November 10 - 4:15pm EST   iRobot, a company specializing in developing and manufacturing house-cleaning devices, has recently teamed up with Disney to release a limited-edition version of its Roomba 530 robot with special WALL-E paint and graphics. Unlike the special editions of the cleaning devices introduced this summer, the WALL-E edition does not have features that distinguish it from the standard Roomba 530 model. The battery will last long enough to clean three rooms, and two wall transmitters help guide the robot in its cleaning mission. [full story]

September 3 - 10:25am EDT   iRobot today rolled out two extra Roomba vacuum robots targeted at specific subsets of its normal audience. The Pet Series adjusts the components inside the robot to focus more on catching pet hair as well as the dander that often triggers allergies. Each now has an extra set of brushes and holds much more in the sweeping bin than usual to catch the material that might quickly fill up a normal robot; the counter-rotating brushes are claimed to be good for picking up material either from carpet or hard floors. [full story]

August 6 - 7:00pm EDT   The iRobot Corporation on Wednesday announced the release of its most affordable tactical robot, the Negotiator 200. The 34lb, remote controlled robot can climb and descend stairs and lets emergency response personnel stay clear of any potential dangers thanks to its built-in high-resolution color video camera and available chemical detection system. The video is sent via a 2.4GHz band while data, or control of the robot, is sent via the 900MHz frequency band, with either travelling as far as 800 feet in the line of sight. [full story]