Last month, I got wind of news that iRobot was planning to unveil a new gutter-cleaning robot. My initial reaction was not favorable. After all, I figured who in their right mind would spend a lot of money on an expensive robot to do something that: 1) Most people don’t even do once a year; 2) an existing, simple technology already exists—namely “gutter helmets; or 3) you could just pay a handyman $50-$75 to do.
What I did not expect is that iRobot’s new gutter cleaning robot, dubbed the Looj, would cost $99. More importantly, what I failed to take into consideration was that all of the robots enabling technology (e.g. computer chips, sensors, materials, etc.) would continue to drop in price.
At a price point of $99, the technology actually makes some sense to me. It is affordable for most do-it-yourselfers; more economical than gutter helmets; and only slightly more expensive than a one-time visit from the local handyman.
Now, I still don’t think that the Looj is a game-breaker. For starters, the device can’t yet handle corners and this means that it is not quite the convenience or time saver that one might have imagined. A user must still climb up a ladder at least four times to position the robot to clear each side of your house’s gutter, but it is only going to get better with time.
Nevertheless, I can still see a number of professional gutter cleaners and handymen buying the Looj because it will allow them to clean gutters faster, and thus make them that much more productive.
In other words, it can help any number of handymen “jump the curve” by allowing them to clean more gutters in less time and with less risk (they won’t need to be up on the ladder as much).
The Looj is also a disruptive technology for manufacturers of gutter helmets. After all, in the future why would someone spend a few thousand dollars to install gutter helmet (which don’t always work that well anyway) when they can instead invest $99 and just a little of their time to keep their gutters free of leaves and other debris.
Jack Uldrich is a writer, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business, and speaks frequently on future trends, innovation, change management, nanotechnology, robotics and executive leadership.
