Core Tech Areas

The iRobot Government & Industrial Robots
Division Research Group performs cutting-edge
robotics research, funneling the resulting technologies into
iRobot product lines that cover a wide variety of mission profiles.

The Research Group
continually develops state-of-the-art robots by:

Pursuing R&D opportunities with leading academic research
institutions, businesses and other technology innovators
Leveraging experience as a systems integrator to put together
best-in-class teams of partners from a wide range of technology areas
Meeting the advanced needs of sponsors with integrated robotic solutions
Providing a direct path to commercialization for innovations resulting
from research initiatives

To make our robots smarter, easier to use and more capable, the Research Group focuses on four Core Technology Areas.

mobile robots are used today in a many-to-one relationship, requiring two
soldiers to operate one robot. the future of mobile robots is true force
multiplication: one soldier in a secure location directing the actions of
multiple unmanned systems in a fully-networked and collaborative
environment, including air-ground-sea collaborative autonomy.

while teleoperated robots need a person to control every move,
semi-autonomous operations enable robots to think and act intelligently.
research group projects cover a number of areas, including
perception for robot autonomy, autonomous behaviors and
autonomous navigation.

some technologies expand the boundaries of mobile robots,
others leave those boundaries behind. these projects use basic
scientific research to provide new technologies that
revolutionize mobile robots.

human-robot interaction (hri) is a broad area of study covering robot
command and control, how information is presented to the user and how
data from one unmanned system fuses into the situational awareness
of the overall mission. several research group projects
focus on multi-robot control and natural hri.