Robot Reviews

The latest SADIF due diligence report projects iRobot Corp (IRBT) as a company with an above average rating and a neutral outlook.

Through its proprietary StockMarks stock-rating system, SADIF (STP Analytics for Decisions in Investment and Finance) evaluated iRobot Corporation, giving it the respectable marks in its report as mentioned earlier. According to the 8-page report, iRobot Corp is showing strong business growth and is expected to outperform the market.

Such reports are typically used as reference by potential investors.  

Founded in 1990 by former MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab standouts Colin Angle & Helen Greiner and their professor, Rodney Brooks, iRobot got its first big break when they were awarded a contract by DARPA in 1998 to develop a battlefield robot. The robot, dubbed PackBot, is mostly used in reconnaissance and bomb disposal operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The year 2002 saw an invasion of vacuum robots from this Bedford-based company into American households. Since then, over 3 million Roomba vacuum robots have been employed. This huge success prompted iRobot to enlist in NASDAQ in 2005. iRobot stocks are traded under the ticker symbol IRBT.

Aside from the Roomba, iRobot also offers the following home-based products:

• Scooba - a floor washing robot
• Dirt Dog - a Roomba-like machine designed for a workshop environment
• Create - a popular hackable toy among robotics hobbyists
• Verro - a swimming pool cleaning robot
• Looj - a gutter cleaning robotic machine

iRobot is very active in the development of robotic machines for the military. The latest to have gained popularity on the Web is the Chembot, a part-liquid/part-solid metamorphosing robot which may be used in surveillance operations.

With the soon-to-be-integrated sense of touch into the highly successful PackBot, the demand for iRobot machines is likely to continue.