Interview with Max Safai, Neato Robotics CEO

Interview with Max Safai, Neato Robotics CEO

 GetRobo had the chance to visit Neato Robotics in Mountain View, CA, and got a first-hand look at the new robotic vacuum cleaner Neato XV-11. I wanted to try out their "crown jewel" - as CEO Max Safai puts it - which is their original inexpensive laser rangefinder that costs only $30.

 First of all, I wanted to see how the XV-11 can detect and avoid obstacles on the fly.


 Very clever!

  It's also neat that the robot can identify a door and will not go out of the room until it has finished cleaning. Once it's done, it will go out of the door and move on to the next room. You can check out the other videos on the YouTube GetRobo Channel.

  There were some questions that I wanted to ask the company. The main one being whether they are willing to sell the laser rangefinder component separately.


 The following is an edited excerpt from an interview with Neato CEO, Mr. Safai. The original article appeared on GetRobo Japanese on Feb. 6.
 

 Q. How do you feel about competing with iRobot?

 A. It's easy for people to say that we're competing with Roomba, but the truth is, we DON'T want to be competing with Roomba. We think Roomba is a great product as it is.

 But we want to be known as an appliance with true value. We want you to use our product for three months and for you to realize that you haven't taken out the big vacuum cleaner from your closet.

 The entire consumer vacuum cleaner market in the U.S. is $4.2 billion (data from 2006). iRobot has penetrated about 2%. There is a huge market for us out there.


Q. So as an appliance, how is XV-11 better than the Roomba?

A. The difference between us and them is that they use a sweeper mechanism which is basically just scooping up the debris. We use a beater brush which creates a dust cloud as it hits the carpet. So the XV-11 not only picks up the debris on the top of the carpet but from underneath the fiber. For debris that are larger like Cheerios or Fruit Loops, the blades of the brush can scoop them up as well.

 The reason we can use the beater brush is because the XV-11 doesn't move randomly and it doesn't need too much energy to just move around the room.

 We divide the room into perimeters - or tiles. The robot has an AI algorithm that makes an optimum decision on how to cover the floor space each time it's turned on but typically one tile would be around 12x12 feet. The robot goes around the perimeter of a tile once and then cleans the inside of the perimeter lane by lane. When it's done, it will exit the tile and go to the adjacent tile.

 To be able to do this, we've invented a low-cost laser rangefinder which we call the LDS (Laser Distance Sensor). You can buy one from Japan which is very accurate up to 100 meters, but they will cost you $2,000-3,000. We were able to design something that is accurate up to 5 meters radius for $30 at most.



Q. Does the XV-11 have a dirt detector?

A. No, it doesn't. That's because there are too many patents surrounding that.


Q. Are you willing to sell the LDS unit separately?

A. Neato does not currently have a plan to sell the LDS unit as a separate product but could consider it if the business terms are favorable.

 We have a complete layer of API on the robot that developers can actually use and program to do their own thing. In the middle of this year, I don't know when exactly, we are going to open that up. So if hobbyists want to use it to do interesting projects, I hope they will buy the robot.


Q. Would you be willing to license your technology to Japanese consumer electronic manufacturers?

A.  I would like to partner with a reputable Japanese company. Ideally the partner will start with an OEM/co-branding arrangement with an avenue for differentiation down the road. But the LDS technology is viewed as a black box. The partner will have to develop their own AI algorithms to navigate the robot. The LDS unit will be purchased from Neato.


 Neato does not currently have a plan to license the AI software. But proposals will be evaluated on a case by case basis. 

 Also for markets outside of home appliances, such as toys, we will evaluate the proposals on a case by case basis.
 
 (Neato, which currently employs about 20 people, has several living rooms inside the company to test the robots.)

Posted by Norri Kageki

 

Source (With Pictures):http://www.getrobo.com/getrobo/2010/02/interview-with-max-safai-neato-robotics-ceo.html



Reprinted with Permission.

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