Evolution Robotics
 | This article contains promotional content. (January 2015) |
Evolution Robotics was an American technological company based in Pasadena, California. It specialized in robotics technologies with their product range covering computer vision, localization and autonomous navigation.
Evolution Robotics cooperated with Cambridge University for research in vision technology.[1] Software products of Evolution Robotics were licensed by the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology[2] and the Sony Robotics Division[3] and were part of WowWee robots like Rovio.[4]
On September 17, 2012 it was announced that Evolution Robotics was acquired by iRobot.[5][6]
Products
In January 2010, Evolution Robotics released Mint (model number: 4200), a cleaning robot which dusts and wet-mops hard surface floors.[7] The robot's "wet mopping mode" has a coverage of 3 sq m (1000 sq ft) and 23 sq m (250 sq ft). The Mint doesn't have a vacuum motor and is one of the quietest floor cleaning robots. The Mint was described as a "not fully autonomous robot" hence a cleaning cloth has to be attached to the cleaning pad before using it has to be removed after it is done. For navigation, the robot uses a indoor navigation system is called NorthStar. Mint used a navigation cube as a beacon for navigation, and the original model was only able to handle one of these beacons at a time.
On September 14, 2011, Evolution Robotics announced the second model of the Mint family, called Mint Plus (model number: 5200). The black robot was essentially a slightly improved version of the original Mint, supporting more than one NorthStar® cubes at a time, and the ability to continue work at the same spot if the robot was interrupted during cleaning (for cleaning cloth change).[8] Mint Plus also sported an automatic cleaning solution dispenser that keeps the cloth wet during cleaning, and one of the two versions came with a docking station. The docking station was a charging stand where the robot had to be placed manually.
Evolution Robotics Mint is now branded as iRobot Braava.
Website
- http://evolution.com/ − Website of Evolution Robotics (archived)
References
- ^ MTB Europe: Cambridge University cooperates with Evolution Robotics
- ^ Reuters: Korean Institute of Industrial Technology Licenses Evolution Robotics' ViPR Vision
- ^ Evolution Robotics: Company profile
- ^ "Breakthrough "Micro-GPS" solution from Evolution Robotics™ debuts at CES, featured on WowWee's new Rovio™ robot" (Press release). Idealab. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "iRobot Acquires Evolution Robotics, Makers Of The Mint Robot Vacuum, For $74 Million – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com.
- ^ "iRobot Acquires Evolution Robotics, Inc" (Press release). iRobot. September 17, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Evolution Robotics Introduces Mint™: The Evolution of Floor Cleaning" (Press release). Idealab. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
- ^ "Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner". Retrieved 2016-12-17.