Andrew Deschenes, a volunteer from iRobot, visited us and gave us a presentation about iRobot! He actually participated in FRC in high school, which was incredibly cool – it showed us how being in a robotics team can lead to future career.
He showed us some of the robots that iRobot manufactures, and a future release – the famed Roomba, the Braava jet, and the future lawnmower, Terra! He even brought charger for the Roomba that also cleans it out. We examined each of them, and he told us about the various components of a Roomba, including its numerous sensors that tell it where it is in the room, if it’s been picked up, and if it’s about to fall off of something. He also told us about what it’s like to work at iRobot – it seems super fun! iRobot also has an interesting history – their initial plan was not to make housekeeping robots for smart homes, and it’s pretty cool how they eventually came to the types of robots they focus on today. Vincent and Joy then gave a demonstration of our own robot!
