iRobot

iRobot is an American company specializing in the development, production and sale of robotics: robot sappers, robot scouts, Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, Scooba cleaning robot vacuum cleaner. The company's headquarters are in Bedford, Massachusetts. iRobot is a publicly traded company whose shares are traded in the NASDAQ market.

Performance indicators

2021: Revenue - $1.01 billion, profit - $30.4 million

At the end of 2021, the revenue of the manufacturer of robot vacuum cleaners iRobot for the first time amounted to $1.01 billion. Net profit for this period reached $30.4 million.

Mid-range and premium robots accounted for 83% of all robot sales by the end of 2021, up from 78% in 2020.

Analysts estimate iRobot's revenue by the end of 2021 from e-commerce support, which covers the company's own website and app, dedicated e-commerce websites and the online division of traditional retailers, grew about 7% to 58% of annual revenue, up from 60% in 2020. Revenue from direct sales in 2021 in the amount of $187 million increased by 24% compared to 2020.

iRobot earned more than $1 billion for the first time in a year

iRobot ended 2021 with 14.0 million connected customers, up 44% from the end of 2020.

Faced with ongoing difficulties acquiring the chips needed to build robot vacuum cleaners, mops and other devices in 2021, iRobot has focused on developing smart home capabilities and strengthening its relationship with Amazon's Alexa platform.

In 2021, iRobot continued to evolve Genius Home Intelligence its platform to further differentiate its products. The company released an update to in the fall of 2021 software that expands capabilities by machine vision allowing Roomba j7 and j7 + robot vacuum cleaners to avoid common home items like shoes, children's toys, etc. The latest iRobot update also made it easier for existing Roomba and Braava customers to quickly transfer existing maps from one robot Smart Mapping to another Smart Mapping robot.

Based on 2021 sales data for robot vacuum cleaners priced at $200 or higher, Roomba robots ranked 7th out of the top 10 best-selling models in the United States, as well as 6th out of the top 10 in the EMEA region and 7th among the top 10 in Japan.^[1]

History

2024: Amazon pulls out of buying company amid EU pressure

In January Amazon 2024, it abandoned Roomba maker iRobot's planned 1.4 billion dollars acquisition after a conflict with regulators that threatened to EU block the deal.

IRobot's CEO is leaving his post and the company is cutting its workforce by 31%.

The tech giant will pay $94 million to iRobot in connection with the termination of the deal.

2023: Lay off 7% of employees

On February 13, 2023, iRobot, the manufacturer, robots vacuum cleaners Roomba announced plans to cut about 7% of the workforce.

As of December 31, 2022, there were 1254 people in its staff, reductions will affect about 85 people. In 2023, iRobot has to suspend hiring, close projects and reorganize teams to cut costs, according to a press release.

World's largest maker of vacuum cleaner robots fires 7% of employees

In June 2022, according to Reuters, iRobot Chief Executive Officer Colin Angle warned employees about the coming economic downturn and hinted at upcoming layoffs in 2023. The cuts at iRobot follow the layoff of about 100 employees as early as August 2022, when the companies said iRobot needed to better align its cost structure with short-term revenue and cash flows, and improve profitability.

In the fourth quarter, iRobot reported a loss of $84.1 million on revenue of $357.9 million. iRobot said it expects to see "muted" orders in the first quarter of 2023. The latest cuts are being made "in anticipation that market conditions will remain challenging in 2023," the company said in its earnings report. As a result of the layoffs, iRobot will suffer losses of $4 million.

iRobot is cutting employees while it is in the process of being acquired by the company. Amazon The e-commerce giant announced in August 2022 that it would buy iRobot for $1.7 billion, but the February 2023 deal is still subject to Federal Trade Commission antitrust oversight. USA

The American company iRobot joins a stream of technology companies that have announced layoffs since early 2023. With interest rates rising and consumer demand slowing, which raised recession fears and prompted companies to cut spending.^[2]

2022: Amazon agreed to buy iRobot for $1.7 billion

Amazon said it had agreed to acquire iRobot Corp., a company specializing in the production of robotic vacuum cleaners, for $1.7 billion, including debt, Interfax reported.

Amazon will pay $61 per iRobot share, which is 22% more than the paper cost to close trading on August 4.

After the deal closes, Colin Angle will remain head of the company.

2021: Purchase of air purifier manufacturer Aeris

In mid-November 2021, the manufacturer of robotic vacuum cleaners iRobot announced the purchase of the Swiss developer of air purifiers Aeris. The transaction amount amounted to $72 million. Read more here.

2013: IBM and EMC develop robots to patrol data centers based on iRobot products

In June 2013, it became known that based on the solutions of iRobot, better known as the manufacturer of home robot vacuum cleaners Roomba and Scooba, a pilot project is being implemented for IBM and EMC, and if successful, the company's equipment may in the future become a significant element of corporate data centers.

IBM and EMC use iRobot Create, the Roomba version, to build robots that will patrol data centers and monitor temperature and humidity changes. Despite the fact that the solution to the issue looks funny, the problem of controlling the temperature regime in data centers is very important. A lot of money is spent on maintaining the necessary temperature and humidity parameters for the servers, so any solution that can reduce these costs will have a positive impact on pricing for data center end users.

By deploying patrol work, IBM and EMC hope to nullify situations that could lead to server hardware failures

By using patrol work, IBM and EMC hope to nullify situations that could lead to server hardware failures. Usually, these parameters are monitored manually by special employees, which does not avoid the influence of the human factor.

Solutions developed by IBM and EMC are similar. Based on the iRobot Create technical solution, it is a base on which there is a 6-foot-long add-on filled with sensors and sensors, and the device is also equipped with a webcam for navigation and a Wi-Fi module for data transfer.

IBM began using patrol robots in 9 of its data centers, and by the end of 2013 they will appear "in more data centers," said IBM expert Jonathan Lenchner.

EMC's plans for robots have not yet been announced. But in February, a team of the Indian division of the corporation posted a video with such a robot on the network, saying that the cost of creating one copy is about $200.

2012: $74m takeover of Evolution Robotics

In September 2012, iRobot absorbed Evolution Robotics; the transaction amount is about $74 million.

1990-2010

• iRobot was founded in 1990 by Rodney Brooks, Colin Angle, and Helen Greiner of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

• In 1998, the company contracted with DARPA to develop the PackBot series of military robots.

• In September 2002, iRobot introduced its flagship product, the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner.

• Since November 2005, the company has been represented on the NASDAQ market. In September 2008, iRobot announced that more than 2,000 PackBot robots were in service.

• In September 2008, iRobot acquired Nekton Corporation (Northern California); the amount of the transaction amounted to $10 million.

• On January 5, 2010, iRobot announced the sale of 5 million copies of the Roomba robot since 2002. As of 2010, more than 3,000 units of PackBot military robots have been sold.