The name iRobot comes from 'Internet-connected robot.'

The idea that a robot will become more aware of its environment, that telling it to 'go to the kitchen' means something - navigation and understanding of the environment is a robot problem. Those are the technological frontiers of the robotics industry.

This is all about giving people time back and improving their quality of life.

If you want to make a serious, rugged, reliable robot, you can start with the Create platform and just build stuff on top of it.

It's wildly impractical to do so in any real sense.

There is strong synergy with consumer electronics. The core of a robot could ultimately be a cell phone.

You're not going to talk to your vacuum cleaning robot: in fact, you may never see your vacuum cleaning robot because, ideally, you come home every day and your floors are freshly vacuumed.

The simplicity of the interaction is one of the most critical things.

We felt that if we could do it at the right price, the cleaning robot would be embraced by the masses.

What did everyone think robot vacuuming was going to be? Well, they think Rosie the Robot from 'The Jetsons,' a human robot that pushed a vacuum. That was never going to happen.