iRobot Co-Founder's New Venture: AI-Powered Home Robots for Health and Wellness

iRobot's founder is working on a new kind of home robot

Colin Angle, the co-founder of iRobot and its CEO for three decades, is getting back into robotics with a new startup called Familiar Machines & Magic. According to The Boston Globe, the company is developing a new kind of home robot focusing on health and wellness that might take the form of an animal or a "familiar." The company is currently in stealth mode, Angle tells The Globe, and includes the former CTO of iRobot, Chris Jones, as well as iRobot's Ira Renfrew, who left the company to work on robotics at Amazon, including the shuttered Scout delivery robot. Angle was working to turn iRobot and its Roomba robot vacuum cleaners into the brains of the smart home before he left the company following the collapse of its sale to Amazon in January of this year. Since then, iRobot has slashed its R&D budget, cut almost 50 percent of its staff, and refocused its business on home cleaning machines. Familiar Machines & Magic has raised $15 million from eight investors and is looking for $15 million more, according to TechCrunch. A job listing for the company on LinkedIn describes it as a "well-funded, new embodied AI and robotics startup based outside of Boston." It's an interesting pivot for Angle to go from the practical to the personal. To date, robots that can do things for you, such as robot vacuum cleaners, robot litter boxes, and robot lawnmowers, have been more successful than "companion bots." Jibo, Moxie, and Anki are just a few that have powered down over the years. However, advances in generative AI could bring more potential to the space. These technologies could make robots such as the lovable Lovot or Sony's Aibo, which the company recently resurrected, seem more human-like, have conversations with you, and be more useful than simply being cute. For example, Israeli startup Intuition Robotics has been working on ElliQ, an AI-powered social robot designed to keep the elderly and home-bound company, since 2017. I've tested a couple of versions of the tabletop robot, and its third-generation model, which incorporates generative AI, is significantly more lifelike and engaging. What exact type of magic Angle and his Familars will conjure up remains to be seen. One investor described "furry pets to address loneliness" to The Globe. However, some combination of personality and practicality that positively impacts the health and well-being of household members feels like a good place to start.

iRobot co-founder's new home robot startup hopes to raise $30M

Colin Angle, one of the co-founders of Roomba maker iRobot, is raising cash for a home robotics venture. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that Angle's new company, Familiar Machines & Magic, is trying to raise $30 million. So far, it has raised $15 million from a group of eight investors. The filing, known as a Form D, doesn't identify backers by name. However, Data Point Capital lists Familiar Machines on its website as one of the VC firm's portfolio companies. Familiar Machines has a domain name but not a functional website, and Angle didn't respond to a request for comment via LinkedIn. In a recent interview with The Boston Globe, Angle said that Familiar Machines, which is based in Boston with plans for a presence in Los Angeles, will develop a new kind of home robot focused on health and wellness. In addition to Angle, the co-founders include former iRobot CTO Chris Jones and iRobot alumnus Ira Renfrew. Renfrew, notably, also helped create Amazon's now-defunct Scout delivery bot. According to The Globe, citing an investor, Familiar Machines is exploring robots as companions -- potentially including AI-powered "furry pets." The company is hiring AI researchers and software engineers, among other roles. "We are pioneering an exciting new category of home robot in the health and wellness space with a significant focus on human-robot interaction," a Familiar Machines job description on LinkedIn reads. "Embodied and agentic AI are central to our product vision." Angle stepped down from iRobot in January, after Amazon's bid to acquire the company collapsed in the face of opposition from EU antitrust regulators. iRobot was forced to lay off 31% of its staff, and Gary Cohen, an ex-Procter & Gamble general manager, was appointed the company's new CEO. Angle has dabbled in home robots before. In the early 2000s, iRobot created a prototype home companion robot called Grommet, per The Globe's reporting. But the home robotics market has proven to be a tough nut to crack. In 2018, Bosch-backed Mayfield Robotics ceased production of its Kuri robot companion amid a questionable future. That same year, tabletop robot creator Jibo wound down operations. Anki, the company behind the viral robot Cozmo, shut down in 2019. And Moxie, which made an AI-powered robot for kids, abruptly shuttered last week. But the failures aren't dissuading tech titans. Amazon continues to try to find a fit for its Astro home robot, and Apple is reportedly working on home robotics in some form.