...cleaning revolution. Roomba brings robotic technology to the everyday chores of sweeping and vacuuming. With the touch of a button, Roomba collects dirt, pet hair and other debris from all areas of the floor, including under and around furniture and along wall edges. Founded in 1990 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists, iRobot designs and builds some of the world’s most important robots. iRobot’s home robots are revolutionizing the way people clean – inside and out. More than 8 million home robots have been sold worldwide, with the award-winning iRobot Roomba floor vacuuming robot leading the charge. iRobot’s combat-proven defense and public safety robots perform multiple missions – on the land and in the water. More than 5,000 have been delivered to military and civil defense forces worldwide, performing thousands of dangerous search, reconnaissance and bomb-disposal missions while protecting those in harm’s way. With two decades of leadership in the robot industry, iRobot remains committed to building robots that improve the quality of life and safety standards worldwide. Timeline 2012 More than 8 million home robots sold worldwide. More than 5,000 iRobot unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) delivered worldwide. 2011 iRobot launches the Scooba 230 floor washing robot. iRobot launches Roomba® 700 series vacuum cleaning robots. 2010 iRobot celebrates 20 years of making a difference. iRobot co-sponsors National Robotics Week. iRobot Seaglider helps monitor...
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...© HULT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL | CASE STUDY: IROBOT - “WHERE TO WIN” AND “HOW TO PLAY” 1 Hult Strategic Growth Challenge: iRobot – “Where to Win” & “How to Play” in the increasingly crowded robotics space Competition Details Judge: Ronald Jonash Professor of Strategy and Innovation, Hult International Business School Case Study: iRobot - “Where to Win” and “How to Play” in the increasingly crowded robotics space Developed by Professor Ronald Jonash and Bert Fickel for the purpose of classroom discussion and analysis at Hult International Business School. ©2014 What would you do? You are the head of strategy at iRobot, and have been asked for your recommendations and rationale on “Where to Play” and “How to Win” over the next two years. 1. Where should iRobot best put its development resources and focus? 2. Where is iRobot’s marketing budget best spent? 3. How can iRobot best win given its strengths and weaknesses? 4. What are the key factors and competencies that are liable to drive success and gain a sustainable competitive advantage? Read the complete case study on pages 1 - 2. Rules Entries must be submitted in PowerPoint format 10 slide maximum including 1-2 page executive summary (not including title page) Presentation should be professional and “boardroom ready” Awards* 1st Place - 40% scholarship towards tuition 2nd Place - 25% scholarship towards tuition 3rd Place - 15% scholarship towards tuition How to submit Apply for our intake 2014 ...
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...Put yourself in the position of an entrepreneur who is developing a new self-propelled, robotic lawn mower, similar to the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, to introduce into the market. Develop the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy for marketing the new product. Be sure to discuss: 1) the overall segmentation strategy 2) characteristics of the segment(s) you might choose as the target market 3) why the target market(s) is/are attractive 4) your positioning strategy. The primary goal of marketing this new, unique product of its generation is presenting its benefit of convenience. The possible target segments will include the elderly and homeowners with lawns in very hot climates. The segmentation strategy will obviously be a concentrated strategy, where one type of product will be aimed at multiple target segments. The characteristic of the first segment, the elderly, is physical disability. When people grow old, the simplest of tasks can become extremely challenging, which makes the elderly a perfect candidate as a target segment for this robotic lawn mower. For the second segment, which are homeowners with lawns in very hot climates, the characteristics may include undesirably hot conditions and potential dangers of hot weather, such as heat cramps, dehydration, and heat stroke. These target markets deem attractive because the product presents a potential solution for a problem associated with the targets. The problem is that the hard work involved...
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...large lawns, elderly people who have physical disabilities, homeowners living in hot climates, and businesses that operate large amounts of fields of land. The targeting strategy must takes in to consideration the demographics, age and life-cycles, income, benefits, and psychographics. The product line will also need to eventually diversify at different costs. Some homeowners and businesses have larger lawns compared to others. Therefore, a bigger robotic machine will be required. People may also want to spend more money in return for better and faster production. Therefore, an upgraded robotic lawn mower will need to be made available. No one likes washing the dishes, therefore the dishwasher exists. No one likes vacuuming, therefore the Roomba exists. No one likes mowing the lawn, therefore a robotic lawn mower should be introduced. With the rise in the level of disposable income, americans will be willing to pay...
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...years the work of engineers and sci-fi writers have forecast a time when autonomous machines would become enough like living creatures to share our homes and work spaces.” The statement in this article is a good capture to draw the attention of the readers, drawing them into what they have seen on TV and in the media. Robots for many years have been the focus in movies and sci-fi, this is what we are expecting in the future of our world. This has brought the fears to the people to think that robots will take over the world and do harm on to them, which was a great way to understand that society will have a hard time adjusting or accepting that robots will be used in everyday life. As of right now there already is a little robot called the Roomba helping out in many households with the chore of vacuuming. This robot has been welcomed into many homes due to its practicality and cost, which was kept low for marketing. This is just to show that the fear of robots in the home or work place can slowly be overcome. The day when most jobs and daily lives will be changed by robot interaction is coming according to this article. The technology of robots has been advancing at a much...
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...Name : Premela Raman ID :111052-05112-010 Date : 20.3.2012 Should Robots be Encouraged to Do Work? What is a robot? A robot, scientifically known as a machine, means ‘a machine capable of carrying out complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer (Oxford dictionaries, 2012). A robot can complete one or more tasks repeatedly, with high speed and accuracy. In today’s modern life, robot is getting to be increasingly important for many people because it can perform industrial duties, housework and so forth. Today, it has been proven, that robot bring benefits to all of us in many different ways. Japan is a good example of a country to prove that robot is an important machine in industries in the country. In fact, Japan looks for robots to fill jobs because there are lack of employees to do work (Lustig, 2009).This shows, the importance of robots to do work in big industries. Furthermore, mostly electronics industry and motor vehicle industry need large quantity of robots to complete their products until final products (IFR International Federation of Robotics, n.d). The top list shows that the Republic of Korea has sold 23,500 robots, up from 7,800 units in 2009 (IFR International Federation of Robotics, n.d). From the statistics, we can realise that robots play an important role to do work in all of the industries in the world. However, there are those who think that robots have negative effects for people and can bring extreme danger...
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...Marketing Essay 1: Robotic Lawn Mower Put yourself in the position of an entrepreneur who is developing a new self-propelled, robotic lawn mower, similar to the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, to introduce into the market. Develop the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategy for marketing the new product. Be sure to discuss: 1) the overall segmentation strategy 2) characteristics of the segment(s) you might choose as the target market 3) why the target market(s) is/are attractive 4) your positioning strategy. The primary goal of marketing this new, unique product of its generation is presenting its benefit of convenience. The possible target segments will include the elderly and homeowners with lawns in very hot climates. The segmentation strategy will obviously be a concentrated strategy, where one type of product will be aimed at multiple target segments. The characteristic of the first segment, the elderly, is physical disability. When people grow old, the simplest of tasks can become extremely challenging, which makes the elderly a perfect candidate as a target segment for this robotic lawn mower. For the second segment, which are homeowners with lawns in very hot climates, the characteristics may include undesirably hot conditions and potential dangers of hot weather, such as heat cramps, dehydration, and heat stroke. These target markets deem attractive because the product presents a potential solution for a problem associated with the targets...
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...Bhoomi Patel MKTG 3050 Dr. K 11/2/2015 Chapter 17 Advertising and Public Relations Media types: (Page ) 1) Newspaper: the most common and old way of advertising is the newspaper. This is a short term media for advertising. Newspaper covers most of the markets news. However, newspaper can be expensive media because it costs printing and delivery expenses. Most of the people in India, read the newspaper while having the breakfast early in the morning. Reading the newspaper is like a daily habit of most people in India. Newspaper is very common because anyone can afford to buy a newspaper. Newspaper advertising can be lost easily when new newspaper publishes after a week. It doesn’t last long than a week. Also, newspapers are not accurate in colored picture effect. 2) Magazines: magazines can long last for a month. Magazines provide better colored picture effect but rare people prefer to buy magazine instead of newspaper. This is also an expensive media source because it cost expenses for printing and delivering. Magazines are popular in doctors’ clinics and some business buildings. 3) Radio: radio is low on cost and no visual advertising. This is verbal medium of advertising. It is also short term advertising source. It can deliver the message to the large group of people. Most people can listen the radio during driving time, this means it saves the time in listening instead of reading. However, it will lack in a...
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...on mining for income. There has been some improvement over the years, several countries have reduced the number of children in mining and that prevents child labor. In 2015 iRobot launched a vacuum cleaning robot. iRobot combined visual navigation and increased the cleaning power on carpets. In 2013 iRobot launched a lot of robots and more than 10 million home robots were sold worldwide. The robots launched were the Roomba® 800 Series, the Ava™ 500, and the Mirra™ 530. In 2011 iRobot developed a small light called the 110 FirstLook® and they also launched the Scooba® 230, a floor washing robot, and the Roomba® 700, a vacuum cleaning robot. In 2009 iRobot launches SPARK education initiative. In 2008 iRobot invents the Roomba® pet series. In 2007 iRobot launches a few robots, such as: the Create® programmable mobile robot, the Verro® pool cleaning robot, and the Looj® gutter cleaning robot. In 2006 iRobot launched the Dirt Dog® shop sweeping robot. In 2002 the PackBot® is deployed with U.S. troops for the first time and iRobot and National Geographic Society developed a robot that searched the Great Pyramid of Egypt. In 2001 the PackBot® also searched the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. In 1996 iRobot develops Ariel™, a robot that detects and eliminates mines in the surf zone. The first robot iRobot developed was the Genghis™, a robot designed for space exploration. Capstone Mining Corporation has had huge milestones such as, in February 2009 high grade resources were...
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...fears that Clocky's "look" ( which was intended to show Clocky as a warm and friendly in the eyes of the consumer ) will support the image of Clocky in being just another strange product that will fad after a while. Our recommendation for Clocky's marketing launch plan are these key components : Product: Nanda visions her product as a solid platform for her future innovations, in other words she wants Clocky to be a strong solid brand in the market ; she cited how iRobot used the success of its first innovation " Roomba " , that successfully avoid the fade label problem , to manage the rest of its innovative products . Moreover we found characteristics that are in favor of Nanda's product such as efficiency ( to turn off the alarm you have to get out of bed and catch it ) its technologically advanced ( the technology used to create Clocky allows it to maneuver freely in the room and not get stuck by any obstacles ) also its warm and friendly appearance ( it can be viewed as a pet just like the case of iRobot's Roomba ) However , due to some bad reviews, which are indicated in the case , we recommend that Nanda change the " eccentric and funny looking " design of Clocky so that it appeals for a wider range of consumers; Retail Channels & Distribution : Nanda's goal is to make Clocky available to consumers as soon as possible and to be...
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...CANNOT BE ACCEPTED ON ANY SUBSEQUENT TRANSACTION OR AFTER 08/31/2015 One time use only. No copies please. Non transferable. Take 20% off one single item. Present this Savings Certificate. Savings Certificate Expires 08/31/2015 Valid for instore use only. Copies not accepted. Limit one coupon, Savings Certificate, special offer or discount per item. Cannot be combined with a price match. Coupon must be surrendered at time of purchase; any return of purchase will reduce your savings proportionately. The discount cannot be applied to gift cards, shipping, or sales tax. Offer excludes the following: Alessi, Arthur Court, Blaze, Breville®, Britto™ Collection, Brookstone®, Bosch Stand Mixers, College Campus Collections, Dimond, Elk, DKNY, Fitbit™, iRobot® Roomba® 800 Series Vacuums, Karastan, kate spade, Kenneth Cole Reaction Home, KitchenAid® PROLINE, Kosta Boda, Landmark, Le Creuset®, Lladró®, Miele, Minka Aire, Monique Lhuillier, Nambe®, Naturepedic, Nautica®, Nespresso, Nutrimill, Orrefors, Quoizel, Riedel, Shun, Swarovski, Swash™ Express Clothing Care System (sku's 43127511 and 43127528), Swiss Diamond, TTech, Vera Wang®, Victorinox Luggage, Vitamix, Waterford®, or Wusthof® and Bedding Essentials Kits. Alcoholic beverages excluded where required by law, Baby Brezza®, Baby Jogger™, Babyletto™, Babymel™, BÉABA®, Bugaboo, Bumbleride™, clek®, CYBEX, DaVinci™, Destination Maternity®, Ergobaby™, Foundations®, franklin & ben™, HALO™ Bassinest™, Inglesina®, MaxiCosi®, Million Dollar Baby Classic™...
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...As the world rapidly moves to technological dependency and ICT has become an integral part of most of our daily lives, we are now seeing and experiencing all the inventions that we thought would only exist in cartoons. We have robot pets that have been mass produced, robots that can play table tennis, onboard GPS navigation devices for our cars and we even have cars that can convert to boats but as we have seen in the past, great inventions can be used in a destructive way or have ill-effects. This essay will describe some problems associated with AI and robots and describe some ethical issues associated with the use of this technology. The origin of artificial intelligence and robots can be found way back in Greek times because although they didn`t have the resources to develop the machines we see today they already had ideas of objects that could act like humans and be autonomous. In their literature there are traces of intelligent artifacts and traces of how mechanical devices were created to act with a limited degree of intelligence. Since AI is rooted in logic it can be said that Aristotle was the first to contribute to AI because he created syllogistic logic which is the first type of system that was designed to help with reasoning. But the first actual AI program was done by John McCarthy who in fact coined the term “Artificial Intelligence”. He and his students created the first computer programs that were able to solve logic problems. Today AI can be seen in everything...
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...Case-Study - INBV The Reluctant Entrepreneur By Max Chafkin | Jul 1, 2007 The Start-up: Nanda Home The Founder: Gauri Nanda Rochester Hills, Michigan The business proposition: Part iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) and part Kate Spade, Nanda Home creates cute, clever products that are intended, in the words of its founder, to "humanize technology." The company already has one hit: Consumers have snapped up more than 9,000 units of a $50 plastic alarm clock. Set the alarm for 6 a.m. When the time comes, the clock wheels itself off your bedside table and rolls around the room, emitting R2D2-like squeaks. Dubbed Clocky, the little robot is manufactured in China and sold online and in design boutiques. The company also has a line of handbags designed to accommodate laptops. The founder: Gauri Nanda designed Clocky as a graduate student in MIT's Media Lab. The daughter of entrepreneurs--her parents recently sold their small weekly newspaper in Detroit--she aspired to become a designer at a large technology company. "I was opposed to the idea of starting a company," says Nanda. "I saw the hours my parents worked." After presenting Clocky to her class in the fall of 2004, she threw it in the back of her closet. She'd almost forgotten about it until the next spring, when several tech bloggers stumbled upon a photo of her invention online. Suddenly, Nanda was getting contacted by reporters and TV producers. Good Morning America called. She scrambled to fix the buggy prototype...
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...Embracing big brother: How facial recognition could help fight crime - CNN.com 2014-09-16, 10:03 AM It looks like you are from Canada. Would you like to make International your default edition? SET EDITION: U.S. TV: CNN CNNi INTERNATIONAL CNN en Español MÉXICO HLN ARABIC Yes | No Sign up Close Log in Home TV & Video U.S. World Politics Justice Entertainment Tech Health Living Travel Opinion iReport Money Sports WATCH CNN: Defense Secretary Hagel testifies to Senate about ISIS threat. Part of complete coverage on Make, Create, Innovate Embracing big brother: How facial recognition could help fight crime By Jim Stenman, CNN updated 9:04 AM EST, Tue November 26, 2013 | Filed under: Innovations SHARE THIS Print Email Recommend More sharing 5.3k Part of complete coverage on Make Create Innovate 'Electronic sketch artist' fights crime Turn your kitchen into an orchestra STORY HIGHLIGHTS Soon, you could pay for goods simply by showing your face to a scanner Government agencies are keen to use the technology, with the stated aim of fighting crime The FBI will roll out advanced facial recognition technology across the U.S in 2014 Critics warn of the "compromising" risks of giving intimate information away updated 12:09 PM EDT, Wed September 3, 2014 (CNN) -- From fighting terrorism to processing payments in the blink of an eye, facial recognition is set to change our ideas on privacy. A number of...
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...122 Harvard Business Review | July–August 2007 | hbr.org Marcos Chin The goal of forecasting is not to predict the future but to tell you what you need to know to take meaningful action in the present. EOPLE AT COCKTAIL PARTIES are always asking me for stock tips, and then they want to know how my predictions have turned out. Their requests reveal the common but fundamentally erroneous perception that forecasters make predictions. We don’t, of course: Prediction is possible only in a world in which events are preordained and no amount of action in the present can infl uence future outcomes. That world is the stuff of myth and superstition. The one we inhabit is quite different – little is certain, nothing is preordained, and what we do in the present affects how events unfold, often in significant, unexpected ways. The role of the forecaster in the real world is quite different from that of the mythical seer. Prediction is concerned P by Paul Saffo Six Rules for Accurate Forecasting Effe c ti ve t i MANAGING FOR THE LONG TERM | Six Rules for Effective Forecasting 124 Harvard Business Review | July–August 2007 | hbr.org with future certainty; forecasting looks at how hidden currents in the present signal possible changes in direction for companies, societies, or the world at large. Thus, the primary goal of forecasting is to identify the full range of possibilities, not a limited set of illusory certainties. Whether a specific forecast actually...
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