When Rethink Robotics founder Rodney Brooks was producing the Roomba vacuum at iRobot in the 2000s, he saw first-hand how challenging and inefficient the manufacturing process could be, with so many manual processes.  By the end of that decade, he founded Rethink Robotics, with the intent of providing an entirely new type of automation to manufacturers.  One that was safe to work next to without cages, easily trained by non-engineers, flexible enough to move quickly from job to job, and affordable for companies of all sizes.