Roomba / iRobot bankrupt and sold off to Chinese

[tseg]

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/irobot-crashes-after-filing-bankruptcy-chinese-owner-emerges

I never had one of these, and now looks like I never will. I’m still very happy with my Meile C3 and U1… a decade later, and they still look like brand new.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Oh well, one less rubbish pusher to deal with.

 

[huskyvacs]

I've got several. They are absolutely awful for keeping your house clean and nobody should ever rely on them to clean your house, BUT from a technical and engineering standpoint, as well as a hobbyist standpoint, they are incredible to admire. I am amazed at how much torque the motors have, its absolutely insane.

 

[centralsweeper63]

The Dyson stick vac motors have incredible torque too.

 

[cheesewonton]

iRobot, the parent company of Roomba, got its start making robots for space exploration, the military and police. Roomba came later. Circa 2016 under pressure from the US DoD which was concerned about iRobot's exposure to Chinese production ( Roombas are made in China, have been for a long time ) iRobot sold its defense side to Arlington Capital Partners. The company tried to merge with Amazon but US and EU anti-trust regulators put the kabosh on that. iRobot had to pay Amazon a bunch of money for breaking the deal and that left them heavily in debt, hence the bankruptcy.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Oh yeah, the Amazon thing. I forgot about that.