iRobot

iRobot Corporation is an American technology company that designs and builds consumer robots. It was founded in 1990 by three members of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab, who designed robots for space exploration and military defense. The company's products include a range of autonomous home vacuum cleaners (Roomba), floor moppers (Braava), and other autonomous cleaning devices. In August 2022, Amazon.com, Inc. announced its intent to acquire iRobot for US$1.7billion; the deal is currently subject to regulatory approval, and is facing investigations by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and European Commission for potential abuse of market power. In July 2023, Amazon reduced the offer price to $1.42billion after iRobot raised $200million in new debt to fund its daily operations. History iRobot was founded in 1990 by Rodney Brooks, Colin Angle, and Helen Greiner after working in MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab. In 1998, the company received a DARPA research contract which led to the development of the PackBot. In September 2002, iRobot unveiled its home robots flagship, the Roomba, which sold a million units by 2004. iRobot began being traded on the NASDAQ in November 2005, under ticker symbol IRBT. On September 17, 2012, iRobot announced that it had acquired Evolution Robotics, manufacturer of automated floor mopper Mint. iRobot has sold more than 30 million home robots, and has deployed more than 5,000 defense & security robots, as of 2020.