Dancing with Roomba: Cracking the Robot Riddle and Building an Icon

Dancing with Roomba tells the unexpected story of the world’s favorite robot.

For five decades, corporations spent millions pursuing a floor-cleaning robot. Legions of engineers toiled, dozens of patents were issued, yet every effort failed. Then came Roomba. Selling nearly 50 million units since its launch, Roomba’s unlikely success sprang from a breakthrough at an MIT robotics lab, an inventor who persevered through years of setbacks, and an inspired team that worked as one to smash every problem. This book provides a rare view behind the scenes, revealing how a revolutionary product came to be, how it works, and how a tiny company was able to best a crowd of corporate giants.

Written in an easy, narrative style, Dancing with Roomba is accessible to all. 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.

Joseph L. Jones, a lifelong tinkerer and inventor, focuses on the practical application of robotic technology to real-world problems. In that pursuit he co-founded Tertill Corporation, a manufacturer of robots that weed home gardens, and Harvest Automation, Inc., a company that builds autonomous robots for the nursery and greenhouse industry. At both firms he served as CTO. Earlier, as senior roboticist, he spearheaded the development of Roomba, the world’s first successful home floor cleaning robot. A graduate of MIT, he is author of three earlier books on robotics and holds over 80 US and several international patents.