Three iRobot Spin-Offs: Harvest, Heartland, North End

Sunday's column focused on the robotics cluster in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including new companies like Harvest Automation, North End Technologies, and Rod Brooks' new venture, Heartland Robotics. All of them involve former iRobot employees and execs as founders, so I consider them the spawn of iRobot.

Here's the video - a demo of Harvest Automation's prototype greenhouse robots, with Harvest CEO Charles Grinnell.



Two days after the column ran, Rod Brooks -- one of iRobot's three founders -- officially announced he was stepping away from his role as iRobot's CTO to focus entirely on getting Heartland off the ground; he'll still head a technical advisory board at iRobot and remain on the board of directors.

Xconomy has another piece about Heartland, which deftly doesn't mention that my Globe column broke the news of the company's formation two days earlier...but that's the blogosphere for ya.

Q Robotics: The Wraps Come Off Wednesday Night

I've been waiting just about a year to find out what the heck Q Robotics is up to. (See this post from July 07.) Q is a sort of splinter from the iRobot tree; co-founders Joe Jones and Paul Sandin were both at iRobot previously, where they helped develop the first-gen Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.

So far, they've been very stealthy. The Web site still says zilch about their focus.

But Joe Jones e-mailed today to let me know that Wednesday night at an MIT Enterprise Forum event, they'll be talking about their focus and strategy, and CEO Charlie Grinnell will show some video of prototype robots in action.

Jones writes via e-mail: "We found an agriculture-related application that meets three prerequisites I see as essential for a successful robot: 1) The robot satisfies is a genuine market need. 2) The task is within reach of current robotic technology. 3) The cost of the robotic system can be competitive with existing non-robotic solutions."

The Groton, MA company is also unveiling a new name: Harvest Automation.

I think that makes them the first Massachusetts company specializing in robotic farmworkers... but correct me if I'm wrong.

Wired Mag on the iRobot/Robotic FX Lawsuit

Noah Shachtman has a piece in the current issue of Wired about the rivalry and legal wrangling between iRobot and Robotic FX, a Chicago company founded by a one-time iRobot employee. It's a great weekend read.

Here's the opening:

Jameel Ahed says he didn't really read the email. He was preoccupied with trying to solve a few electrical problems on the robots he hoped his company would sell to the US Army for as much as $300 million, one of the largest robot orders in history. So he didn't pay much attention to the fact that iRobot, his former employer and chief competitor for the Army contract, was suing him for stealing their designs. And he didn't read the attachment ordering him to preserve any evidence related to the case.


Nevertheless, a few hours later that evening, Ahed began cleaning out his suburban Chicago office. He gathered up circuit boards and electronic components and threw them into a box marked "iRobot" — maker of the cute little Roomba vacuum cleaner and sophisticated military robots. He stuffed the box into a green duffel bag, carried it outside, and put it in the trunk of a white Saturn registered to the parents of Kimberly Hill, his girlfriend and the chief operating officer of his company, Robotic FX.

Robot demos and panels at WPI, next week

From Worcester Polytechnic Institute:

As of fall 2007, WPI is offering the nation's first bachelor's degree program in robotics engineering. The new major grows out of an increasing demand for robots and robotics systems to meet national needs in areas such as defense and security, elder care, automation of household tasks, customized manufacturing, and interactive entertainment, and also responds to the escalating interest in robots among young people. This major, which crosses academic boundaries, is designed to prepare a new breed of engineer with the skills and imagination to develop intelligent machines that go beyond today's reality.

To mark the launch of the program, they're holding a one-day symposium this coming Tuesday, which features speakers like Dean Kamen of DEKA and Helen Greiner or iRobot. They'll also have robot demos -- and the registration price is cheap: $20.

Did Robotic FX Steal Secrets from iRobot?

Burlington-based iRobot has filed a suit against a Chicago company that was founded by a former iRobot engineer, alleging that the ex-engineer took trade secrets from iRobot and used them to build a rip-off of the PackBot, a military bot iRobot designed that is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, the Chicago company, Robotic FX, beat out iRobot to win a $280 million contract from the military.

Hiawatha Bray has a lengthy account in this morning's Globe. He writes:

The case took another twist yesterday, when iRobot went to federal court in Boston, asking a federal judge to halt production at Robotic FX. Representatives from the Justice Department and the Army weighed in against such an injunction. The arguments played out behind closed doors because of national security considerations. But in a brief filed yesterday, US Attorney Michael Sullivan said halting production would jeopardize the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The protection that the detection robots provide for our troops easily dwarfs whatever interest the public has in a private dispute between two corporations," Sullivan wrote.

Xconomy has a few blog posts:

- iRobot Files Lawsuits Charging Infingement on Combat Robot Patents
- iRobot Stock Plummets on Word That Former Employee's Firm Won $280 Million Military Contract
- Dumpster-Diving Detectives and Tales of Industrial Espionage
- U.S. Government Weighs in Against iRobot Request for Injunction Against Rival Firm