Your Roomba is about to become an Amazon device TechRadar
Your Roomba is about to become an Amazon device TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Your Roomba is about to become an Amazon device By Lance Ulanoff published 5 August 2022 Amazon vacuums up iRobot for $1.7 billion (Image credit: iRobot) Audio player loading… Amazon will buy iRobot for $1.7 billion. The deal, which the companies announced on Friday morning, will make the popular Roomba line of robot vacuums part of the Amazon family and fast-track a deeper integration with Amazon's smart assistant Alexa and the company's smarthome ecosystem. Founded in 1990 by MIT roboticists Colin Angle and Helen Greiner, the company struggled for most of the 1990s, attempting to break into the toy game with an all-too-real and creepy robotic My Real Baby Doll (opens in new tab). iRobot, however, struck gold when it moved away from anthropomorphic bots and into the utility robot space, introducing its first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002. The line has grown from that initial, round, $199 robot, to an entire line of Roombas with most of them looking quite similar to the original automated home helper. iRobot eventually branched out into robot gutter cleaners (the Looj (opens in new tab)), and robotics mops (the Braava Jet). It's also done some acquiring of its own, snapping up Evolution robotics (opens in new tab), makers of a competing Mint floor cleaning robot, in 2012. To date, iRobot has sold roughly 20 million robot vacuums. Cleaning up iRobot joins Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, which has spent the last seven years building a broad line of smart home technologies, mostly under the umbrella of the Echo line. There are smart speakers, outlets, clocks, video call screens, and streaming devices. It does not, however, offer an Amazon-branded robot vacuum. In a release on the acquisition, SVP for Amazon Devices Dave Limp said, "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." Colin Angle, who will remain on as CEO (Greiner left the company years ago), said in the release, "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." What s next It will take some time for the deal to get regulatory and shareholder approval, which means nothing will change for Roomba users in the short term. Assuming the deal goes through, Roomba users can, at the very least, anticipate software upgrades that more deeply integrate Amazon's Alexa into their existing Roomba robot vacuums and Bravaa Jet robot mops. There may be some changes in the product line. It might slim down, or, as has been Amazon's way, we may see some new, much lower-cost iRobot Roomba robot vacuums, possibly with the Amazon brand attached to them. A Roomba that responds directly to voice commands seems possible. iRobot has, over the years, done some impressive work in mapping the average home and that information may be of use to Amazon's wider technology and product network. Not implying any kind of privacy issue here, but if all the Amazon devices in your home now know its layout, that could enable new features and interactions. It is, of course, early days and, for a time, Amazon and the newly-owned iRobot may operate separately for a year or so. Still, this is a big moment for iRobot, the company that proved consumer robotics could be a real business by delivering affordable home robotics that didn't try to impress you with their looks or human-like antics, but instead did the dirty job you didn't want to do. Lance UlanoffUS Editor in ChiefA 35-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and "on line" meant "waiting." He's a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade. Lance Ulanoff (opens in new tab) makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Ryan, Fox News, Fox Business, the Today Show (opens in new tab), Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC. See more Digital home news TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. 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