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Amazon.com Inc. would buy iRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba vacuum, for $1.7 billion as the e-commerce giant continues its push into internet-connected home devices and robotics. iRobot sells its products worldwide and is most famous for the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum, which would join voice assistant Alexa, the Astro robot, Ring security cameras, and others in the list of smart home features offered by the Seattle-based e-commerce and tech giant. It would give Amazon access to yet another wellspring of personal data: interior maps of Roomba owners' homes.
Amazon's acquisition of iRobot means Alexa could control a household army of Roombas. The move is part of Amazon's bid to own part of the home space through services to accelerate its growth beyond retail. Amazon has worked to place its Alexa voice software and Echo smart speakers at the center of its push into connected devices. iRobot also runs some of its software on Amazon Web Services servers.
Amazon said it will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction that will include iRobot's net debt. The deal comes as anti-monopoly advocates continue to raise concerns about Amazon's increasing dominance. The profits from defense contracts allowed iRobot to experiment with a variety of other robots. iRobot saw sales increase over the pandemic, as families who were housebound sought shortcuts to keep their homes clean.
The company spun off its defense robotics division in 2016 to become almost exclusively a seller of vacuums and some other home robots, such as the Braava robotic mop. The $3.5 billion deal announced for One Medical Ltd. last month provides a wealth of healthcare data. Even without bringing iRobot into the fold, there are a few aspects of people's lives that Amazon does not have access to. Soon, it may also know every inch of their homes.
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