Colin Ingres, founder of iRobot: Home robots are in the early stages of development, and the field of industrial cleaning is the focus of the future

Per reporter: Xie Tao Every editor: Liang Hongliang

In recent years, intelligent robots represented by Alpha GO have continued to emerge, and cutting-edge technologies and new business models have been superimposed, constantly reshaping the current production and living mode and promoting the in-depth development of human society.

On October 29th, the Boston Cloud Dialogue "The Heart of Machines, the Beauty of Co-Creation" hosted by the School of Management of Fudan University was held in Shanghai, inviting experts and scholars, venture capital institutions and representatives of technology companies to discuss in-depth cutting-edge trends and opportunities in the field of robot development and commercialization.

Speaking about the early days of entrepreneurship, Colin Angle, chairman, CEO and founder of iRobot, early on, despite our powerful robotics, didn't know how to turn it into a full-fledged business. We tried more than a dozen business models and all failed.

"For entrepreneurs, starting a business is an exciting and risky thing. The core of entrepreneurship lies in the premise of fully managing risks, constantly trying, constantly making mistakes, and maintaining innovation even when performance is dismal. At the same time, make sure that your business model generates value from the cutting-edge technologies you have, so you need to be very clear about where consumers' problems and pain points lie. "In fact, 90% of robotics companies can produce really cool products, but no consumer is willing to pay for it." ”

At present, the 31-year-old iRobot has more than 1,200 employees worldwide and sold tens of millions of robots, becoming one of the leading companies in the field of home robotics. So how does iRobot continue to stay ahead of the curve? Colin Ingres points out that the secret is to go deep into consumers and talk to consumers.

"Although over the years, we have seen many entrants copying the products we have made, and have achieved some success, but few people have been able to really shake the market landscape. A robot company wants to continue to develop, in addition to maintaining investment in the research and development of cutting-edge robot technology, it is more important how to go deeper into consumers and achieve in-depth collaboration between intelligent robots and consumers, whether it is navigation, human-computer interaction, or a higher degree of intelligence needs to be centered around the core needs of people. ”

It is reported that in 2020, iRobot achieved a total revenue of about 14 US dollars, and its research and development investment accounted for more than 10%. Colin Ingres stressed that integrating cleaning robots into the home environment will be a general direction for iRobot's future product design. "In the past, in product design, we highlighted the sense of high-end and technology, but these often do not coincide with the real home scene, so we hope to be able to design the machine more warmly and integrate into the surrounding environment, rather than making it easier for people to notice its existence."

The reporter learned from the e-commerce big data platform that in 2020, the annual cumulative sales volume of sweeping robots increased by 10.11% year-on-year compared with 2019, and sales increased by 25.28% year-on-year, and the domestic sweeping robot market reached an overall scale of nearly 10 billion yuan. Moreover, the overall trend of "oligarchy" is also emerging, and the brand with the market share of TOP3 has gained more than 75% of the market share.

When talking about the overall trend, Colin Ingres pointed out that the home robot industry is still in a relatively early stage of both technology and market. At the same time, the next generation of robots in the future will focus on the field of industrial cleaning, which is a very promising field.

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