Interview with iRobot CEO Colin Angle @ Wired…

There’s a huge community of Roomba hackers online. What’s your take on that?
We’re a company that was founded by engineers and really loves the fact that [a Roomba hacking] community exists. Why do you think we made it so you can take the top off and find a beautiful serial port? Why do you think we published the API for the serial port? It’s an expense but it was the right thing to do. People should hack robots. There is a cottage industry of people making money from Roomba accessories out there today. I hope that it will grow over time. People are getting excited and learning about robotics. Roomba is a durable, dependable and affordable platform for doing robotic research.