Cool Stuff

BEDFORD, Mass.--If your entire experience with iRobot is a Roomba, you should know that that cute vacuum cleaning robot, while iRobot's signature product, is just the tip of the iceberg.

Actually, though, it is better known in some circles for its military robots, including the PackBot and the SUGV, both small ground-based robots designed to go into combat situations in search of explosives, or to do search and rescue operations.

But now, iRobot is looking down the line, in both the military and home realms--seeing autonomous robots as the future of its military line, and care-providing robots as its best chance to make a difference in the home down the line.

Either way, the company is intent on making a difference in the markets it serves and, as the words emblazoned on the doors to its corporate headquarters here indicate, make "Cool Stuff."

As part of Road Trip 2010, CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman stopped in at iRobot and got a look at the company's past and its future.

Click here to read the related story on iRobot's history and its future. And click here to check out the entire Road Trip 2010 package.

July 15, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Photo by: Daniel Terdiman/CNET

| Caption by: Daniel Terdiman