Roomba Maker 'iRobot' Files for Bankruptcy After 35 Years (msn.com)
- Reference: 0180386165
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/15/0152212/roomba-maker-irobot-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-my/technology/robotics/robot-vacuum-roomba-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years/ar-AA1SkZEb
After 35 years, iRobot reached a "restructuring support agrement that will hand control of the consumer robot maker to Shenzhen PICEA Robotics Co, its main supplier and lender, and Santrum Hong Kong Compny."
> Under the restructuring, vacuum cleaner maker Shenzhen PICEA will receive the entire equity stake in the reorganised company... The plan will allow the debtor to remain as a going concern and continue to meet its commitments to employees and make timely payments in full to vendors and other creditors for amounts owed throughout the court-supervised process, according to an iRobot statement... he company warned of potential bankruptcy in December after years of declining earnings.
Roomba says it's sold over 50 million robots, the article points out, but earnings "began to decline since 2021 due to supply chain headwinds and increased competition.
"A hoped-for by acquisition by Amazon.com in 2023 collapsed over regulatory concerns."
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-my/technology/robotics/robot-vacuum-roomba-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years/ar-AA1SkZEb
Robot vacuum cleaners - meh (Score:2)
I've owned two robot vacuum cleaners: A Roomba about 10 years ago, and a bObsweep now.
They're both kind of crap at actually cleaning well. And I can vacuum my entire house with a regular vacuum cleaner in about 15 minutes, so it's not like they're really major labour-saving devices either.
The bObsweep does have a wet-mop attachment and I do use that on a fairly regular basis, because it does a decent job of mopping the floor. But overall, I don't think these machines are worth it.
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The problem is, these things don't have much of a suction, and if you have dogs or long-haired humans present, that exacerbates the problem.
If you have nothing but a single-floor structure with wood or tile, and no pets or long-haired people, and don't eat where the vacuum is supposed to go and no muddy shoes or feet, it might work for you, but this is probably not an average dwelling.
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And no carpets (though that's implicit in your "wood or tile") and no door steps and not many chairs or not many things at all in the house. Also you mentioned no pets, I can confirm it does not work well with dogs nor cats (dogs because they get easily get muddy, and cats because of cat litter).
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to me the point of it is if you let it run while you aren't there, and it picks up a cup or two of dust and hair, it is that much less for your vacuum to pick up. i'm lazy. every little bit helps. My two cheap what ever brands of robocleaners do that for me. it is a good concept. i don't like the idea of it having a camera nor of being hooked to the internet though.
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Mine automatically goes to higher suction levels on carpets (it recognizes them automatically, and I can set it manually in the map too if I want), and can cross pretty much all thresholds.
There are actual ramps designed for robotic vacuums if you have ramps or shallow steps so it can cross them. They're really cheap too.
Higher end units have rotating mops that can deal with mud, and they also now have forward facing cameras with object recognition that works quite well on things like animal excrement.
No id
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We have a few Shark versions. The one with the self emptying base does a much better job since it dumps itself whenever it is full, the other one just keeps on going and so it stops doing well whenever the dust bin gets too full of dog hair.
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I wonder if I'm much cleaner than I thought I am, because I'm yet to encouter problems with my low end cleaner. It sucks up everything, it has pretty much the lowest end mop variant that is good enough due to the way vacuum's routing will drag it over every spot at least twice.
Pretty much the only thing that needs attention after it's done is corners and a few places with plants and wiring on the floor that are set as no-go zones.
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> I've owned two robot vacuum cleaners: A Roomba about 10 years ago, and a bObsweep now. They're both kind of crap at actually cleaning well.
A real vacuum cleaner just about maxes out a standard residential 120v 15a circuit, as anyone who remembers the incandescent bulb era can attest to. A circuit with a few lamps shared with a vacuum cleaner could easily end with you flipping a breaker or replacing a blown fuse.
When you look at the absolutely tiny lithium ion pack these robo-vacs come with, it's obvious they aren't going to be capable of generating anywhere near the same amount of suction as a vacuum powered by the mains. That's even assumin
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It actually goes to MSN, who are obviously not Bloomberg. [1]Here's the Bloomberg link [bloomberg.com].
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-15/robot-vacuum-roomba-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years
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The Slashdot story link is to:
[1]https://www.msn.com/en-my/tech... [msn.com]
The freemalaysiatoday is a channel (?) here -- I guess the source of the story. I almost looks like an ad since you have the sidebar on the right that has links to the freemalayasiatoday website. So I guess this is kinda a "news by tertiary source situation". FreeMalayasiaToday republishes a story by Bloomburg, and MSN picks it up from FreeMalayasiaToday.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-my/technology/robotics/robot-vacuum-roomba-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years/ar-AA1SkZEb
Will existing Roomba units keep working? (Score:2)
There doesn't seem to be any indication whether the server infrastructure will be maintained to ensure continued operation of units already in the field.
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It's probably not known yet, and will be figured out during the bankruptcy proceedings.
Because they were a crap company (Score:2)
The reason these guys failed is that they were not a good robot maker.
Their original robot defined the market in the US. They were not the first, but they were the first in the US. However, as the Japanese, Korean, and Chinese robots developed robots with room mapping, lidar, remote control movement, object avoidance, etc., iRobot kept selling the same thing -- random walk robots you did not want. The only thing selling Roombas was brand-recognition.
Why were they not developing their robot? Because they
Rejected the AMZN Aquisition? (Score:3)
So - instead of keeping iRobot owned by an american company, we basically handed the whole things to China... Smooth move...
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Well done, Senator Warren. This is definitely a better outcome.
If only someone could have predicted this.
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iRobot and Amazon [1]say EU approval was the problem [irobot.com]. Not sure if they had a specific reason to be selectively truthful and focus on only one of multiple regulatory hurdles; but they don't mention the US.
It also looks like the sale is basically formalizing [2]their plan to gut themselves [irobot.com]. Shockingly enough; firing everyone you can and switching to rebadging stuff from an ODM because that's cheaper puts you in "what would you say you do here?" territory pretty quickly.
[1] https://media.irobot.com/2024-01-29-Amazon-and-iRobot-agree-to-terminate-pending-acquisition
[2] https://media.irobot.com/2024-01-29-iRobot-Announces-Operational-Restructuring-Plan-to-Position-Company-for-the-Future
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There are several PRC companies that have overtaken iRobot in this field. This is in fact one of the main reasons for its decline. You get a lesser product for more money because of the brand, and eventually customers left for better and cheaper options.
This field is actually a really good example of the "US invents, China iterates and EU regulates". US invented the robotic vacuum, but PRC iterated on it and made it much better. Hence iRobot's primary supplier being from Shenzhen.
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A good example ... except for the "EU regulates" bit. In this case it was US anti-trust regulations that knee-capped iRobot.
Although the EU may have regulated anyway if the Amazon deal progressed.