“This is what happens when companies don’t integrate AI quickly enough.” -other ceos probably
this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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time for one final, multi million dollar bonus for the CEO that brought it there
My partner's 5 yr old is obsessed with Roombas. If he were old enough to read this news, he'd cry 😢
Isn't Roomba just synonymous with robot vacuum at this point?
All of my friends and family have a "Roomba". Some have the $30 Aldi's Roomba that stumbled around like your drunk uncle, and some have the Roomba with a microphone that chases your dog for the Insta.
It's kind of crazy that the company whose name is synonymous with the product category is going into bankruptcy. It would be like if Skype, which is synonymous with video calls, was out competed by every other video call platform.
Hey! Whoa! Uncool!
Drunk uncle here.......I don't stumble. I sit on the recliner until I pass out watching porn that I'm not aroused by, and not jerking off to. It's just "on".
You sure you're the drunk uncle?
Every drink Uncle I have ever met thinks they are the cool uncle when sober.
It's known as the druncle paradox.
For him, yes. Anything Roomba or Roborox and he's excited. If he knew other brand names he'd say them too 😂
Yet another example that the firms that actually make the things are the ones that matter in the long run.
Apparently Picea makes Roomba, Shark, Anker (Eufy). Maybe also some Dyson.
Hmm... counterpoint: Arm Holdings
They'll be gone as well once RISCV is more pervasive. Companies that sit on their IP and charge licensing fees deserve to die.
...maybe? I'm not so much of an absolutist... I think there's room in the world for companies that focus on design over production...
There are counterexamples for sure but there are whole indistries that fell over to this pattern. E.g. TVs.
Ever heard of a little known design shop called Nvidia that outsources production to other companies?
Fabs are an exception and a bad comparison.
Let's go down the list of the biggest companies in the world
Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Broadcom, Meta
They don't manufacture anything, not even Amazon. They outsource Amazon basics to other companies in China.
The biggest companies in the world don't actually produce anything themselves, you have to go down to TSMC and oil companies to get to actual tangible items
Isn't the real problem here that many companies aim to be bought out as a strategy? They focus on growth to secure a sizeable market share. They often do this without regard for sustaining the business. Equity holders like this because market share inflates company value and selling the company will yield even more money. The downside is though, that at some point, the company can no longer sustain this and must be bought out.
I don't think irobot really needed to go this route or that they weren't competitive any longer. They chose to go for market share and big bucks rather than a long term strategy.
This is why we need more cooperatives. They are better at long term planning, make better products and don't fall prey to predatory value extraction
It is exactly how when companies make the most cutting edge software or develop a platform that gets white-hot. It's about building portfolio and padding it.
They pour into the hard work to make whatever they make the best of its kind. Then when so many people are using it and the value grows, once a company sees its peak value, then it is time to sell.
We've seen this happen many times. Skype to Microsoft. Twitter to Musk. Deals that are worth billions and are making the original creators set for life.
What market share? The article is very explicit that irobot went broke due to competition.
I think the part where if they had limited their debt and controlled their costs they should still be selling enough to stay open. The other products are better but they still don't have the brand recognition.
They literally used all of their money to do stock buybacks. Imagine if they put it into R&D. Maybe they would still exist.
There it is. Stock buy backs driving the company into insolvency. This should be illegal. They are killing the company to pay investors. It is a farce
They were a few hundred million in debt. That's gonna need more than a reorg to handle.
Wtf does that have to do here?
Great now everyone who has one will suddenly become bricked.
Unlikely. Their ODM bought them. Our home maps would however become part of their property. While I'm not happy about it, I think I prefer that than Amazon having it tbh.
You think the data isn't for sale and anyone with a check couldn't acquire the data?
I've had a dumb Roomba (560? 650?) for years. The worst they can do is stop making replacement batteries and brushes available, and there's plenty of third-party alternatives.
Who buys a smart device when a dumb one is available and does the job just as well. 🤷♂️
I've had a dumb roomba for 8-9 years too, and I was decently happy with it, but i switched to a new roborock this year...and holy shit, the roomba sucks ass compared to the roborock. It absolutely does not do the job as well, comparatively it hardly does a job at all.
Interesting to hear the feedback, thanks.
Ya, hard disagree here, while 100% the new features could have been kept in device, vs cloud but the difference between our (770?) that just bounces around until it runs out of battery (and gets stuck in the SAME place Everytime it hits that spot vs. the newer one vacuums the whole floor and can be told to avoid the problematic area(s) is pretty huge.
Now, the new one has a host of its own issues but when it works it's a much better product that produces much better results.
All that said I think the software has gone to crap over the years and the newer (i7) actually is less reliable than it was the first 6-8 months we owned it.
I certainly see the appeal of being able to make it avoid certain areas. Sounds better than arranging furniture or using those little battery-powered outposts to repel the Roomba (can't remember what they're called).
But, for me, I don't see that outweighing the risks of cloud dependencies (and the inevitable expiration date).
Even assuming a solid internet connection, reliable cloud service and perfect software updates, you may still only get a year or two out of it before they decide to yank it or make it a subscription service. The last decade or so of shitty manufacturer behaviour has permanently jaded me, I think... 😅
Ya, I get it, and anything smart now needs to be able to work with home assistant locally.
If we had to do it over again we'd have likely gotten something different, but the features you do get can be useful!
Hopefully work on opensource firmware getting going like https://github.com/koalazak/dorita980. Seems more movement in the server side though https://github.com/ia74/roomba_rest980
Another option is hardware hacking it https://github.com/meech-ward/roomba/tree/main
Tbh the amount of cameras and microphones we have that upload to external unaudited servers ("the cloud") is insane to me. This is just further worry about it since the scheme allowed their ownership over our devices and privacy, which means they can also sell that.
All they have to do is to stop maintaining the mobile app that controls the robot. Sure, you can still start it manually, but it won’t do anything smart.