Case Study: iRobot achieves faster prototyping and reduced labor with Stratasys SUP706 soluble support

iRobot Cleans Up with SUP706

iRobot, the consumer-robotics company behind Roomba and Braava, faced a bottleneck in its rapid prototyping workflow: removing PolyJet support material from detailed parts was slow and labor-intensive. Using Stratasys PolyJet technology, iRobot technicians relied on pressure washing and hand tools to strip supports, often leaving a waxy residue and requiring a dedicated staff member each day to finish parts.

Stratasys solved the problem by supplying SUP706 soluble support and a Stratasys support-removal system that uses an alkaline bath to dissolve remaining support material in a few hours. The change cut hands-on labor from one dedicated person per day to just minutes, enabled batch processing of parts, produced small parts with production-like finish, increased prototype throughput, and helped iRobot bring innovations to market faster.

iRobot

Hiten Sonpal

Head of Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Design and User Experience