Annotated Table of Contents

Preface
Prologue
Chapter 1  Robot Vacuum Dreamin’ For decades, inventors fail to build robot vacuums
Chapter 2  Passion, Desire, and Robot Programming The author discovers robots
Chapter 3  Unfinished Symphonies The author twice fails to develop a robot vacuum
Chapter 4  Power Robots have difficult power requirements
Chapter 5  Late Bloomer iRobot is founded and grows slowly
Chapter 6  My Real Baby and Clean Key iRobot projects pave the way for Roomba
Chapter 7  Coverage A cleaning robot must visit every point on the floor
Chapter 8  Forging a New Machine’s Soul Roomba is proposed and a prototype is built
Chapter 9  Tango? iRobot seeks a partner for their new venture
Chapter 10  Trilobite Competitor Electrolux builds a robot vacuum
Chapter 11  Base Camp The Roomba team forms and begins development
Chapter 12  Children of Necessity Key robot features are invented
Chapter 13  Reality Bites Home testing reveals flaws
Chapter 14  Hour Eleven Late stage troubles plague Roomba
Chapter 15  Um, Actually… A long-misunderstood system threatens ruin
Chapter 16  Robot Replication A factory is found and manufacturing is arranged
Chapter 17  Shock and Awfulness The team suffers a major loss
Chapter 18  Pepsi to Pop Roomba is launched, stumbles, and recovers
Chapter 19  Epilogue Why Roomba worked when all others failed
Appendix:  AI and Robots How Artificial Intelligence may change robotics 
Acknowledgments

Dancing with Roomba FAQ

What is the book about?

The book is about the development of the world’s first successful home robot vacuum cleaner.  It covers events from 1989, when Roomba’s earliest direct ancestor was built at the MIT AI Lab, through Roomba’s launch in 2002, ending with the Saturday Night Live parody of Roomba on national TV in 2004.

Why is it called Dancing with Roomba?

Because Roomba is a portmanteau of a dance, “Rumba” and “room.”

Is the book technical?

No.  No technical knowledge is assumed and the book contains neither equations nor diagrams.  When technical details must be related, analogies and intuitive explanations are provided. 

What are your qualifications as author?

I built Roomba’s earliest direct ancestor in 1989.  I also worked on the small team that developed Roomba and have been granted ~80 patents related to that work.

Why did you write the book?

Few of us know where the products we use every day come from.  That’s regrettable because some product have amazing origin stories–tales filled with all the drama, emotion, and surprise you’d find in a riveting novel. Roomba’s journey involved that sort of intensity and I think readers will enjoy learning the robot’s unique history.

Will the book teach me how to create a revolutionary product?

The book can alert you to certain mistakes that are often made in pursuit of products, revolutionary and otherwise.