Helen Greiner: Roboticist and Co-Founder of iRobot

CEO of CyPhy Works Helen Greiner speaks onstage during day one of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 at Pier 70 on September 21, 2015 in San Francisco, California.Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch via Wikimedia Commons

Helen Greiner is an American roboticist, engineer, and co-founder of iRobot, a U.S. based company building robots designed for everyday use. iRobot designed and built the Roomba, a robotic vacuum cleaner fit with sensors which allow it to move around the home whilst avoiding collisions with household objects or falling down staircases. Greiner’s work in both the public and private sectors has made her a pioneer in the robot industry.

Early Life and Inspiration

Greiner was born on December 6^th, 1967, in London, England. When she was five years old, Greiner’s family relocated to Southampton, New York, in the United States. As a young child, Greiner excelled in science; she loved to play with her brother’s electronics and would spend every spare moment at the family computer.[1] When she was eleven, Greiner saw Star Wars and was instantly taken by R2-D2, a robotic character in the movie. In a TEDx Talk in 2013, she explained:

I was enthralled because R2-D2 was one of the main characters, he had emotions, he had a personality, and he was able to communicate without even needing to speak. R2-D2 is more than a machine.[2]

From then, she knew she wanted to pursue a career involving robots. Years later, Greiner went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study for her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, followed by a master’s degree in computer science.

iRobot

It was during her time at MIT that Greiner met Rodney Brooks and Colin Angle, who would become her fellow co-founders of iRobot in 1990. The group decided to start the company as, despite the invaluable skills learned at MIT, they felt nobody there was focused on building mobile robots (much like R2-D2).[3]

iRobot’s primary focus was the design and creation of robots for everyday use. Their first and most popular product was the Roomba, released in September 2002. Since then, more than fifty million Roombas have been sold around the world.[4] In 2010, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, added the Roomba to their Robots Hall of Fame. On why the Roomba was inducted, CMU stated:

A humble, disk-shaped machine, the Roomba doesn't have a personality or a face, doesn't dazzle with speed or bright lights. It just sucks up dirt and dust from carpets and rugs. Critics said it wasn't a very good vacuum cleaner. But it was good enough for lots of people who didn't care to spend their time vacuuming their homes.

By "lots of people," we mean "millions." Its maker, iRobot Corp., has sold more than 8 million Roombas. In the process, a whole new category of robot — the domestic consumer robot — was created.[5]

As well as products for the consumer market, iRobot also designed and created robots to be used by the military to scope out locations that might be dangerous for humans to enter. One of them, the PackBot (a small robot with a shape similar to a tank) was used to explore buildings that surrounded the World Trade Center in New York and ensure they were structurally sound following the attack on 9/11 in 2001.[6]

CyPhy Works and work with U.S. Army

Greiner founded another company in 2008, CyPhy Works, which focused on the creation of drones for use both in the military and the consumer market. She served as the company’s CEO until 2017, when she left the company to become a consultant with the U.S. army.[7] The following year, Greiner was sworn in as a Highly Qualified Expert for Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and AI. On beginning this work, she published the following to LinkedIn:

I am humbled to serve with these and the many other great Americans who have put themselves in harms way for their country, dedicated careers to keeping our military strong, or have jumped into positions from the private sector to help with different skills and perspectives (and in many cases all three). 

The Army needs more robots, autonomous systems, and AI to keep its technological advantage and act as force multipliers. I proudly accept this new challenge.[8]

Awards and Accolades

Throughout her career, Helen Greiner has received numerous accolades for her contributions to the robotics industry. In 2003, she was listed one of Fortune Magazine’s Top Ten Innovators. Good Housekeeping named her Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005[9]; that same year she was named one of America’s Best Leaders by the Kennedy School at Harvard in partnership with U.S. News & World Report. In 2007, she was inducted into Women in Technology International’s Hall of Fame.[10] In 2014, Greiner was made a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE), an initiative launched by President Barack Obama that year.[11]

Conclusion

Helen Greiner is a pioneer of robotics. Her contributions to the industry have not only revolutionized the way people can use robots to complete everyday tasks, but the way they can be implemented within the public sector to minimize the risks faced by humans. For her work, she has received numerous awards and been recognized by some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, and truly is a hero of both innovation and technology.

[1] Encyclopedia of World Biography. Helen Greiner Biography. [Online] Available https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ge-La/Greiner-Helen.html. 2005.

[2] TEDx Talks. Re-Imaginer of Robots: Helen Greiner at TEDxBoston. [Online] Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ApUxGhDqMc. 2013.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Robots Guide. Roomba. [Online] Available https://robotsguide.com/robots/roomba. 2024.

[5] Robots Hall of Fame powered by Carnegie Mellon. Roomba. [Online] Available http://www.robothalloffame.org/inductees/10inductees/roomba.html. 2010.

[6] Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2005.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Greiner, Helen. Why I Accepted an Offer from the Army. [Online] Available https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-accepted-offer-from-army-helen-greiner. 2018

[9] https://investor.irobot.com/news-releases/news-release-details/good-housekeeping-names-irobot-chairman-helen-greiner

[10] https://www.witi.com/halloffame/239374/Helen-Greiner-Co-founder-and-Chairman-iRobot-Corp./

[11] https://2014-2017.commerce.gov/PAGE.html