Page 24 - ATD1September2016

Volkswagen stakes hopes of BUSINESS A25
US sales revival on new SUVÂ Thursday 1 September 2016

iRobot CEO:

Vacuum cleaners clear path to robot futureÂ

ERIK SCHELZIG was too small because a MATT O’BRIEN ple to live independently defense division needed
Associated Press compact SUV offers es- BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — The longer so that we can to go. “We were going to
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. sentially the same space clash this year over the fu- maintain our standard of end up starving defense if
(AP) — Volkswagen’s as a midsized sedan.” ture of iRobot pitted vision- living as a society,” Angle we were going to continue
new SUV comes with a According to Autodata ary robotics against the re- said. “That sounds big and to own it,” Angle said.
feature that automati- Corp., midsize SUV sales tail success of the compa- grandiose other than the Government demand for
cally controls braking to were up 4.5 percent in ny’s Roombas, the circular- fact that it’s a freight train rovers capable of perform-
each wheel as the sev- the U.S. through July. shaped domestic helpers coming down the tracks ing dangerous military and
en-seater descends on That’s more than 3 times that have cleaned millions that we’re going to need disaster-relief tasks in the
slippery off-road terrain. the total industry increase of living rooms around the to address.” aftermath of the Sept. 11
The German automaker of 1.3 percent, so this is an world. After spinning off iRobot’s attacks gave iRobot what
is staking its hopes on the extremely popular seg- Colin Angle said he never lagging and volatile mili- Angle proudly describes
new model being just as ment. imagined when he co- tary robot division in April as a “very important and
adept at arresting the Volkswagen’s SUV is com-
company’s sales woes in ing at a good time for the iRobot co-founder and CEO Colin Angle is illuminated in blue-green light while holding a Roomba
the United States. company — provided it vacuum in a hallway decorated in patents the company owns, at their headquarters in Bedford,
The midsized SUV was is priced competitively, Mass. Angle is transitioning the company from military projects to household robots.
seen as key to reviving said Rebecca Lindland,
flagging U.S. sales even a senior analyst for Kelley (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
before the Volkswagen’s Blue Book.
diesel emissions cheat- Challenges will include founded the company 26 and fending off a disrup- noble” mission design-
ing scandal rocked the changing perceptions years ago that it would tive proxy fight in May, ing robots to keep troops
company to its core and among consumers ac- change the way the world Angle said he’s excited and first responders out of
caused one of the world’s customed to thinking of views vacuuming. But the about a new chapter for harm’s way. It also helped
largest automakers to re- Volkswagen as selling chairman and CEO of iRo- the company that revives subsidize iRobot’s other
assess how it does busi- compact sedans, and to bot also said it’s a miscon- its original 1990 goal: build- ambitions. The profits from
ness around the globe. try to ensure the SUV fits ception to think he’s run- ing the kind of useful, ev- wartime contracts allowed
The new SUV is sched- U.S. tastes by fostering a ning a vacuum cleaner eryday robots we’ve spent iRobot to experiment with
uled to begin produc- culture of being “listen- company. generations imagining in a variety of other robots,
tion at Volkswagen’s lone ers rather than tellers,” Automated vacuums are books and movies. producing some duds and
U.S. plant in Tennessee Lindland said. That way the “beachhead of prac- “It will allow robots to live one huge commercial suc-
toward the end of this the company can de- tical robotics in the world up to the Rosie the Robot cess: the first Roomba, in-
year, with the yet-to-be- velop an understanding today,” an important step vision that everyone wants troduced in 2002.
named vehicle arriving of “what the U.S. market on the path to the smarter robots to be,” Angle said. Now it’s vacuum clean-
in dealer show rooms needs versus what other homes to come, Angle said “Hopefully we’ll do it in ers and other home robots
early in 2017. Volkswa- markets need around the in a recent interview with time, before we have to that are iRobot’s bread
gen sales through the first world — however illogi- The Associated Press at the truly face the reality of our and butter. The company
seven months of the year cal or emotional it may company’s headquarters aging demographic and divested its defense di-
were down by 13 percent seem.” Volkswagen of- in Bedford, Massachusetts. the fact that there aren’t vision in April, spinning it
compared with the same ficials also promise that The mapping software that enough younger people to off into a new company
period before the news the new model will be helps the latest Roomba take care of the older peo- called Endeavor Robotics.
of the emissions scandal priced competitively with model remember where ple.” Earlier this year, An- “As far as iRobot’s con-
broke in 2015. The Tiguan existing SUVs, a segment it’s already picked up dirt gle’s management team cerned, defense has al-
compact SUV has been of the market where Volk- could be the building block and Los Angeles-based ways been somewhat of
one of the company’s swagen has struggled in for future devices that can activist investor Red Moun- a wild card,” said analyst
few bright spots in the the past. The company fetch a glass of water or tain Capital Partners bat- Bobby Burleson, a manag-
U.S., with sales growing by is also keen to avoid re- adjust the lights when a hu- tled over the company’s ing director at Canaccord
49 percent over the same peating mistakes it made man walks into a room. direction and leadership Genuity Inc., who said sell-
period. with the U.S. version of “What iRobot is going to be but agreed on one thing: ing the division “has helped
The company hopes to the Passat, which made most appreciated for is not to strengthen the core focus the company, but
build on that success with an initial splash but then going to be vacuums, it’s consumer robots business, also investors, on what the
the new midsized SUV. fizzled as the buyers were going to be allowing peo- iRobot’s once-lucrative story is.” q
Following a test drive of a left underwhelmed com-
camouflaged prototype pared with the European
of the new vehicle, Mat- version.
thias Erb, the chief engi- The company has since
neering officer for Volk- decided to add a new
swagen’s North American engineering center near
region, said the new SUV the plant to better adapt
fills a gap that Volkswa- to local tastes.
gen had when it came to But those changes will
growing families. be limited to the interior
“If someone already had and exterior of vehicles,
a Passat but wanted because Volkswagen
something bigger af- builds a shared construc-
ter having two kids, we tion platform for vehicles
didn’t have anything to around the world, and it
offer them,” Erb said in an isn’t going to be able to
interview with The Associ- develop chasses and en-
ated Press, conducted gines specifically for the
in German. “The Tiguan U.S. market. q