Irobot was founded in 1990 by Rodney Brooks, Colin Angle and Helen Greiner. The company specialises in robots not just vacuums. They have contacts with the military and police for the robotic needs.

The three founders were originally based in MIT’s artificial intelligence unit. Where they left and built Irobot, Their two biggest success so far has been the pack bot a military application robot for destroying bombs and mines and the Irobot Roomba a household vacuuming robot.

irobot roomba founders

The Packbot is there flagship military robot with more than 2000 units in operation. They have an impressive list of Military robots both in action at the moment but also under development. This research helps to improve their domestic product line which is growing and improving each year.

For the household they have expanded their line of products from the original Irobot Roomba floor vacuum to a range of others listed below.

Irobot Scooba – their second best seller, the Scooba is a floor washing robot, designed for those rooms in the house that need washing rather than vacuuming. Released in 2006 these units are designed to use either no bleach solutions or white vinegar solutions to maintain a clean floor.

irobot roomba sister the Scooba

Irobot Dirt Dog – a harder working version of the roomba, predominantly designed for cleaning workshop floors.  It is designed to pick up bigger pieces of debris such as nuts bolts. It is also specifically design more for harder floor surfaces.

Irobot Roomba brother the Dirt Dog

Irobot Verro is a pool cleaning robot. This self contained unit has an internal filtration system that filters the pool water down to 2 microns removing all waste form hair to bacteria. It also uses high powered water jets to clean the floor and side of the pool. The operation of the Verro helps to distribute chemicals better and reduces the need of the pump filtration system. It is said to be able to clean from floor to water line in 90 mins.

Irobot roomba pool alternative the Verro

Looj – is the latest of the robots released. It is a gutter cleaning robot. That allows the user to place their ladder against the gutter. Drop the Looj into place and let it clean all leaves and debris out of the gutter. It then returns to the user allowing them to safely climb back down the ladder. It provides a very safe answer to a scary problem.

Depending on your needs the Irobot Company has a built a a range of products lines. Within each product range there are numerous products each slightly different to satisfy your needs. An example is the Irobot Roomba which has 8 different models in its current range.