LADYDRAGON.COM - iRobot Expands Popular Home Robot Line with the World Most Compact Floor Washing Robot and the Next Generation Roomba

Monday January 03, 2011

iRobot Expands Popular Home Robot Line with the World Most Compact Floor Washing Robot and the Next Generation Roomba

By LadyDragon

2011 International Consumer Show (CES)

BEDFORD, Mass.--(LadyDragon.com)03/01/11--iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic technology-based solutions, today announced two new home robots to do your dirty work: the iRobot Scooba® 230 &ndash a floor washing robot small enough to clean in tight spaces and around bathroom fixtures &ndash and the iRobot Roomba® 700 Series, the smartest and most effective Roomba vacuum cleaning robots to date. Both will be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on January 6.

iRobot Scooba 230 and iRobot Roomba 700 Series use iAdapt™ Responsive Cleaning Technology, the most intuitive, flexible and effective way to clean your floors. This system of software and sensors monitors the environment 64 times per second, using dozens of behaviors to ensure the entire floor is thoroughly cleaned. The dirt-centric technology ensures thorough coverage, including under and around furniture, and multiple passes over the areas that need it most.

These new robots represent our ongoing commitment to developing innovative products that make a difference in people&rsquos lives, said Jeff Beck, president of iRobot Home Robots division. While Roomba is already the world best-selling vacuum cleaning robot, we continue to make improvements to ensure it is the best on the market and stays at the head of the pack. With the compact Scooba 230, we focused on reducing size without compromising effectiveness and navigability. The launch of Scooba 230 has effectively made one of people least favorite household chores, cleaning the bathroom, a whole lot easier.

Small but Mighty

Scooba 230 is a powerful and compact cleaning machine. At 3.5 inches tall and 6.5 inches in diameter, the robot easily cleans in tight spaces, including under and around furniture and bathroom fixtures. The robot three-stage cleaning system washes, scrubs and squeegees floors, neutralizing up to 97 percent of common household bacteria*. Scooba 230 holds enough cleaning solution to scrub up to 150 square feet of linoleum, tile or sealed hardwood floors in a single cleaning session.

Unlike with a mop and bucket, Scooba only uses clean solution to wash your floors, never dirty water. Scooba 230&rsquos water management system includes an active reservoir that keeps the cleaning solution and dirty water separate inside the robot. While the robot is cleaning, the active reservoir shrinks in size as cleaning solution is put down on the floor, freeing up space in the robot to hold the dirty water that is picked up. Scooba doesn&rsquot move dirt (or dirty water) around &ndash it gets rid of it.

Scooba uses a series of lights and chimes to let you know it has successfully finished cleaning. The bottom plate of the robot snaps on and off without tools, making it fast and easy to rinse the scrubbing brushes and the squeegee after each use.

Virtual Wall® technology creates an invisible beam that the robot won&rsquot cross, keeping Scooba 230 in the rooms you want to clean and out of the ones you don&rsquot. Cliff sensors ensure the robot automatically avoids stairs and drop-offs while cleaning.

The World&rsquos Best-Selling Vacuum Cleaning Robot Just Got Even Better

The award-winning Roomba vacuum cleaning robot has been revolutionizing the way people clean their homes since 2002, and iRobot has sold more than five million home robots worldwide. The sixth-generation iRobot Roomba 700 Series includes the same state-of-the-art features that Roomba users have come to know and introduces new innovations that make the robot more effective and easier to use. The newest Roomba robots include an updated and improved three-part cleaning system along with several new features and upgrades:

Advanced cleaning head improves overall cleaning from previous models, including 20 percent better pickup of fine particulates.
New AeroVac™ Series 2 bin with a powerful vacuum maximizes air flow through Roomba's cleaning head to pull more hair and debris off the brushes and into the bin.
Two HEPA-type air filters keep fine household dust from re-circulating in your home.
Dirt Detect Series 2 (available on Roomba 770 and 780) uses an acoustic sensor to detect excessive amounts of small and hard debris, such as sand, and an optical sensor to detect larger and soft debris, such as popcorn. Dirt Detect Series 1, which uses the acoustic sensor, is available on the Roomba 760.
With a Persistent Pass Cleaning Pattern, Roomba uses a brush-like, back-and-forth motion to focus its cleaning when it finds an excessively dirty area.
New power management software results in 50 percent longer battery life than previous Roomba generations, ensuring hundreds of cleaning cycles with proper use.
Soft-touch bumper with a new polymer coating protects walls and furniture.
Full Bin Indicator light turns on when Roomba detects a full dust bin (available on Roomba 770 and 780).
Touchpad interface provides state-of-the-art control using just your fingertips and eliminates buttons (available on Roomba 780).

Scooba 230 plus Essentials Kit and Roomba 700 Series will be available in spring 2011 at www.irobot.com.

* When used as directed, laboratory testing results indicate removal of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria after two passes of the Scooba floor washing robot. Individual results may vary.

About iRobot Corp.

iRobot designs and builds robots that make a difference. The company home robots help people find smarter ways to clean, and its government and industrial robots protect those in harm&rsquos way. iRobot consumer and military robots feature iRobot Aware® robot intelligence systems, proprietary technology incorporating advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.