Why do so many home robots still suck?
Home robots’ unfulfilled potential is neither because of lack of demand on the part of consumers nor lack of effort from manufacturers.
“The Jetsons” debuted September 23, 1962. The first episode, titled “Rosey the Robot,” was an origin story of sorts for the titular character, describing how an overworked Jane hired the housekeeper. Sixty-two years after her debut, Rosey remains an important pop cultural touchstone for the unfulfilled promise of home robots.
Home robots’ unfulfilled potential isn’t because of a lack of consumer demand or lack of effort from manufacturers. It’s more complicated and nuanced than that, though ultimately it’s a matter of pricing, functionality and efficacy. Outside of the aforementioned use cases, today’s home robots don’t do enough or do what they do well enough, and building a robot that can tick both of those boxes would prove prohibitively expensive for those of us who can’t afford our own islands.
Vacuums make for good home robots
During his long tenure as iRobot CEO, co-founder Colin Angle was fond of saying that he didn’t become a successful roboticist until he became a vacuum salesman. It’s a fun quip that gets to something much deeper about the industry. Before the Roomba came along, the company had experimented with everything from baby dolls to military equipment.
iRobot found success when it focused on a simple task: cleaning floors. The earliest models were primitive by today’s standards, but they got the job done well enough to justify their price point. In addition to marking 62 years since Rosey’s TV debut, next month is also the Roomba’s 22nd anniversary. The robot vacuum is old enough to legally buy a case of Sam Adams.
In the nearly quarter century since the Roomba launched, much of iRobot’s R&D has gone into making the system smarter, adding sensing, mapping, and AI and integrating with smart assistants. The company has invested into other robotics categories as well, including gutter clearing, pool cleaning and a lawnmower that may never see the light of day, but all have failed to recapture the Roomba’s magic.
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