Expand / Robot vacuum cleaner Roomba J7+ from iRobot.
iRobot
Amazon just announced a blockbuster deal to buy home robotics company iRobot for $1.7 billion. The pending acquisition would be Amazon’s fourth largest, following the purchase of grocery chain Whole Foods in 2017 ($13.7 billion), movie studio MGM in 2021 ($8.45 billion) and supplier medical One Medical last month ($3.9 billion).
iRobot is the world’s leading consumer robotics company. The company primarily makes Roomba vacuums and robo-mops, and is also trying to get a robo-mower product out.
Amazon is no stranger to bots; has an entire “Amazon Robotics” division that focuses on the company’s logistics work in Amazon’s warehouses. Amazon picked up warehouse robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012 and Canvas Technology in 2019, and recently released its first “fully autonomous” robot, called “Proteus,” which looks like an industrial-strength Roomba. Instead of vacuuming, the unit goes under an inventory cart and lifts it a few inches, enough to lift the cart off the ground for delivery.
Amazon has also dipped its toes into iRobot’s turf of late with the sort of commercial launch of the “Astro” home robot. Astro is essentially an Alexa/camera/tablet on wheels that can navigate around the house. However, sales are by invitation only, so it feels more like an experiment than a major consumer launch.
announcement
Amazon doesn’t mention the tiny house robot at all in its press release, however, with Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon Devices, saying, “We know that saving time is important, and tasks require precious time that could be better spent to do something Customers love.For many years, the iRobot team has proven its ability to reinvent the way people clean with incredibly practical and inventive products, from cleaning when and where customers want, avoiding the usual obstacles in the home, until automatically emptying the collection bin.
The press release says iRobot CEO Colin Angle will continue as head of iRobot and the deal is subject to regulatory approval.