iRobot provides a platform for the maker

I bought my whole family Roomba’s for Christmas a few years ago.  Yes, some took it as a commentary on their sweeping habits, a few of them really enjoyed them.  Unfortunately almost none of them are still in service for reasons as varied as normal mechanical wear and tear to a really curious dog.
The company that makes the various flavors of Roomba, the Scooba (an automatic mopper) and in another division a series of robots used by the military has now released an “open” robotics platform based on their contraptions that anyone with a good idea that needs an frisbee sized piece of plastic to go to all corners of your house of office to get it done, here’s your chance.  This is another example of companies dipping their toe into the open innovation and social production waters: I’m sure that on the top of the list of iRobot’s reasons for doing this where to get their most passionate customers to develop some “next great ideas” for their product development pipeline.
When taking this announcement along with a comment from Gates about where the robotics market is in general, I wonder if this will be the Altair of the robotics industry?
iRobot releases “Create” specs, pricing – Engadget