‘Shark Tank’ star led Learning Co. of Cambridge

A shark in the Back Bay. Did you recognize one of those skeptical, skin-flinty investors from ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank’’ as a denizen of the Back Bay?

Me neither.

I’d seen a few episodes of “Shark Tank’s’’ inaugural season over the summer. On the show, entrepreneurs pitch a panel of five investors who ask probing questions - and sometimes simply mock the contestants, in time-worn reality show style. But occasionally, the investors decide they want to put their money into one of the businesses, and then there’s a fast-paced negotiation over deal terms. The show’s first season wrapped up earlier this month.

But it didn’t connect for me that Kevin O’Leary, now chairman of the asset management company O’Leary Funds, had been the chief executive of The Learning Company, an educational software firm with operations in Cambridge that he sold to Mattel for $3.6 billion back in 1999. Recently, though, someone mentioned that O’Leary still has a home on Marlborough Street. I pinged O’Leary with an e-mail, and he confirmed that he splits his time among Boston, West Palm Beach, and Toronto.

I was curious how the investments on the show actually worked and whether there would be a second season.

O’Leary told me in a phone interview that he spends most of his time managing about half a billion dollars in four mutual funds. Interestingly, he was a TV producer in Canada before he became an entrepreneur and investor, and O’Leary was one of the stars of the Canadian version of “Shark Tank’’ (called “Dragon’s Den’’) before the show made it to the American airwaves in August.

Most of his focus these days is on investing in such countries as Brazil, China, Cambodia, and Taiwan, O’Leary said. “The North American economy is dead - and I think it’s going to stay that way,’’ he told me. “I’m slowly moving my money out of the US.’’ He said he primarily buys stocks that pay dividends. “You can find many companies growing their cash flows over 20 percent annually, with 6 percent dividends - but very few in the US.

“These other economies are kicking our butts. We’re Rome - we’re old and fat,’’ said O’Leary.

He also serves on the investment committee of the Hamilton Trust, a Boston investment club founded in 1822 that meets at the downtown Harvard Club once a month.

He calls his TV appearances “a hobby,’’ but also said he’s hoping “Shark Tank’’ will be renewed for a second season. (No decision has been made yet, but O’Leary noted the ratings improved throughout the show’s first season - though they started low.) “I’d be optimistic that it’d come back - I really enjoy it,’’ O’Leary said. “I put about 5 percent of my net worth into venture investing, and [on “Shark Tank’’], the deals come to me.’’

I asked him how the investments he makes on the show work: He couldn’t possibly be actively involved with every company he puts $50,000 or $100,000 into. “If it’s a $500,000 or $1 million investment, I will take a board seat,’’ he said. But after the show is shot, there’s due diligence to be done and the usual contractual back-and-forth with attorneys and auditors. “After the show, it’s into the real world.’’

Robotic eldercare. In 1978, at age 16, Tod Loofbourrow published a book called “How to Build a Computer-Controlled Robot.’’ A few years later, he went off to Harvard, and grew up to be an IT consultant, e-commerce expert, and software entrepreneur.

But now, just 30 years after the book, Loofbourrow is getting back into robotics, joining Burlington-based iRobot Corp. to lead a new business unit called iRobot Healthcare. iRobot chief executive Colin Angle was in San Diego last week at the TED MED conference, announcing the company’s expansion into home healthcare robots with a provocatively titled talk: “Will a Robot Care for My Mom?’’

“About 22 percent of the folks in the United States identify themselves as independent caregivers,’’ Angle told me. “That means they spend money and time trying to help their parents stay independent, and stay out of a nursing home. That number is only going to go up over the next few decades.’’ The goal of the new iRobot Healthcare division is “to create products that will enhance wellness and quality of life for seniors and enhance their ability to live independently for longer.’’

Loofbourrow has a handful of employees working with him on the initiative, but Angle said they’ll be able to leverage product development expertise (and grant-seeking expertise) from iRobot’s divisions that focus on home robots (such as the Roomba vacuum cleaner) and military bots (such as the PackBot, which can explore dangerous terrain and look for explosive devices).

Angle said the company isn’t interested in building robots for use in hospitals and is focusing exclusively on the home. They’ll start off, he expects, building telepresence robots that allow caregivers to keep an eye on elders and communicate when they can’t be there. Using robots to monitor medication adherence - whether an individual is taking the right doses at the right time - is another early concept, as is providing exercise coaching and support. “Obviously, robots don’t replace being there, but technology has to help if you want to keep Mom out of the nursing home and not quit your job,’’ Angle says.

“Ultimately, we think the robots will be able to take on more physical tasks like carrying groceries or helping you get out of bed,’’ Angle says.