Three years ago, the former lead engineer of the Roomba vacuum cleaner shifted his engineering focus from vacuums to video and began developing a virtual television studio set that some observers believe could change the video-production industry.

Last month, Eliot Mack and his company, Cinital LLC, publicly showed the latest version of that studio technology — which creates a high-definition, 3-D set at about one-fifth the cost of existing systems.

Known as Previzion, the technology behind the product could level the playing field for smaller studios, according to those in the TV production industry.