Scooba Blog

I have to give major props to the folks at GoRobotics. They have two videos uploaded, which were filmed at the RoboNexus convention. A lot of good questions were asked and answered, so I suggest you take a look.

• video 1
• video 2

For those who aren’t on broadband, here are some quick notes taken from the videos:

• sounds a little loud..or maybe it’s the quality of the video?
• doesn’t completly dry the floors right now, will improve before it hits store shelves
• doesn’t have the technology to remember where it has already cleans. Uses a random cleaning method
• covers about 97% of the floor
• can make virtual walls using infrared beam, to contain the scooba in a particular area
• cleaning solution is not recycled, always using clean solution (unlike mopping)
• tanks hold a litre of water
• clean about 175 square feet per cleaning cycle
• cleaning head is dishwasher safe
• UI panel, will inform you about any problems with device, and cleaning status

I got an email containing a link to a page with Scooba packaging pictures (thanks William!)

Here is one:

More can be found over at Go Robotics. More pictures are also on flickr

An article over at livescience.com has the basic scooba overview, but also a few neat facts.

Robert Heinlein has the idea for a robot that cleans kitchen floors in his 1956 novel ‘The Door Into Summer’:

What Hired Girl would do… was clean floors . . . any floor, all day long and without supervision… It swept, or mopped, or vacuum-cleaned, or polished, consulting tapes in its idiot memory to decide which. Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray on its upper surface, for someone brighter to decide whether to keep or throw away….

Click the link above to read the rest of the article.

From MercuryNews:

RoboNexus, a robotics industry conference and expo, will take place at the San Jose McEnry Convention Center, starting Thursday and running through Sunday.

The convention drew more than 10,000 people last year, when it made its U.S. debut, in Santa Clara

iRobot will of course be at the convention, and will be demonstrating their upgraded Roomba as well as the Scooba. If more than 10,000 people are expected, I hope to see a few preliminary reviews of the scooba on the ‘net by the weekend. I will keep everyone updated.

Looks like iRobot is about to start a large scale advertising campaign titled “I Love Robots” - good time to showcase their Roomba and Scooba before the Christmas frenzy hits.

From BusinessWire.com:

For the Roomba commercial, real owners were selected from thousands of iRobot customers who responded to a company survey. The nine Roomba owners featured in the ads speak candidly about how the vacuuming robot has helped them. The Roomba commercial began airing today on national cable in 30 and 60 second spots. Roomba cleans hardwood floors and carpets at the touch of a button, and more than 1.2 million Roomba Vacuuming Robots have been sold since its introduction three years ago.

In the ad for the Scooba Floor Washing Robot, people were recruited off the street to talk about how much they hate to mop. The individuals were then introduced to Scooba and shown a demonstration of the robot at work. The commercials capture people’s unscripted reactions to Scooba, which is the first floor washing robot for the home. The Scooba commercial will air on national cable on Nov. 3 in 60 second spots. Scooba, due out later this year in limited quantities from www.irobot.com, simultaneously preps, washes, scrubs and dries hard floors in a single pass, leaving clean floors behind it.

Hopefully I can (or anyone else?) scan these advertisements and upload them to the blog for your viewing pleasure.

Just found an article about on bizJornals talking about iRobot’s win against a Roomba copycat.

Some background on the case:

In March, Canada-based Urus and Koolatron began selling a “smart” vacuum under the Koolvac brand. IRobot sued in May for an undetermined amount of monetary damages, terming Koolvac “a complete knock-off” of Roomba.

And the result:

IRobot Corp. speedily settled its patent infringement case against Urus Industrial Corp. and subsidiary Koolatron Corp., with the latter two entities agreeing not to sell in the United States a robotic floor vacuum that competes with iRobot’s Roomba product.

I wonder if the Scooba copycats will ever hit the shelves in the United States? Especially since iRobot filed for a $115 million IPO, they certainly will have the funds to go after any patent breachers. iRobot currently has 19 patents, and another 25 pending.

FORTUNE Small Business has named iRobot’s CEO, Colin Angle, as the best CEO of 2005.

From TMCnet:

Angle and 14 other entrepreneurs were named 2005 Best Bosses based on their vision, creativity, focus, great people skills and the ability to get the best out of their employees.
…..

Angle was recognized for creatively hiring and managing top talents who are contributing to iRobot’s long-term strategy and growth. Angle has also helped transform iRobot from a small MIT spin-off to a $95 million business. To date, more than 1.2 million iRobot Roomba(R) vacuuming robots have been sold worldwide and over 200 iRobot PackBot(R) tactical mobile robots are protecting the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Congrats! You must be doing something right, because your products kick butt!

Found the answer to one of my questions on iRobot’s FAQ page:

Do I have to use the Clorox Scooba cleaning solution?
Yes. The hard floor cleaning solution has been specifically engineered by Clorox to effectively clean most hard floor surfaces including tile, linoleum and sealed hardwood. The solution contains no bleach and is safe around children and pets. Use of other cleaning solutions in iRobot Scooba may damage the robot and void Scooba’s Warranty.

I hope they don’t overprice this cleaning solution, that would really suck!

Just a quick note to mention that the Scooba will support cleaning of the following:

• Sealed Hardwood
• Linoleum
• Tile & Marble

Also, the Clorox cleaning solution used in the Scooba will contain NO bleach.

I posted a video provided by iRobot a while ago. They have another video of the Scooba in action up on there site. It’s not the best quality, but it gives you an idea of everything the Scooba can do. Watch it here.