Visiting iRobot

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I just got back from a fun and fascinating trip to Boston, all expenses paid courtesy of iRobot. I wanted to go for a couple reasons. One, I love Boston (and the trip prompted me to do a post at Suite101 on Boston Sightseeing with Kids). Two, I dig gadgets, electronics, and all geeky things. Robots? Kind of the ultimate gadget.

Going also gave me a chance to hang out with some very cool mom bloggers: Stacie from Divine Miss Mommy (the Type-A Mom beauty and fashion editor), my special online chat-friend Allison from Blissfully Domestic, Miss Blondie, Trisha from Momdot, Nicole from Momfuse, Ali from Chip Chick, Niri from MommyNiri, and the totally fabulous Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife.

Also, my longtime bloggy friend (who is now starting a new and exciting PR job with the agency who put this shindig together), Jessica Smith was there. The people with iRobot and Fleischman were also great. (Nancy Smith, their VP of marketing, has a special place in my heart for being almost as loud as me in a restaurant. Kudos, dahhlin’!).

The best part of all is that this getaway, an iNGENUITY expo of sorts, means I will have a chance to offer my readers hear and at Type-A Mom a chance to win a robot (oh yeah, is that cool or what?). Better yet, we will have a chance to win $10,000 to give to Donors Choose.

If you haven’t checked out the site, definitely do. I love the idea. Essentially, you can search for teachers who need funding for projects (you can search locally, by subject/topic, or even by neediest schools). You can donate small amounts or big amounts. It’s just such a clever idea. Keep an eye out on this site and Type-A Mom, and also watch for Twitter posts tagged #thatsingenious.

I also took some pictures while I was there, and learned some interesting things. For example, iRobot doesn’t just make vaccuums like the Roomba. They also make robots that save soldiers’ lives doing tasks like recon work to seek out bombs. You can even fan the PackBot on Facebook (how funny-cool is that?).

Here are some of the shots from my trip. I got a nice one of the plane ride to Boston:

And here is an actual robot that saved a whole bunch of lives in battle. The soldier named the robot Scooby Doo:

And closeup:

Here are the mom bloggers touring iRobot (from left, the foreground moms are Jessica Smith, Trisha of MomDot, Miss Blondie and ChipChick):

And here is a totally creepy baby. It was a prototype, and its face skin peels off. Its eyes also stare into your very soul. (Shudder with me, won’t you? Hahah.)

And of course, any mom seeing robots simply must get a makeover. I mean, duh! Here’s Stacie getting dolled up:

So it was very cool. I got to see robots, hang out with some cool moms, drink some wine (I only spilled a little). And soon, we’ll all be competing to see who gets to donate $10,000.

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