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Amazon is Buying iRobot For $1.7 Billion (techcrunch.com) 81

Amazon this morning announced plans to acquire iRobot for an all-cash deal valued at $1.7 billion. From a report: The home robotics firm, best known for pioneering the robotic vacuum, was founded in 1990 by MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab members Colin Angle, Rodney Brooks and Helen Greiner. Twelve years after its founding, the company introduced the Roomba, a brand that has since become synonymous with the branding, selling more than 30 million units as of 2020.

Brooks and Greiner have gone on to found and lead several other companies, while Angle has remained on-board as CEO -- a position he will maintain post-acquisition. "Since we started iRobot, our team has been on a mission to create innovative, practical products that make customers' lives easier, leading to inventions like the Roomba and iRobot OS," CEO Colin Angle said in a 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. I'm hugely excited to be a part of Amazon and to see what we can build together for customers in the years ahead."

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Amazon is Buying iRobot For $1.7 Billion

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  • by RogueWarrior65 ( 678876 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @09:43AM (#62764550)

    Most of their patents are going to expire if they haven't already. Fun fact: they have a LOT of patents on robotic vacuums.

    • The market share (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 )
      and the engineers. Probably the engineers more than anything. Amazon employees are rapidly unionizing and demanding better working conditions. Amazon is more than profitable enough to pay them a good wage, but, well, they don't wanna. I mean, only 2 Super Yachts for their CEO? Who can live like that? So they're hoping they can replace all the employees with robots.

      There's a portion of the population (about 10%) actively trying to wall themselves off and leave the rest of use wallowing in dystopic povert
      • by XXeR ( 447912 )

        and the engineers. Probably the engineers more than anything. Amazon employees are rapidly unionizing and demanding better working conditions. Amazon is more than profitable enough to pay them a good wage, but, well, they don't wanna. I mean, only 2 Super Yachts for their CEO? Who can live like that? So they're hoping they can replace all the employees with robots.
         

        Agreed, they want the talent for sure. Also, Bezos isn't the CEO.

        • This almost never works - when a giant company buys a small company for "talent", usually a sizable chunk of the talent leaves, because they didn't want to work for the big company (they could have done that already if they wanted).

          So the buyer really is just left with the IP, not the talent that created it.

          • Re:The market share (Score:4, Interesting)

            by cayenne8 ( 626475 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @10:36AM (#62764686) Homepage Journal
            I'm not sure I'd now want an iRobot product that is actively mapping my house and sending the info back to mothership Amazon.

            There's reasons I don't have Alexa or other type devices in my home.

            • Has irobot actually bought usable mapping technology at this point? I started buying neato vacs about 10 years ago and it was amazing how far ahead they were from irobot even thought irobot had an almost 20 year head start.

              • Has irobot actually bought usable mapping technology at this point? I started buying neato vacs about 10 years ago and it was amazing how far ahead they were from irobot even thought irobot had an almost 20 year head start.

                I have been using Neato...I have an old one and it did seem to be ahead of the iRobot at the time.

                I'm guessing they've gotten better by now...?

              • I have two Neato BotVacs (high end and a mid-end one). Both are excellent at cleaning, even carpet. The way they make straight lines without just bumping and bumbling around is a nice touch. They were also considerably cheaper than iRobots. At the time I purchased mine, iRobot was still using NiMH batteries while BotVac was switching over the Lion IIRC. The battery outlasts the pickup container, which is also larger than the iRobot. The filter used is/was better in the BotVac. Both Botvacs ar
            • How many of them actually have an internet connection to send data back? I love my Roomba mop. It stores the map internally and gets a bearing from an infrared lighthouse. It doesn't have wifi. I would absolutely buy another one if it could be kept offline like mine.

          • by XXeR ( 447912 )

            This almost never works - when a giant company buys a small company for "talent", usually a sizable chunk of the talent leaves, because they didn't want to work for the big company (they could have done that already if they wanted).

            So the buyer really is just left with the IP, not the talent that created it.

            It sounds like we've had very different experiences here. I've been part of the opposite on several separate occasions with multi-year lock up agreements in place to keep key folks around after an acquisition is complete. From memory, I feel like most of those folks continued to stay on even after their agreements expire, but certainly not all do.

          • nah most employees stay because they get incentives to, ie bonus and stock per at the end of each year they stay
          • Most employees stay because most people hate job hunting and starting over (usually senority and assicated benifits from senority carry over.)

          • by cusco ( 717999 )

            Speaking as someone who recently retired from Amazon, the company goes out of its way to keep techies happy. The average salary at Amazon is $102,000/year plus generous benefits, and best of all you get to work on interesting and challenging projects with some of the most intelligent people you've ever met doing things that will change the world. Talented developers can make a whole lot more than the average.

      • You mean, the rich guys in a castle with high walls and the peasants in a slum below waiting for the leftovers
        • Why do the workers need the rich guys? Why don't they start their own companies and make products for each other? Wouldn't that make more sense than complaining that some rich guy isn't paying them enough?

          • Because they don't have any capital. So if they try to start a company they just get run out of business because they have to spend a huge amount of capital getting started and build that cost into their prices and the existing businesses will just drop their drawers until you go out of business. If all else fails the larger company with all the capital just waits for an economic downturn to severely weaken their competitor and buys them out. Just a natural forces of market consolidation.

            You didn't real
            • Because they don't have any capital.

              Apple is the most valuable company in America, yet they own no factories and manufacture nothing.

              The only capital my employer provides is my laptop. I could replace it with about three days' wages.

              A steel mill requires a lot of capital. A service business or tech business requires very little.

              • huh? of course you need a lot of capital, tech employees are expensive, how are you going to pay them when you start a business?
                • of course you need a lot of capital, tech employees are expensive

                  That is labor, not capital.

                  Are you really trying to claim that people can't be self-employed because they have to pay themselves too much?

            • So, um, where did Amazon come from?

              https://www.indiatoday.in/tech... [indiatoday.in]

              Oops.

              He wasn't complaining about the huge amount of capital yada yada yada....

          • Why don't they start their own companies and make products for each other?

            Didn't know it was just as simple as that -- thanks! Problems solved. /sarcasm

        • The ultra wealthy will have robots and automation making everything for them and they will have absolutely no need and no obligation for the peasantry. The king needed his peasants to till the land and make food for his knights. This new monarchy will only need a handful of engineers to keep the robots going. I suppose they'll hunt us for sport occasionally but other than that and the occasional weird sex thing they won't give us any thought.
      • You do realize that Bezos' money for the yachts doesn't come from Amazon revenue, right? It's completely unrelated. He doesn't make much actual money from his position at Amazon. He creates wealth by being the largest shareholder.

    • Amazon cloud + iRobot + Healthcare company = Automated Medicine ($$ Profit)

      The robot Doctors don't have to have the best number of patients healed, just have to get them in and out the door faster. (It's probably quicker if your patients don't linger around, one way of the other. You know, medicine by spreadsheet.)

    • by LatencyKills ( 1213908 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @11:04AM (#62764796)

      I interviewed at iRobot about 10 years ago. Even then it was painfully obvious they had no follow on product ideas. They had the scooba. They had a swiffer bot. They had a home security system in development hell. They had a telepresence robot that was the most expensive in the market with the fewest features. It was a company that reeked of desperation.

      • I mentioned this above but I started buying neato vacs about 10 years ago and I was astounded at how far ahead there were with their technology. irobot had been around for 20+ years at that point and made all their money with a robot that bounces around randomly and hopefully cleans the whole floor in the process. They even had all kinds of "research" about "statistical cleaning" and all that. It was terrible. I mean, wow, you're putting all your research $s into solving the wrong problem. Meanwhile, s

      • In recent years, they've added cameras to Roomba so it can do whole-house mapping, thanks to on-board cameras. With some AI, Roomba can now drive around objects, so if your pet pooped on the rug, your Rooba will avoid it instead of spearing it all over (an important feature!).

        Having interior maps of millions of homes will integrate well into Amazon's smart home system. They could do a lot of cool stuff with Roomba and the Ring Always Home Cam.

      • Amazon just need access to iRobot in-built cameras. This is a gold mine for their marketing if they will know how your home looks like, what furniture do you have and details like this. Remember, You are a product....

        • Alexis: "Hello Homeowner18346535! I've noticed that your avocado-green kitchen range sets off the smoke detector 78% more frequently than it did just a month ago. Please say, 'Cancel Request' to have a new model shipped to this home using the Amazing Amazon Prime program. If you'd like to have it professionally installed, and we highly recommend this option, please say, 'I don't want' or 'I don't need' or 'Alexis Power Off' to complete the order. Thank you for being a loyal Amazon Product!"
    • by Anonymous Coward

      the iRobot product name, if Apple wants it they now will have to buy it from Amazon

    • They are buying the name and brand recognition. The technology itself is trivial by modern standards, although Amazon might want to use the name to push the envelope.

  • Lawn Mower Product? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @09:57AM (#62764586) Homepage Journal

    iRobot announced their Terra robotic lawn mower back in 2019 or so. This was the first robotic lawn mower that didn't require guide wires (the same technology as the invisible fence for dogs). They said it was delayed due to the pandemic, and then it seems to have been shelved. I would love to see this product, but I fear Amazon won't be interested.

    I also think the name was horrible, and they should have called it Lawnba.

    • by kackle ( 910159 )
      "Bloomba"?
      • Maybe something not stupid and childish considering lawnmowers can be dangerous

        • by Junta ( 36770 )

          The interesting thing is the robot mowers are really not that dangerous.

          They are not machines with hard blades over 20 inches long slashing with high force like a push mower. They are generally about an inch and mounted on a pivot that would just bounce off anything substantial (admittedly delivering an unpleasant cut in the process, but it probably wouldn't get very deep).

          Not to mention how fast they shut down at the hint of being moved in a way someone could slip under it.

          Basically, they accept the fact

    • by whyde ( 123448 )

      "Lawn-Baa"

    • by stikves ( 127823 )

      All kinds of things can go wrong with a full automated lawnmover in residential areas.

      They need to be absolutely, one thousand percent sure (I know), it will not maim or kill a pet or worse a toddler.

      I trust robots with many things, but not with a very sharp blade.

  • by cellocgw ( 617879 ) <cellocgw&gmail,com> on Friday August 05, 2022 @10:09AM (#62764610) Journal

    I wouldn't be at all astonished if Amazon modifies iRobot products so you pay for "advanced" features on a monthly basis.

    Guess I also wouldn't be surprised if iRobot concentrates primarily on warehouse service machines such as automated "pickers" and packagers.

  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @10:11AM (#62764620) Homepage
    Then phone home exact mappings of your house. They can even see under your night table!
    • by RobinH ( 124750 )
      Don't know about the microphone, but ours has a camera and sends me pictures of "obstacles" we forgot to pickup. It has a checkbox to allow those pictures to be sent to iRobot's database. The map it generates is certainly in the cloud, as I'm viewing it on my phone.
    • Alexa will take all voice input and transmit to Roomba. You do have an Echo in every room, as prescribed by Amazon, don't you?

  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @10:19AM (#62764642)

    They basically haven't improved the Roomba much since they released it 20 years ago. Sure they made tweaks here and there and made a model for hardwood floors. .. but let's face it those are incremental BS. They haven't made any new and innovative products since the original Roomba.

    • by Junta ( 36770 )

      They sucked

      But isn't that the point?

    • Except for all the military stuff which they sold off in 2016

    • by kwerle ( 39371 )

      The self-emptying of the vacuum is revolutionary. Expensive, but it's a game changer.

      • I hope their implementation is better than the Shark. The shark has a tiny dustbin but runs for a hardcoded 30 minutes on the "really dirty" setting before emptying itself. With multiple dogs, I need it to empty every 5-10 minutes (more frequently on the first run that gets all the areas you dont clean often like under the couch/china cabinent etc). So self-empty would be nice, but its a useless feature if you cant tweak that value. Shark also has a tiny battery, you are lucky to get 45 minutes out
        • by kwerle ( 39371 )

          I only have the one data point to go on, but my impression is that it self-clears when it feels like it needs to. Sometimes it returns to base multiple times between charging; sometimes it will do most of the house. I don't have to fuss with it and it works - I don't think I could ask for much more.

    • Automatically avoiding poop was a huge feature added recently. Pooptastrophes [buzzfeednews.com] have been documented, and they ain't pretty.

    • They basically haven't improved the Roomba much since they released it 20 years ago. Sure they made tweaks here and there and made a model for hardwood floors. .. but let's face it those are incremental BS. They haven't made any new and innovative products since the original Roomba.

      I don't think the issue is that Roomba stagnated since it sounds it's been advancing about as well as you'd expect a robot vacuum to advance. The problem is that they haven't done anything else.

      The original Roomba was a cool idea... but it's an idea that took them 12 years to find (I'm sure you could have had a functional robot vacuum using 1990 tech).

      Since then.... they refine the Roomba and not much else.

      It's not entirely their fault, outside of robot vacuums the technological hurdle for domestic robots i

    • Have they at least switched to Li-ion batteries? Last time I had a look at one not that long ago, they were still using NiMH batteries, and shitty ones at that.
  • Positronic brain for an additional fee.

  • I can just see the new Roombazon ... On sale for only $49.99 but requires a Prime Cleaning subscription based on the square footage of your property. Works with Alexa, so you can say, "Alexa, vacuum my floors!" Alexa will say, "I'm only a personal assistant. I can't do that. But I'll ask Roombazon to do it for you!" This makes Alexa into the type of middle management Amazon embraces!

  • The randomly bounding of the walls Roombas always make be cry. I do not know if their more expensive ones are better but there is now a lot of very well behaving robots with LIDAR and great planning and obstacle recovery algorithms. I am amazed with my mid-priced ($300) RoboRock navigating my home. If only had it bigger dustbin as its battery seams to outlast it 3x...

  • ... is the ability to scan the inside of houses. For now, only the floor plan. But what data can be harvested when a cam is installed on the Roombas? Or a microphone? Or...
  • Roombas have cameras. More ways for Jeffie B's merry band of scumbags to get surveillance devices inside of people's homes.
    • by cusco ( 717999 )

      Amazon doesn't really care if you're getting humped by your St. Bernard or cooking meth. If they can sell you something then the data is useful, if not then they don't care.

  • by wonkavader ( 605434 ) on Friday August 05, 2022 @11:56AM (#62764992)

    iRobot for YEARS was the dominant force in the market and simply kept producing the same crappy random-walk robots while the entire industry left them in the dust with room scanning and smart patterns. During that time iRobot was working with the military to produce expensive oversized remote-controlled cars.

    I bought a Roomba when they were fairly new. It stunk but it was better than vacuuming myself. Many years later I bought a new one and was shocked to find it was essentially the same product. In the first couple of days of use, it hit a chair leg placed in a way which didn't jive well with it's random pattern, and it ground out deep scratches in my floor with due to some grit on one of the wheels as it went round and round in a tight pattern. I returned it and bought another brand, which was MUCH better.

    Screw iRobot. Lazy sacks squatting on a good name.

    • You would think with all that time and money they would have a robot climbing up and down stairs and recognizing objects on the floor. The robot you could buy today is nearly the same as the one they started with.

  • Amazon iRobot: Hoovers your carpet and your data!

    You log on to Amazon next time and it says: "We've noticed you're basically a slob. We recommend Marie Kondo books...."

    Seriously, though... missed opportunity for Microsoft. They should have bought iRobot and then they'd finally have a product that doesn't suck.

  • And that ain't a compliment anymore: overpriced, unimaginative and resting on it's laurels for far too long.

    I just bought a Roborock S7 last week and nothing from the iRobot lineup made my short list in my comparison shopping (taking price into consideration also). Amazon's purchase of iRobot only reinforces my belief that I made the right choice.
  • When it came out that these devices were creating a floorplan of your house, people wondered what possible good it would do anyone even assuming the company decided to sell that data. Well, now I figure it's only a matter of time before Amazon starts suggesting furniture that would fit into open spaces in your house. "Here's a cute end table that would fit nicely on the east wall in your living room!" That sofa recliner (can be deduced based on the rough dimensions) getting old and worn out? Here's our sele

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