# LrrK Kinematic Consumer Risk Bulletin **LRRK Watch / Open-Source Intelligence** — Signals across consumer systems that sense, move, and act in homes and yards. **Issue type.** Monthly filing. | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Window | 1–30 September 2002 | | Collection cutoff | 30 September 2002 | | Platform | Quiet Systems | | Data label | Open-source intelligence // LRRK analytic product | | Handling | Public-source material. Image rights require separate verification before publication. | | Scope | Consumer kinematic electronics only (home, yard, companion, educational). | | Classes in frame | Robot vacuums / mop combos · robotic lawn mowers · window-cleaning robots · pool-cleaning robots · robot pets / companion animals · social / desk companions · educational / programmable kits · robotic litter boxes · security / home patrol robots · consumer robotic arms · elder-care / assistive companions · kitchen / food-prep robots · toy / entertainment robots · niche outdoor / garden robots · emerging general-purpose or humanoid home robots | | Spine | CPSC, Health Canada, EU RAPEX (2002 name), UK, manufacturer recall pages, named newsrooms, dockets. | | Color | Message boards and consumer forums — annotated context only. Never Fact without a reputable primary. | ## Executive read ### BLUF September’s consumer kinematic file is a product-class origin, not an injury path. iRobot’s 18 September page introduces Roomba Intelligent FloorVac as the first automatic floor vac available in the U.S., at $199.95, online this week and in stores in October. TIME the same week calls it the first robot designed to live in the home, do useful work, and hit a mass-market price. No official recall. No CPSC Roomba page. ### Key judgments 1. **[Assessment — High confidence]** The dating used on this file is **18 September 2002** — iRobot’s own fact sheet (“Introduced to the U.S. market, September 18, 2002”). Online this week at roombavac.com and the three named specialty retailers; stores in October. 2. **[Assessment — High confidence]** This is not a recall, not a shipping-injury file, and not a regulator page. The change is a sold U.S. home kinematic SKU at appliance money, with published cliff sensors, a bumper, a virtual wall, and a 90-day warranty. 3. **[Assessment — High confidence]** Electrolux Trilobite remains a late-2001 Swedish shop product with no opened 2002 U.S. ship or safety primary this month. Husqvarna Auto Mower has no 2002 official safety ID. Sony AIBO has no dated trust/safety primary this month. None of those are numbered. ### Analytic labels - **Fact** — verified reporting or primary record - **Assessment** — analytic judgment - **Inference** — reasoned but not directly observed - **Uncertainty** — unresolved information gap ### Source grades - **A1** — authoritative primary record / directly confirmed - **B1–B2** — generally reliable and corroborated - **C3** — useful but requires caution (typical for forums) --- ## 01. iRobot Roomba Intelligent FloorVac — first U.S. automatic floor cleaner, sold for the home *Event / publication dates: 16 September 2002 (New York Post); 18 September 2002 (iRobot); 23 September 2002 (TIME)* **Product class.** Robot vacuums / mop combos **Verified record — [Fact — A1 / B1]** On 18 September 2002 iRobot Corporation, Somerville, Massachusetts, unveiled Roomba Intelligent FloorVac as “the first automatic floor vac available in the U.S.” Official fact-sheet dating: “Introduced to the U.S. market, September 18, 2002.” Price: **$199.95 (SRP)**, with one virtual-wall unit, a standard charger, and a removable battery pack. Additional virtual walls $39.95; additional batteries $59.95. Warranty: **90 days**, parts and labor. Sold “online starting this week” at roombavac.com and at Brookstone, The Sharper Image, and Hammacher Schlemmer, “in stores in October.” Colin Angle (CEO) is quoted that the firm “focused on offering the highest levels of cleaning, safety and navigation,” and that prior work included “toy manufacturing and product safety with Hasbro.” [iRobot, 18 September 2002](https://media.irobot.com/2002-09-18-iRobot-Introduces-Roomba-Intelligent-FloorVac-The-First-Automatic-Floor-Cleaner-In-The-U-S). Official specifications as written: diameter **13.4 in**; height **3.6 in**; weight **5.88 lb** with battery / **4.30 lb** without; two-stage cleaning (vacuum bin 6.1 cu in, particle bin 9.2 cu in); run time “between 1–1½ hours” on one charge; claimed loudness 74.9–80.2 dB. Navigation as written: spiral until the non-marring bumper contacts an object or wall; wall-following sensor and spinning side brush; **cliff-avoidance sensors** “detect stairs” and “guide Roomba Intelligent FloorVac to turn away”; virtual wall “will block open doorways up to 15′.” No camera or microphone is stated. No self-dock is stated (overnight charger, not a homing base). TIME (23 September, “Maid To Order”) independently dated the same SKU at about $199 as “the first robot ever built that is designed to live in your home, serve a useful purpose and be priced for the mass market,” and wrote that it “will go on sale this week at roombavac.com and in retail stores, and on the Home Shopping Network shortly afterward.” [TIME, 23 September 2002](https://time.com/archive/6667255/maid-to-order/). The New York Post (16 September) cited that TIME copy ahead of the company page. [New York Post, 16 September 2002](https://nypost.com/2002/09/16/robocleaner-set-to-handle-home-chores/). No CPSC, Health Canada, or RAPEX page. No injury or incident count is stated in the opened launch copy. This is not a recall. **Threat landscape.** A first-in-class U.S. home kinematic: an unsupervised disc that senses, moves, and acts on household floors while the owner is “otherwise engaged.” Physical claims on the company page are cliff-avoidance (stairs) and a non-marring bumper; the virtual wall is an IR keep-in, not a keep-out from people or pets. Entanglement (cords, laces, garments) is a use hazard named later by reviewers, not a September regulator count. Trust boundaries: a machine left running in the dwelling; a 90-day warranty as the published support life; no camera/mic path is claimed. Control named is product design and a short warranty, not a Commission page. **Forum / community notes.** - none found. **Intelligence assessment.** [Assessment — High confidence] The 18 September introduce date, $199.95 SRP, Brookstone / Sharper Image / Hammacher / roombavac.com channels, October in-store language, 90-day warranty, cliff-avoidance sensors, virtual wall, and the “first automatic floor vac available in the U.S.” claim are as the opened iRobot page writes them. [Assessment — High confidence] TIME’s 23 September “on sale this week” line is a named-newsroom corroboration of the same SKU, not a second product. [Inference — Moderate confidence] A $200 U.S. automatic floor cleaner is the product-class origin for mass-market home kinematics in this file — a sold trust/SKU event, not an injury file. [Uncertainty] Actual first-week online units versus October store inventory are unpublished on the 18 September page. [Uncertainty] Whether any Trilobite has yet reached a U.S. shop is still only a 2001–January “expected this year” line; it is not treated as a September U.S. twin. **Opportunity.** A dated CPSC or manufacturer safety page, a self-dock or longer warranty, and a Trilobite U.S. street date that is not only a trade expectation. **LRRK relevance.** Sense / Move / Act: cliff sensors, bumper, virtual-wall IR, unsupervised floor coverage. Passport: first mass-market U.S. home kinematic SKU. Watch: first store inventory and any iRobot or CPSC safety page. **Confidence.** High on the 18 September company date, price, channels, and stated sensors. High on TIME’s 23 September sale-this-week corroboration. Moderate on October in-store timing as future-tense company language. Low on first-week unit counts. B1 on named-newsroom copies of the unveil. --- ## Forward indicators 1. Any official iRobot Roomba recall (none found through this cutoff). 2. October in-store inventory at Brookstone / Sharper Image / Hammacher, and any first named-newsroom use injury. 3. Any Trilobite U.S. ship or safety page, or any RAPEX / Health Canada robotic-vacuum twin. 4. Any official Husqvarna Auto Mower safety page. 5. Any educational-kit or toy-robot battery / fire / laceration file. > **Collection integrity.** One signal graduated (iRobot 18 September + TIME 23 September, same SKU). **Date used: 18 September 2002 (iRobot fact sheet).** MIT Technology Review’s later “September 23rd” unwrap line is an October review and is not used as the introduce date. **Excluded:** Electrolux Trilobite (2001 Swedish shop; no 2002 U.S. ship or safety primary opened); Husqvarna Auto Mower operator-manual language (not a 2002 official safety action); Sony AIBO catalog; CPSC ride-on pages. **Kills:** no invented CPSC Roomba recall; no 2004 Robosapien; no 2008 LawnBott; no later Jibo / Pertisau. No RAPEX robotic-vacuum weekly report located. Forum empty. *LRRK — security assurance for systems that sense, move, and act.*

L-C3