Did you know that the Roomba robotic vacuum was invented by a woman? Makes sense that a woman would make an electronic gadget that is actually useful and not just entertaining. With millions of Roomba vacuums sold, her robots are cleaning homes around the world.

The Inspiration for Roomba
Helen Greiner watched Star Wars in a theater when she was 11 years old. She was fascinated and enamored by R2D2 the handy fix-it robot that communicated through beeps and sounds. It broke her heart when her big brother told her the truth about R2D2, that this robot didn’t really exist, instead it was just a guy in a costume rolling around the set. Already being naturally drawn to science and math, she was inspired to someday make a real R2D2.

The Real R2D2
That R2D2 now exists in our homes in the form of Roomba. When I read about Helen Greiner and how she was inspired as a child to eventually invent Roomba it all made sense to me. First of all, my Roomba reminds me so much of R2D2 by its communication of emotional sounding beeps (when it gets stuck on a rug the beeps sounds like it is saying “Uh, Oh!”), its practical purpose, and its friendly vibe. And of course, it made perfect sense that a woman was the primary inventor behind the Roomba since it absolutely appeals to the female demographic meeting a need, being affordable, designed with safety as priority, and marketed as a friendly helper (not some scary robot out to take over the world). Personally, I love my Roomba and everyone I know that has one feels the same way.

The Road to Success
Helen Greiner excelled in school completing a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Computer Science both at MIT. In 1990, teaming up with Colin Angle and Rod Brooks, she founded iRobot. With little funding and lots of ambition, they began taking on robotic projects. These projects eventually led to the creation of the PackBot, which is a military robot that is sent to explore buildings and spaces, it even locates and disarms bombs (with the help of trained soldier directing it from a safe distance away). These have been successfully used in Iraq protecting soldiers as they send in the PackBot instead of risking their lives to go in themselves.

Building upon the success of iRobot’s military projects, Helen Greiner knew there had to be a way to make a robot that would have mass commercial appeal. She brilliantly invented the Roomba robotic vacuum in 1999 and it was released on the market in 2002. As we all know, it was happily welcomed by consumers and sales have continued to be hugely successful. In fact, as it stands there are no valid competitors since those that have tried are either too expensive or ineffective compared to Roomba.

Additional iRobot consumer products have been released since then including Scooba the floor mopping robot, Verro the pool cleaning robot, not to mention various version of Roomba to suit everyone’s vacuuming needs. All of course proving the continued quality and success of iRobot.

TotallyHer’s Take
Are we at all surprised that Roomba was invented by a woman? No, not at all! In fact, hats off to you Helen Greiner for making our lives easier, our floors cleaner, and for being an inspiration to all women everywhere.