An interesting Inc.com article on iRobot: “Death to Cool”

The company was an idyllic environment for engineers eager to grow and learn and not get rich. “We were getting contracts from people who wanted us to do something they found interesting but only wanted one of,” says Rodney Brooks, iRobot's chairman and cofounder. “It was like being an artist working on commission.”

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“When Hasbro asked us to make a robotic velociraptor to tie in with Jurassic Park III, the engineers came to me and said, 'We can't possibly work on that. It's too dull,'” recalls Angle.