STUFF MEETS
I have a lifetime passion to build things.
Even from a young age, I would be problem-solving and fixing things around the house for fun. I was using Lego and other construction toys to create and fix things, which was my equivalent of reading and writing.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology asked me what I wanted to major in, and I simply said: “Whatever lets me build the coolest things.”
MIT didn’t have a robotics degree at the time, which led me to design my own major that included mechanical and electrical engineering and a bit of artificial intelligence. In a stroke of luck, I heard about a summer job at MIT that allowed me to build robots and I instantly knew it was for me. From that moment forward, that has been my path.
I think people had been dreaming about a robot like the Roomba since seeing Rosey from the TV animation, The Jetsons.
Throughout the early years of iRobot, when I would introduce myself, people’s immediate response was: “When are you going to create a robot to clean my floors?” There was a tremendous desire for robots to maintain the home. The main challenge was, how do we build it so it can do its job effectively and be affordable enough to fulfil its promise?
It was a journey getting to the Roomba.
We launched it 12 years after starting iRobot. We used all of our earlier learnings and deep understanding of robotics to build an affordable robot that can go everywhere in a room and clean effectively. Much of the intelligence behind early versions was born from the mine-hunting algorithms we had developed for life-saving defence robots. These were adapted to become part of the Roomba’s navigation system. We also leveraged technologies from industrial cleaning robots we had developed, and learnings on how to manufacture affordable consumer products from our work on robotic toys.
I’m interested in tech that supports my everyday living space and works together in a seamless way.
The overwhelming impression you would get if you visited me today is that our home is filled with gates, toys, trucks and trains as we parent our wonderful two-year-old. B
