Spring 2018: Berlin becomes Robot City!

Robots&Girls – Techfashionlabel Startup in a new dimension.

The Berlin-based fashion label start-up company Robots&Girls GmbH establishes humanoid robots in the retail trade. Opening of the first workerbotkioskTM is scheduled for spring 2018 in the ‚BIKINI BERLIN‘ concept shopping mall. In order to finance this ambitious project, Robots&Girls has started a worldwide crowdfunding campaign on indiegogo.com on January 18th, 2018. (https://igg.me/at/robotsandgirls )


The robot Gisela in the Robot&Girls Kiosk

Encountering a humanoid robot is sometimes very difficult. A small kiosk in the middle of a concept shopping center in Berlin will very soon change this situation however. Robots&Girls GmbH will open the doors to the public of its first flagship store in the BIKINI BERLIN in Spring with a festive atmosphere and in the presence of the media and switch on the friendly huma- noid robot Gisela for it to start its work. The robot will then produce goods on its own in the unique shop and then hand over the final products to customers.

The TechFashion label company Robots&Girls will offer technical Gadgets such as wearab- les, TechJewelry and TechToys. The first product will be a small robot, that the robot Gisela assembles in front of her customers. Also ‘click and collect’ purchases are being considered. This involves customers being able to order goods in advance in Internet and then collect them at the workerbotkioskTM.

But Robots&Girls GmbH will however go much further. The newly established company also of- fers the kiosks for sale or rent and plans, following a successful start in Berlin, to bring worker- botkioskTM to the market as a franchise concept, or to grant individual licenses for use of the concept.

Robots&Girls GmbH operates as the worldwide first company to run, lease or grant licenses for kiosks as retail outlets run by humanoid robots.

RobotsandGirls.de

iRobot Announces Stock Repurchase Program

BEDFORD, Mass., Feb. 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in consumer robots, today announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program. Under the program, iRobot may purchase up to $50 million of its common stock beginning March 28, 2018 and ending December 28, 2018.

Under the repurchase program, the Company is authorized to repurchase shares through Rule 10b5-1 plans (which would permit the Company to repurchase shares when the Company might otherwise be precluded from doing so under insider trading laws), open market purchases, privately-negotiated transactions, block purchases or otherwise in accordance with applicable federal securities laws, including Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company may choose to suspend or discontinue the repurchase program at any time but cannot carry over unused authorization amounts to future periods.

„The Board’s authorization of a share repurchase program reflects our confidence in the health and long-term outlook of the company,“ said Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of iRobot. „With a strong balance sheet and cash flows, we believe we can take advantage of volatile market conditions to buy back our shares while maintaining the flexibility to make strategic investments in our future.“

As of December 30, 2017, iRobot had 27,945,144 shares of common stock outstanding.

About iRobot Corp.

iRobot, the leading global consumer robot company, designs and builds robots that empower people to do more both inside and outside of the home. iRobot created the home robot cleaning category with the introduction of its Roomba® Vacuuming Robot in 2002. Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold more than 20 million robots worldwide. iRobot’s product line, including the Roomba and the Braava® family of mopping robots, feature proprietary
technologies and advanced concepts in cleaning, mapping and navigation. iRobot’s engineers are building an ecosystem of robots and data to enable the smart home. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com.

For iRobot Investors

Certain statements made in this press release that are not based on historical information are forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, iRobot Corporation’s expectations concerning management’s plans for execution of a stock repurchase program, including the maximum amount and duration of purchases of our common stock under our authorized stock repurchase program.  These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results and actions to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. iRobot Corporation undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new
information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by iRobot Corporation, see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.

MIMIC Educational Robots Introduces Robots You Can Code

Cincinnati-based Entrepreneur launches Kickstarter campaign to launch ‘mimicArm’, your own programmable A.I. robot arm

Cincinnati, OH (April 14, 2018) – mimicEducationalRobots (a division of Robomotive Laboratories LLC) is changing the way coding is taught with mimicArm. The Cincinnati-based small family business launched a new Kickstarter campaign (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/713401305/662798422?ref=455790&token=e4d4249c) on April 24th to help advance the development and production of the new technology.

mimicArm is a desktop sized robot arm that represents a new approach to teaching programming. mimicArm is a collaborative robot, or “cobot”, designed to interact with human users.  Unlike other educational robots mimicArm teaches children to program robots to work in tandem with humans. Using the mimicArm controller children as young as 5 are immediately able to interact with mimicArm.  When they’re ready, users can begin coding using mimicBlock, a graphical coding interface.  mimicArm is also programmable using actual C code and includes simple pre-written functions to allow the quick creation of complicated programs. The provided programming experiments start simple, but build to complex interactive artificial intelligence programs. Paired with the inputBox and other sensors the user can create a truly interactive artificial intelligence robot arm.

Brett Pipitone, the Founder of mimicEducationalRobots is no stranger to Kickstarter.  “After a successfully-funded Doorbell Phone campaign on Kickstarter, I began to indulge in my love of robotics and introduced the Cortex:Robot Arm controller,” said Pipitone. “We continued to develop the technology by adding joints, cameras and motion and soon realized that we had developed something truly unique: The mimic immersion robot was born.  While mimic’s Kickstarter campaign didn’t reach it’s goal, the technology developed allowed us to build mimicArm, which we think could really make a difference in the world.”

The key to bringing mimicArm to life is the mimic arm controller with patent-pending Posi-Feeltm grip controllers. The user grips a simple scissor control and moves his or her arm and hand in natural ways.  mimicArm will “mimic” these motions. A series of joints, pivots and sensors are built into the mimicArm Controller to make this possible.  When the user is ready, easy to use programming software and robust examples walk them through the process of learning to program their own robot.

This assemblage of new technologies allows the user to see immediate frustration-free results without the risk of outgrowing the robot in a short time.  The infinite expandability and endless programming possibilities will keep even expert programmers captivated.

mimicEducationalRobots realized early that a single package would not fit all users needs, so backers have a choice of three packages, each with a unique user in mind.

  • The mimicArm kit version includes the robot and manual controller. This version is great for those who want to ease into robotics coding, or those that already have sensors that they’re ready to integrate with the robot.  Perfect for beginners and experts, this package is the most affordable option.
  • The mimicArm Super Fun Kit is centered around manual mode, with a set of accessories to maximize the fun factor. Users can stack the stacking blocks (included), or program the robot to do it for them.  The Great Big Button is also included, and offers additional capabilities for those honing their coding skills (or for those with younger siblings that really want to touch something). “mimicArm Super Fun Kit is targeted towards younger users, but is also a great way for beginners to make coding interesting as well,” says Pipitone.
  • The mimicArm Deluxe Kit is the most complete kit offered. Including everything from the mimicArm Super Fun Kit, the mimicArm Deluxe Kit adds the input box and IR Distance Sensor for maximum interactive possibilities.  The inputBox incorporates buttons, a microphone and other sensors, and a microSD card.  “Programmable with both mimicBlock and Arduino, the Deluxe kit really expands the possibilities. With this kit the user can truly program their own interactive robot,” says Pipitone.

MimicArm is a great educational tool, and users can be a part of it now by backing mimic on Kickstarter. According to Pipitone, „We’re teaching those who will deliver the personal robot of the future. We’re still working on flying cars and jet packs.“

For more information, please visit: http://www.mimicrobots.com/.