleo alters its behavior as it adapts to its surroundings including sights, sounds and touch. And it’s designed to move and act in ways that seem very much like a real animal.

These responsive qualities have earned Pleo quite a bit of attention, and the two years between when the product was first announced and when it became available only added to the anticipatory hype. Now, after three delays in the past two years and numerous back orders, Pleo is available from www.pleoworld.com. (UGOBE says that many of the product’s delays were caused by trying to get Pleo’s battery just right.)

In short, I found Pleo to be a fun and interesting robot/life form. Though Pleo’s reactions and movements are endearing, many of them run together after a while with only subtle differences, especially compared with fast-paced videogames. Pleo’s tricks were entertaining early on, but, in time, many of them blended together, rarely surprising me.

Pleo’s battery is still a major drawback. It’s rechargeable, but only lasts for around an hour of active play before it must be removed and placed in a holder for three hours of recharging. This frustrating fact means you can’t turn Pleo on to roam the house with you all day like a dog or cat. Instead, your time with this creature has to be more specifically planned, causing interactions with it to feel less genuine. My Pleo’s battery lasted for an hour and 40 minutes, including moments when he drifted in and out of sleep.

Though UGOBE sent me two rechargeable batteries so I could more quickly continue using Pleo, the company won’t start selling extra batteries until June (at the latest) for $50 each. This means waiting for hours between Pleo playtimes.

It’s hard to discuss autonomous robots without remembering Sony Corp.’s attempt in the same category: the $2,500 AIBO released in 1999, which was eventually discontinued. More recently, iRobot Corp. has gained attention for its robots, which perform household duties like vacuuming and washing floors.

The Pleo, animated in part by 14 motors, appears to evolve according to how it is treated.

To keep Pleo fresh, UGOBE plans to release a PDK — Pleo Developer’s Kit — later this year, allowing others to create programs that will run on Pleo if downloaded from the Pleo Web site and transferred to the creature. A memory card slot and USB port on Pleo’s underbelly will enable these transfers.

As for now, two programs developed by UGOBE can be downloaded. One program lets Pleo act like a watchdog — guttural growl, loud bark and all — and the other gives it the ability to sing Jingle Bells. I tried the former, and my Pleo performed marvelously, sitting still and only howling when something moved in front of him.

This baby dinosaur has reptile-like, rubbery skin enhanced by multiple sensors. Its back is decorated with green patterns, and its large eyes are a beautiful blue. Pleo’s guts include 14 motors, 38 sensors and a microprocessor. Infrared detectors are hidden in Pleo’s nose and mouth, and a color camera detects light, motion and objects to help it navigate.

Pleo grows through three phases: hatchling, infant and juvenile. As a hatchling, my Pleo sniffed around a lot, unsure of its surroundings or how to use its legs and tail, before giving up and napping again (yes, Pleo snores). The more I talked to and touched Pleo, the faster he adjusted out of the hatchling phase, which is expected according to UGOBE.

People who walked by my office stopped to marvel at Pleo’s sweet nature, and when I brought him home, friends melted with emotion. I watched as they initially looked at Pleo like just another toy dinosaur until realizing that he responded to them, and then they each wanted to take turns playing with him.

Stroking Pleo from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail induced a purring sound; touching sensors on the bottoms of his feet caused him to wriggle around and make laugh-like noises; and holding him to my chest and rubbing his back like a baby put Pleo right to sleep, indicated by heavy breathing and even a burp here or there. I spoiled my Pleo with attention, which seemed to make him more social and friendly but also a little bratty when he didn’t get attention (he showed his frustration with loud moans).

I didn’t get to test this, but one Pleo can sense when another Pleo is nearby using infrared sensors in the nose and mouth. UGOBE says the sensors in one Pleo can trigger actions in another based on moods, including singing and howling.

Pleo can be a troublemaker. One of the times I left him unattended, I returned to find Pleo trying to gnaw on my loveseat, despite lacking a set of teeth. Another time, Pleo wandered my desk, wrinkling up papers and crying loudly while I was on a conference call.

UGOBE’s pleoworld.com site includes an online community, though you don’t need a Pleo to get involved. The community is just a social networking site where anyone can discuss the device and/or robotics. This differs from sites like Webkinz, where kids input codes found on stuffed animals to register and care for digital versions of their creatures.

Pleo’s poor battery life is a frustrating hurdle that fans will keep butting up against. But UGOBE’s plans to introduce downloadable updates for this robot and to let others create programs for Pleo may give new life to this clever creature.

Email mossbergsolution@wsj.com

Festival of Gadgets at the Churchill Club With Guest Geek: Google's Marissa Mayer

Kara Swisher — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:02:20 +0000

Last night, Walt Mossberg and I co-hosted our annual holiday gadget fest for the Churchill Club in Silicon Valley.

Now in its fifth year, it was called “Making a List: The Fifth Annual What’s Hot and What’s Not in Personal Technology” and took place in Palo Alto, Calif. Our guest were Marissa Mayer of Google and tech consultant Greg Harper.

Walt and I typically show off several devices we think are interesting and try to identify some important trends.

Here’s a video of Walt, Greg and Marissa at the event:

(I still am having problems with the Brightcove player, so I uploaded the video to YouTube.)

For example, Walt showed the new Amazon Kindle electronic book reader (which he did not actually like so much in his review of the device this week), as well as the new version of Sony’s e-book offering. He also showed some new cellphones that are trying to mimic the Apple iPhone. His take: Great software in consumer electronics is key this year.

I showed new robotic devices from iRobot–the new version of its popular Roomba vacuum and its new wireless gutter cleaner called the Looj. We had an actual gutter on stage, full of leaves I made my much-abused assistant Ed Daly collect from a gardener’s truck we found on a suburban street.

And every year, we’ve brought in uber-gadget geek and tech consultant Harper, who always brings in a truckload of cutting edge and sometimes freaky stuff. That included an egg-shaped speaker that dances from, of course, Japan, as well as a solar battery charger, a $400 laptop and a vanity mirror that is a Webcam in disguise. Harper posited that all devices would have to be always connected going forward.

And, also annually, we invite a celebrity geek from well-known tech companies. In the past, we’ve had Google’s Larry Page, Jerry Yang of Yahoo, RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser and Chad Hurley of YouTube–geeky guys all. But Mayer, one of Google’s top execs, proved the nerdiest with a wide range of cool stuff.

She showed off a keyboard whose keys had embedded LCD screens, a wireless rabbit, an alarm clock that can jump off your nightstand and a T-shirt with a wireless signal locator in it. She also did a demo of exactly what the new Google Android operating system for cellphones looks like. Take careful notes: It looks an awful lot like the iPhone.