iRobot's Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners are displayed on a shelf at a Target store in California.
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An American company that installed robotic vacuum cleaners in American homes has failed.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for bankruptcy about two years after its failed merger with Amazon. The company is struggling to keep up with foreign competitors, its massive debts and new tariffs. Firm now under control from its main manufacturer in China, assuring owners that their devices will continue to function as usual.
Most Roombas are made in Vietnam, so the company faces new import tariffs under President Trump's trade regime. In its bankruptcy filing, the company says it owes U.S. Customs and Border Protection $3.4 million in unpaid duties. iRobot also owes nearly $100 million to the supplier that acquired the company, Shenzhen Picea Robotics.
MIT researchers founded it
Founded in 1990 by MIT researchers, iRobot pioneered devices that helped the U.S. military, searched the Great Pyramid of Giza and tracked an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company then introduced devices to US homeowners that could clean floors and pools, including the popular Roomba.
But iRobot has been struggling financially in recent years. Smart vacuum cleaners from foreign competitors, especially Chinese ones, were often sold at lower prices.
Amazon bid to buy iRobot for $1.4 billion. collapsed last year is under close scrutiny from European and American competition regulators. iRobot stayed with $200 million loan it took it to survive while the merger was being considered.
The company suffered losses throughout the year. In iRobot's last quarter reported that her income had decreased by 33% in the USA. Started in March warning about possible bankruptcyciting concerns about consumer demand, competitors and tariffs.
As part of the bankruptcy plan, iRobot will go private and become part of Picea. The Chinese company produces competing household devices under its own brand 3i and on your website lists other brands such as Shark and Anker that make Eufy vacuum cleaners.
