The all-cash deal for iRobot was announced by Amazon. The home robotics firm was founded in 1990 by members of the MIT Artificial Intelligence lab. As of 2020, the company's brand, the Roomba, has sold more than 30 million units, making it synonymous with the category.
As a result of the acquisition, Angle will retain his position as CEO of the company.
Colin Angle said in a release that iRobot has been on a mission to create innovative, practical products that make customers' lives easier. Amazon shares our passion for building thoughtful innovations that empower people to do more at home, and I can't think of a better place for us to continue our mission. I am looking forward to seeing what we can build together for customers at Amazon.
The Amazon Robotics division is focused on its warehouse/fulfillment play, despite the fact that it has been aggressively tackling the robotics space since it acquired Kiva Systems ten years ago. The company made small steps into the home with the launch of Astro, a robot that doesn't have the focus of the Roomba.
ColinAngle is the CEO of iRobot. The image was taken by Paul Marotta.
Dave Limp said in the release that saving time is important and that chores can be better spent doing something that customers love. iRobot has reinvented how people clean with products that are incredibly practical and inventive, from cleaning when and where customers want to avoid common obstacles in the home, to automatically emptying the collection bin. I'm excited to work with the iRobot team to invent ways to make customers' lives easier and more enjoyable
Amazon and iRobot have had a close relationship over the past few years, through the use of Amazon's services. The smart home has a lot of things in common with the home robot. He said that the home of the future is a robot. The home robot has hands, eyes, and appendages. This smart home is not controlled by cell phone. Pull out your cell phone and turn on your devices. We need a home that programs itself, and you just live in your home, and the home does the right thing if you understand what is going on.
The company has found it difficult to duplicate the success of the Roomba. It has tried a variety of home robot services, from mowing the lawn to cleaning the pool. Terra has been put on hold during the Pandemic. Around 5% of the company's global workforce was laid off as a result of that news.
Amazon has a robot named Astro. The image was created by Amazon.
I was told last month that Terra was going to launch and that they were working on non-floor-cleaningrobots. You should interpret that as you please. The resources of Amazon will speed up the launch of non-Roomba systems. The company was founded on experimentation and had built everything from baby dolls to military machines.
The military contract wing was spun off in 2016 and later acquired by FLIR Systems. iRobot spun out a telepresence robot. iRobot bought Aeris late last year in a bid to broaden its in- home presence.
The image was created by Amazon.
Standard regulatory scrutiny is required for the acquisition to go ahead. The companies will have to convince regulators that they are following the rules. The acquisition of Ring by Amazon has raised a lot of red flags for advocacy groups, and its ownership of the world's most popular in- home robot will likely raise eyebrows. 3D maps of users' homes are built into the latest version of the Roomba.
During a particularly active time for the retail giant, the deal is among Amazon's largest. Huge deals for OneMedical and MGM have been reported recently. The acquisition could be a turning point for home robotic devices. For the past decade, the only truly mainstream home robot has been Roomba and the army of robot vacuums that have followed. With the acquisition of iRobot, Amazon hopes it can do for the home what it has done with industrial robotic devices.
A decade after its acquisition of Kiva, Amazon has become the leader in the warehouse and fulfillment space. Can the same thing happen with the home?
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