The company behind Roomba vacuums will soon be owned by one of the biggest e-commerce and technology companies in the world.
“Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion, including iRobot’s net debt,” Amazon announced today in a press release. iRobot is best known as the company behind the Roomba robot vacuums, which were introduced two decades ago, according to an about section for the company.
iRobot is a global consumer robot company that designs and builds thoughtful robots and intelligent home innovations that make life better. iRobot introduced the first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002. Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold millions of robots worldwide. iRobot’s product portfolio features technologies and advanced concepts in cleaning, mapping and navigation. Working from this portfolio, iRobot engineers are building robots and smart home devices to help consumers make their homes easier to maintain and healthier places to live.
“We know that saving time matters, and chores take precious time that can be better spent doing something that customers love,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon Devices. “Over many years, the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive—from cleaning when and where customers want while avoiding common obstacles in the home, to automatically emptying the collection bin. Customers love iRobot products—and I’m excited to work with the iRobot team to invent in ways that make customers’ lives easier and more enjoyable.”
“Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission to create innovative, practical products that make customers’ lives easier, leading to inventions like the Roomba and iRobot OS,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “Amazon shares our passion for building thoughtful innovations that empower people to do more at home, and I cannot think of a better place for our team to continue our mission. I’m hugely excited to be a part of Amazon and to see what we can build together for customers in the years ahead.”
iRobot’s product catalog also includes Braava robot mops, Aeris air purifiers, and handheld vacuums. The company even sells something called the iRobot Root, which is meant to help children learn how to code.
“Creative and seriously fun, a love for coding is one of the best gifts you can give a child,” a description for the iRobot Root reads. “The iRobot Root coding robots make learning to code easy and natural in any environment, at home or at school.”
There’s also a Create 3 Robot, a new mobile robot development platform for helping users learn Robot Operating System (ROS) 2. ROS is described as a set of software libraries and tools for building robot applications.
Source: Amazon