Comments on: IRobot Co-Founder Greiner Launches Stealth Robotics Company, The Droid Works

By: Robot Roundup 2.13.09: iRobot Spawns, Robo-Yo-Yoer and Not-Your-Mom’s-Amusement-Park « Kristina Grifantini

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:41:05 +0000

[...] 13, 2009 at 11:45 PM · Filed under Uncategorized This is interesting–a recent Xconomy article reports that one of the founders of iRobot (the robotics colossus in the U.S., creator of the [...]

By: Roundup: Intel pours cash into factories, N.J. goes solar, Obama taps cybersecurity chief, and more » VentureBeat

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:03:55 +0000

[...] founder spins off new startup — Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot, has launched a stealthy new venture called The Droid Works to work on unmanned aerial [...]

By: Roundup: Intel pours cash into factories, N.J. goes solar, Obama taps cybersecurity chief, and more » VentureBeat

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:03:55 +0000

[...] founder spins off new startup — Helen Greiner, co-founder of iRobot, has launched a stealthy new venture called The Droid Works to work on unmanned aerial [...]

By: Daniel Weinreb

Daniel Weinreb — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:23:16 +0000

Confused: Have you ever seen a founder of a software company start a new software company? It’s pretty common. Robotics covers a great deal of ground. Different kinds of robot applications have extremely different technology involved. It’s hardly just a matter of doing the same thing again.

Furthermore, Helen is a big proponent of building a strong infrastructure and ecosystem for robotics in the Boston area. Having a lot of robotics companies is good for all the robotics companies.

By: » Secret robots and special sonar :: Granite Geek :: NashuaTelegraph.com

» Secret robots and special sonar :: Granite Geek :: NashuaTelegraph.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:14:46 +0000

[...] Xconomy has an item about an IRobot co-founder who is launching a robotics startup, with an emphasis on the unmanned aerial vehicle “space”. Massachusetts is very excited about a critical mass of robot-related companies existing around Boston, like an android version of the biotech industry. This is good news to all the those kids working frantically on FIRST Robotics, preparing for the regional competition at the Verizon Center on March 4-5. [...]

By: Confused

Confused — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:10:29 +0000

So, 2 of iRobot’s founders leave iRobot to found… robot companies? Huh?

Why didn’t they take advantage of the capital raised by iRobot’s IPO to develop new technologies? If that wasn’t the point of the IPO, then what was it for?

I’m very confused.

By: theDougStone

theDougStone — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:20:49 +0000

My guess is it is a UAV for agriculture. There has to be a serious non-compete in place for the military UAV sector.

The agriculture industry has just recently been adopting GPS navigation systems as expected equipment. It is not a stretch to UAV from sitting behind the tractor wheel being told (sometimes just watching) where to go by a GPS.

iRobot needs more robotics companies in the marketplace to be successful. I think Helen and Rodney branching out is good for everybody.