New iRobot Roomba 500 Series Details, Plus No iRobot Robomower (yet)

BREAKING: The New Roombas Are Out! Earlier: The New Roomba 500 Series Vacuum will be released by iRobot Wednesday, Investor's Business Daily reports, and it sounds AMAZING! The new Roomba has DOUBLE the power, will be priced $249 to $399, has greater RELIABILITY, will know which rooms it has already cleaned, and - Thank God! - will no longer get caught up in carpet fringe, tassels, cords, etc! (That was the biggest single failing of the Roombas to date, forcing owners to "Roomba-fy" their households to ensure Roomba's safe return to port). The idea behind the new Roomba 500 series, according to the article, is to get Roomba accepted as a mainstream product. If it performs as advertised, I think that's a cinch (it's why I'm a shareholder, after all -- I love the original Roomba)!

What you need to know:

"This is the time for this technology," said Nancy Dussault, director of marketing communications for iRobot. "People have been excited about the idea of robots for some time.
"This robot delivers on that promise. All of the reasons why people thought it wouldn't work in their home, we've addressed."
The Roomba 500 series robots have double the cleaning power of their predecessors, says the company.
They can navigate around furniture, rugs, cords and tassels, and can free themselves from almost any household jam.
The new Roomba cleaners have technology that prevents them from getting tangled up on rug tassels. They also know when they've finished cleaning one room, and then move on to the next...
Roomba 500 series robots also slow down when approaching walls and furniture for gentler impact and quieter operation. Earlier Roombas ran at one speed and banged into walls and other obstacles.
The new models have sensors along the front bumper to detect obstructions.
The newest Roomba robots also have better brushes and suction for picking up more dirt and bigger objects, like kitty litter and small rocks.

IBD also reports that the company will keep selling the lower-level Discovery Series robots to provide a lower-priced entry point (as we predicted), and that the new Roomba series is built sturdier to better hold up under the daily use that owners put them through.

iRobot has yet to post any details on it's web site.

In a second story on Investor's Business Daily, iRobot CEO Colin Angle puts to rest speculation that one of the two new consumer products due in September will be an iRobot robot lawnmower:

"They're not floor-cleaning robots," he said. "They're not lawn mowers and they're not butlers. But that's all we've said so far. These robots are going to make you think."

(I always thought it would have been stupid to release a robotic lawnmower at the end of lawn-mowing season at any rate! Next year I'm hopeful.) The article also talks again about iRobot's booming military business. (This could help with the stock price tomorrow, not just with the announcements but with IBD's wealthy readership!)

Rumors of the new Roomba generation, expected to be Roomba 510, Roomba 530 and Roomba 560, first surfaced in May, and were confirmed by iRobot in late July.