Dancing with Roomba tells the story of everyone’s favorite working robot.
With nearly 50 million units sold, iRobot’s Roomba is a cultural icon. But for five decades scores of earlier, would-be inventors tried and failed to create a practical robot vacuum cleaner. Success turned out to require a breakthrough at an MIT robotics lab, a preserving dreamer, and an inspired development team. Peek behind the scenes to see how this revolutionary product came to be, how it works, and how a tiny company bested a crowd of corporate giants.
The book is written in an engaging and accessible style by Roomba’s chief architect. Anyone who owns a Roomba, works in technology, dreams of building a product, or is just curious about the robot that launched a million memes will find much to love.
DANCING WITH ROOMBA offers an awe-inspiring glimpse into the birth of consumer robotics. A must-read for anyone fascinated by the rise of intelligent machines in our daily lives.
Dr. Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse
Joe Jones has written The Soul of a New Machine for robotics, providing insight into the long process of bringing the first commercially successful home robot, the iRobot Roomba, to market.
Prof. Holly Yanco, UMass, Lowell; Director of the NERVE Center
I love this book, couldn’t wait to get to the next wisecrack or the next disaster for this scrappy team of seven, who pulled off a miracle after so many others had failed. There’s wisdom here, along with a good yarn, ending in a SNL skit.
Dr. John Mather, Nobel prize winner, physics 2006
I had the pleasure of serving as President of iRobot when Roomba was conceived, developed and brought to market. I can attest first hand to the dedication, extreme hard work, and brilliance of the core design team.
Borrowing from noted Anthropologist Margaret Mead’s famous quote, I believe that “A small group of thoughtful and committed engineers and scientists can revolutionize industries. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. ”
This book can serve as great resource for those who want to bring a true innovation to market, a fun read for those who love Roomba, or just a great story about a hardworking little vacuuming robot.
Helen Greiner, Co-founder of iRobot and serial entrepreneur
“Dancing with Roomba” is a front row seat to the very human story of how Roomba came to revolutionize home cleaning. The book offers a model for how real innovation happens – changing the world requires a small focused team ready to endure a messy grind of overcoming skepticism and constant failure.
Eric Paley, Secretary for Economic Development of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
“Dancing with Roomba is a rare window into the messy, emotional, and deeply human process of innovation. This standout story is a masterclass in creative problem-solving and principled design… Technical readers will appreciate the engineering details; general readers will be drawn in by the wit and storytelling. A must-read for product innovators.”
Jeanne Lim is the founder and CEO of beingAI, co-creator of Sophia the Robot as former CEO of Hanson Robotics, committed to advancing humanistic AI for social good.
About Joe Jones
Joe Jones is a life-long tinkerer. He began by disassembling mechanical clocks and vacuum tube radios and then trying to build something new from the parts. His designs improved once he completed his physics degree.
Following college and a trip around the world, he joined the research staff at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Nine years later he became iRobot’s first full-time employee. There, along with a stellar team, he developed Roomba. After iRobot, Joe cofounded two robot companies. He is the author of three earlier books on robotics and he holds over 80 US patents.
