 I'm Paul Miller with The Verge. I'm here with Colin Angle, the CEO of iRobot, and we're going to talk about robots, which is my favorite subject in the entire world, and thank you so much for joining us. It's so hard to figure out where you guys are focused because you do those wild, crazy amphibian thing you're talking about. You do really serious military stuff. You do cleaning stuff. Where is your focus? What do you spend your time on? Well, you know, I think that the consumer side of our business has really become a very, very important part, so that the amount of energy we are investing in the consumer aspects of our business trumps most of our programs. The military side is very important for us. We have the Pacbot, the Scuba, and we've just launched a small first-look robot, which you can throw probably as far as you can and have it survive and send back information, and also are looking at remote presence. We have a mission. We have a purpose. It's all long-term going toward extending independent living in the home for the customer, and so that as the country ages, as the world ages, we need solutions to allow people to live independently. We need robots in the home that not just clean the home, that's necessary but not sufficient. We also need technology to allow doctors and nurses and caregivers to come into the home and provide special purpose care, or else you end up moving into assisted living, and that's very expensive and increasingly unaffordable for people. So while we're developing these cleaning technologies, we're also working on robots that can provide medical care. And so we also just announced in our... What a segue, by the way. Well done. Well, we've got this very cool new robot, which is the RP Veto, and its mission is to start allowing doctors to actually treat and diagnose patients at a distance. So with this robot and an iPad, a doctor can first send the robot to whatever patient he wants to see, and when the robot arrives there, interact with that person, zoom in using a high-definition camera, take bio readings, use a stethoscope or interface with any of the other instruments in the patient's room, and make a diagnosis. So what's the next step after this? You talk about helping people age independently. In the home, is this going to work in the home? I mean, it's a little bulky, it's not going to do stairs. Well, ultimately you want the robot to do stairs, so that's a problem to go solve. In the home, ultimately, what we'll see is the robots, like Roomba, slowly disappearing. They'll still be there, but you'll have to do less and less in order to maintain them. Have you seen Robot and Prank? Of course. Is that the dream? Well, you know, we're not sure that we want the robot to have the same willingness to go along with questionable activities, but you know, I think... That's not FDA approved yet? Not yet. There seems to me to be sort of a leap recently with these sort of Baxter and these cheaper robotic arms. Is that something you guys are looking at? Is that getting easier quickly? I mean, as robots have a less expensive ability to understand their environment, it opens doors for the robots to do more sophisticated things. Now Baxter is a manufacturing robot, so it operates in an unstructured environment, but it also is designed to be used in close proximity with people. So it's cool because you no longer have to separate the robot and the worker. And so that type of technology ultimately will become important as we add manipulation onto our robot. And do you see that technology accelerating? Absolutely. I mean, I think that what Baxter does is shows that lower cost manipulation is possible where we trade artificial intelligence for mechanical precision. And that's a great and exciting trend. Robots like... I mean, using more artificial intelligence instead of spending more on mechanical. Correct. And then you mentioned this becoming like a robot butler. That's your dream. And I remember you talking about that before, of a bigger robot helping operate the other robots. But a lot of that is about the user interface. And we're seeing Siri and Google Now, these really exciting artificial intelligent natural language user interfaces. Is that something you guys are looking at or how do you want to adopt that? So we'll be a consumer of that technology. The mobile industry is a fantastic boon for the robot industry, right? Because I can just put an Android or an iOS device as the head of my robot and have access to all of that functionality at a very, very low cost. And so the home robot that's interacting with you will be leveraging the mobile user interface technology that exists. And our robot will be focusing on obstacle avoidance, navigation, map building, manipulation. Manipulation. There you go. And again, it's an accelerator for the industry. So we'll be able to see more and more capable robots first attacking commercial applications and then moving down in price. Great. So when do I get to buy one of these? When can I afford this with an arm to take my frozen chicken out of my freezer to defrost it for me while I'm at work? How well do they pay you at the verge? How well do they pay me at the verge? The technology to do that at a relatively expensive price exists today. And over the next 10 years, we're going to see it go down and down. And I won't predict exactly what the date is, but it certainly is rapidly approaching. And in 10 years for serious this time, right? We've heard that number a lot in the robotics industry. Yeah, but not from me. Not from you? Okay. I'm a... I believe one step at a time. I think that when people start making grandiose statements about what in a mere few years is possible or what their fear is in a few years, we're not close. We need to pick applications that have real concrete value to customers, deliver exceed their expectations, and move on. I think that the Roomba is such an amazing example of what can happen if you do something very basic, incredibly... But not random. Not random, but very well. There's over 8 million Roombas that have been sold. And we are the fastest growing segment of the vacuuming industry. And around the world, robot vacuuming just a few years ago went from being non-existent to being a category on itself where in many countries, we are one of the leading vacuum cleaners sold. And so that's a business. That's something that will allow us to make money, reinvest money, create new things, and accelerate the marketplace. So pick something, do it very well, move on to the next thing, and then over time, as I mentioned, these point solutions for cleaning will be coming increasingly self-reliant. So you may have to interact with them once a year. And a robot like this comes along, greets you at the door, you interact with it, and from there your house knows what to do and how to take care of itself. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. I look forward to that future. Okay. I don't know really what to say to a robot. I love you.
 I'm Paul Miller with The Verge.
 I'm here with Colin Angle, the CEO of iRobot, and we're going to talk about robots, which
 is my favorite subject in the entire world, and thank you so much for joining us.
 It's so hard to figure out where you guys are focused because you do those wild, crazy
 amphibian thing you're talking about.
 You do really serious military stuff.
 You do cleaning stuff.
 Where is your focus?
 What do you spend your time on?
 Well, you know, I think that the consumer side of our business has really become a very,
 very important part, so that the amount of energy we are investing in the consumer aspects
 of our business trumps most of our programs.
 The military side is very important for us.
 We have the Pacbot, the Scuba, and we've just launched a small first-look robot, which
 you can throw probably as far as you can and have it survive and send back information,
 and also are looking at remote presence.
 We have a mission.
 We have a purpose.
 It's all long-term going toward extending independent living in the home for the customer,
 and so that as the country ages, as the world ages, we need solutions to allow people to
 live independently.
 We need robots in the home that not just clean the home, that's necessary but not sufficient.
 We also need technology to allow doctors and nurses and caregivers to come into the home
 and provide special purpose care, or else you end up moving into assisted living, and
 that's very expensive and increasingly unaffordable for people.
 So while we're developing these cleaning technologies, we're also working on robots that can provide
 medical care.
 And so we also just announced in our...
 What a segue, by the way.
 Well done.
 Well, we've got this very cool new robot, which is the RP Veto, and its mission is to
 start allowing doctors to actually treat and diagnose patients at a distance.
 So with this robot and an iPad, a doctor can first send the robot to whatever patient he
 wants to see, and when the robot arrives there, interact with that person, zoom in using a
 high-definition camera, take bio readings, use a stethoscope or interface with any of
 the other instruments in the patient's room, and make a diagnosis.
 So what's the next step after this?
 You talk about helping people age independently.
 In the home, is this going to work in the home?
 I mean, it's a little bulky, it's not going to do stairs.
 Well, ultimately you want the robot to do stairs, so that's a problem to go solve.
 In the home, ultimately, what we'll see is the robots, like Roomba, slowly disappearing.
 They'll still be there, but you'll have to do less and less in order to maintain them.
 Have you seen Robot and Prank?
 Of course.
 Is that the dream?
 Well, you know, we're not sure that we want the robot to have the same willingness to
 go along with questionable activities, but you know, I think...
 That's not FDA approved yet?
 Not yet.
 There seems to me to be sort of a leap recently with these sort of Baxter and these cheaper
 robotic arms.
 Is that something you guys are looking at?
 Is that getting easier quickly?
 I mean, as robots have a less expensive ability to understand their environment, it opens
 doors for the robots to do more sophisticated things.
 Now Baxter is a manufacturing robot, so it operates in an unstructured environment, but
 it also is designed to be used in close proximity with people.
 So it's cool because you no longer have to separate the robot and the worker.
 And so that type of technology ultimately will become important as we add manipulation
 onto our robot.
 And do you see that technology accelerating?
 Absolutely.
 I mean, I think that what Baxter does is shows that lower cost manipulation is possible where
 we trade artificial intelligence for mechanical precision.
 And that's a great and exciting trend.
 Robots like...
 I mean, using more artificial intelligence instead of spending more on mechanical.
 Correct.
 And then you mentioned this becoming like a robot butler.
 That's your dream.
 And I remember you talking about that before, of a bigger robot helping operate the other
 robots.
 But a lot of that is about the user interface.
 And we're seeing Siri and Google Now, these really exciting artificial intelligent natural
 language user interfaces.
 Is that something you guys are looking at or how do you want to adopt that?
 So we'll be a consumer of that technology.
 The mobile industry is a fantastic boon for the robot industry, right?
 Because I can just put an Android or an iOS device as the head of my robot and have access
 to all of that functionality at a very, very low cost.
 And so the home robot that's interacting with you will be leveraging the mobile user interface
 technology that exists.
 And our robot will be focusing on obstacle avoidance, navigation, map building, manipulation.
 Manipulation.
 There you go.
 And again, it's an accelerator for the industry.
 So we'll be able to see more and more capable robots first attacking commercial applications
 and then moving down in price.
 Great.
 So when do I get to buy one of these?
 When can I afford this with an arm to take my frozen chicken out of my freezer to defrost
 it for me while I'm at work?
 How well do they pay you at the verge?
 How well do they pay me at the verge?
 The technology to do that at a relatively expensive price exists today.
 And over the next 10 years, we're going to see it go down and down.
 And I won't predict exactly what the date is, but it certainly is rapidly approaching.
 And in 10 years for serious this time, right?
 We've heard that number a lot in the robotics industry.
 Yeah, but not from me.
 Not from you?
 Okay.
 I'm a... I believe one step at a time.
 I think that when people start making grandiose statements about what in a mere few years
 is possible or what their fear is in a few years, we're not close.
 We need to pick applications that have real concrete value to customers, deliver exceed
 their expectations, and move on.
 I think that the Roomba is such an amazing example of what can happen if you do something
 very basic, incredibly... But not random.
 Not random, but very well.
 There's over 8 million Roombas that have been sold.
 And we are the fastest growing segment of the vacuuming industry.
 And around the world, robot vacuuming just a few years ago went from being non-existent
 to being a category on itself where in many countries, we are one of the leading vacuum
 cleaners sold.
 And so that's a business.
 That's something that will allow us to make money, reinvest money, create new things,
 and accelerate the marketplace.
 So pick something, do it very well, move on to the next thing, and then over time, as
 I mentioned, these point solutions for cleaning will be coming increasingly self-reliant.
 So you may have to interact with them once a year.
 And a robot like this comes along, greets you at the door, you interact with it, and
 from there your house knows what to do and how to take care of itself.
 Awesome.
 Well, thank you so much.
 I look forward to that future.
 Okay.
 I don't know really what to say to a robot.
 I love you.