Paolo Pirjanian
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Living with Moxie, the robot companion for kids
Moxie is a robot build specifically for kids. But while it's fun and smart, it's also very expensive.
iRobot's CTO wants bots that will map and interact with your home, not drones
The future for Roomba maker iRobot isn't in the sky; it's continuing to innovate on the ground. In a chat with iRobot CTO Paolo Pirjanian at the Engadget CES stage today, he dove into his vision for where the company is headed. And, surprisingly enough, drones aren't part of the picture -- even though they're all the rage now. Instead, Pirjanian says he's looking forward to building smarter and taller robots that will be able understand and interact with their environment. The keys to that dream are indoor GPS and 3D mapping, both of which, he says, iRobot is "keenly working on." Those futuristic home bots will be able to do things like collect and bring a tray of food to the elderly, or create an accurate map of everything in your home, so it'll know if you left your keys on the kitchen table.
iRobot buys rival Evolution Robotics for $74 million to expand hard-floor cleaning tech
iRobot celebrated Roomba's 10th birthday quietly teeing up a $74 million acquisition of rival Evolution Robotics Inc. The Pasadena-based company produces the Mint, a hard-floor 'bot that uses ordinary Swiffer pads to wet-wipe your wooden decks clean -- and comes with the more sophisticated "Northstar" GPS-style positioning tech. As part of the deal, Evolution CEO Paolo Pirjanian will become iRobot's new CTO and the Mint and Mint Plus will be folded into the company's stable of Roomba cleaners -- with the deal expected to be fully approved by the fourth quarter of the year.
