That's what Paul Saffo says he listens for. A fellow at the Institute for the Future, a non-profit, Palo Alto based research group that counts a number of corporate strategists and biz dev folks among its members, Saffo recently told the San Jose Mercury News that those whispers are coming from the Roomba, the $200 robotic vacuum cleaner made by the Massachusetts company iRobot. The MIT brainiacs at iRobot also make robots for the industrial and military markets, and in Saffo's view they're helping make robotics a part of everyday life, a change he compares to the microprocessor revolution in the 1980s. Paging Dr. Asimov.
— Kenneth Klee

Join Corporate Dealmaker's LinkedIn forum