Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) and iRobot Corp., a leader in robotic technology-based solutions, announced a partnership to develop robotic technologies using TI's smart multicore OMAP™ platform.

The relationship stems from the companies' shared vision to create intelligent and practical robots capable of enhancing people's lives.

The two companies will achieve this vision by leveraging iRobot's long history in advancing the field of robotics and TI's strength in applications processors and related technologies.

With two decades of leadership in the robot industry, iRobot is a proven technology leader in remote presence and automated home maintenance solutions.  To date, iRobot has sold more than 7.5 million home robots worldwide, revolutionizing the way people clean both inside and outside the home.  

In addition, more than 4,500 combat-proven government and industrial robots have been delivered to military and civil defense forces worldwide, performing thousands of dangerous search, reconnaissance and bomb-disposal missions while protecting those in harm's way.

TI brings to the partnership the industry's leading applications processor technology captured in the OMAP™ platform, a high performing, ultra-power-efficient system-on-chip that's smaller than a dime.

The OMAP platform's smart multicore architecture sends processing tasks to cores and engines that can best do the job using the least amount of power possible. TI complements this fundamental computing experience with several unique features, such as sophisticated image and video accelerators.