iRobot’s Roomba was once the biggest name in robot vacuums – so big that some still use it as a synonym for the entire product category. So what happened to the company that caused it to fall from its high perch to the point of being forced to file for bankruptcy, saved from oblivion thanks to the takeover by Chinese subcontractor Picea?
A costly approach
iRobot co-founder and former CEO Colin Angle called the Picea buyout “deeply disappointing” and “avoidable,” blaming the collapse of a potential Amazon acquisition, which was rejected by regulators, for the position iRobot ultimately found itself in (you can read his statement to TechRadar here.)
Cohen, however, believes the problems started long before this acquisition was on the horizon.
My predecessor’s vision for connected homes and camera-based vision technology was great, but we couldn’t make it happen.
Gary Cohen, CEO of iRobot
“The Amazon deal was a big setback for the company, but many years of problems led to the situation we find ourselves in, and it’s important to highlight them without disparaging the previous team,” he told me. “My predecessor was a visionary, he was brilliant and […] his vision for connected homes and camera-based vision technology was great, but we couldn’t put it into practice.
“When I arrived in May 2024, it was obvious to me, as well as to some of the people I had designated to help me do this restructuring, that we needed to change the way we do business,” Cohen told me.
Cohen recalls how he inherited contracts with high fixed costs and “over-engineered” products. He explains that at that time, all tooling, engineering and purchasing took place in the United States, with only final manufacturing taking place overseas. This was a very expensive process.
The bold decision was made to scrap the entire existing product line and replace it, and under Cohen the company also adopted a more integrated (and more profitable) relationship with its manufacturer – which at this point was the same Picea Robotics that now owns iRobot.
In the previous model, the contract manufacturer was essentially assigned at the end to be the “screwdriver” who just put the product together. The new approach saw iRobot work out the specifications it wanted, but Picea became more involved in “technical development, tooling, purchasing and even testing”.
This wasn’t enough to prevent iRobot’s sale, but it put the company on a more profitable trajectory and allowed it to establish a close working relationship with Picea.
High cost, low satisfaction
High costs are only part of the problem. “We weren’t competitive in the market,” Cohen continues. “The cost of our goods was too high. The products were difficult to manufacture, but above all, we did not know how to please consumers.”
iRobot lost a market opportunity because it wasn’t close enough to the consumer or didn’t bother to listen to them.
Gary Cohen, CEO of iRobot
Cohen says that if he had been involved in the business earlier, he would have prioritized customer needs. “Back when iRobot was facing some of its competitive challenges, I would have taken the competition more seriously and implemented a consumer framework model,” he told me.
“So, as an example, consumers wanted these combinations of mops and vacuums. The iRobot team at the time said, “No, we’re going to develop the best mop and the best vacuum.” Which was great from a technical standpoint, but consumers didn’t go for it. SO [iRobot] “They lost a market opportunity because they weren’t close enough to the consumer or didn’t bother to listen to them.”
iRobot was also behind the times when it came to developing a multifunctional docking station – one that not only dumped the robot’s small onboard trash can, but could also do things like fill its water tank and even wash and dry its mops. It launched its first attempt in 2024 – the Roomba Combo 10 Max – but by Cohen’s own admission it was “not the best and most competitive product.”
“SO [at that time] we are losing market share in Europe because we are not participating. And these are all strategic decisions that were made several years ago. »
Tariff upheaval
Of course, external factors also played a role. Cohen had attempted to sell iRobot in the first half of 2025, but significant changes in U.S. pricing policy generated too much uncertainty for potential buyers.
“That really narrowed our portfolio of options, because a lot of companies that were interested in us were exposed to tariffs and were saying, ‘Well, it’s too much uncertainty. We can’t buy a company right now,'” Cohen recalls. “We finally found a company that was really interested in buying us, but they couldn’t come to an agreement with our main lender at the time, which was Carlyle. And so that deal fell through in October.”
Cohen had to quickly pivot to try to save the company. “Chapter Seven [liquidation bankruptcy] “It wasn’t something I really wanted,” he told me. “I had invested too much in the company and the employees, so we went to Picea and said, would you be interested in buying the company? And that’s how it came to fruition.”
So what does the future look like now, under Picea’s leadership? In terms of immediate effects, Cohen says it’s “business as usual”, with previously developed products already being presented to European retailers, for launch in spring 2026.
Longer term, he is confident this will change the situation, with a new consumer-focused approach focused on making robot vacuums accessible to a wider audience. We will follow with interest.
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