iRobot, the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week after years of mounting financial struggles and a failed $1.4 billion acquisition deal with Amazon.
The 35-year-old company once reigned supreme in the world of robotic vacuums, but its dominance waned amid rising competition from lower-cost rivals and weakening consumer demand.
Here’s a look back at how this once mighty, pioneering robotics company arrived at this moment.
iRobot was founded by MIT roboticists
iRobot was founded in 1990 by three roboticists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Colin Angle, Helen Greiner, and Rodney Brooks — who had a “vision of making practical robots a reality,” the company says on its website.
Before the Roomba, iRobot made robots for military use
iRobot focused on designing robots for space-related research and military use in its early years.
In 1998, the Massachusetts-based company won a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA, to build a tactical mobile robot. This led to the development of iRobot’s PackBot, which was later used in search operations at Manhattan’s Ground Zero following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The launch of the Roomba
In 2002, iRobot had its consumer breakthrough with its debut of the Roomba, its iconic self-cleaning disc-shaped vacuum.
Over the next two decades, the company went on to release dozens of Roomba models. It has sold over 50 million models globally since.
iRobot goes public
iRobot went public in November 2005 with its IPO priced at $24 per share. It began trading its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol IRBT.
By then, the company was well known for its robot vacuums, and by 2013, iRobot had sold over 10 million home cleaning robots.
The company hit its highest annual revenue in 2021
iRobot saw its annual revenue peak in 2021 at $1.56 billion, but sales have been falling ever since.
Sales dropped, in part, thanks to stiffer competition from Chinese rivals like Dreame, Roborock, and Ecovacs, as well as other brands such as Shark and Samsung.
The failed Amazon-iRobot deal
Amazon agreed to buy iRobot in 2022 for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction, but the deal collapsed two years later with the companies saying there was “no path to regulatory approval in the European Union.”
The same day the companies announced that the proposed merger was scrapped in January 2024, iRobot cut 31% of its staff, and Angle, iRobot’s cofounder and longtime CEO, also stepped down.
iRobot sounded the alarm about its business
In a March 2025 earnings report, iRobot said there was “substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to continue.
The company struggles to find a new buyer
iRobot attempted to find a new buyer after its deal with Amazon collapsed. In an October 2025 regulatory filing, it said the last remaining potential acquirer pulled out “following a lengthy period of exclusive negotiations.”
The company warned that without fresh funding, it “may be forced to significantly curtail or cease operations and would likely seek bankruptcy protection.”
iRobot files for bankruptcy
iRobot filed for Chapter 11 on December 14 and said the company would be acquired by its China-based primary contract manufacturer and lender, Picea Robotics, through a court-supervised process. Under the deal, iRobot would be taken private.
The company said it expects to continue to operate as normal and does not anticipate any disruption to its core operations, including its app and ongoing product support.
“The transaction will strengthen our financial position and will help deliver continuity for our consumers, customers, and partners,” said iRobot CEO Gary Cohen.
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