Prior to landing his current gig, Dragon Innovation co-founder Scott Miller worked at iRobot. He led a team there back in 2009 that oversaw the development and manufacturing of the first four million Roomba units, so he (quite literally) knows the bot inside and out. In this 77-minute video, while he slowly tears the bot apart piece by piece, Miller offers insights on a broad range of Roomba’s design elements along the way — everything from the logic behind the bot’s navigation software, to the design and positioning of the brushes and environmental sensors.
Related: iRobot Roomba 880 Review
The model Miller tears down isn’t one of iRobot’s newer, more advanced versions, but many of the clever features that Miller and his team built into this early version are still found in the company’s new bots. Obviously, some things have changed: later generations have added more powerful motors, bigger dustbins, and more efficient components. But other things –such as the Roomba’s environmental sensors, navigation logic, and shape– have remained mostly unchanged for years.
Check out the video in its entirety on Dragon Innovation’s blog.
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