Amazon has signed an agreement to take over iRobotthe manufacturer, among other devices, of some of the best robot cleaners on the market, the famous Roomba.
Amazon had launched Astro, its own robot cleaner, a year ago
The deal has been closed at $1.7 billion, the amount that the online giant will shell out to take over this company that has been developing cleaning robots since 20o2 and whose main product, Roomba, gives name to any cleaning robot in street slang.
Its popularity has led it to selling millions of Roomba robots worldwide. Earlier this year, it even launched an operating system that incorporates Artificial Intelligence for its devices.
Roomba robots “map” the home they are going to clean, and it is possibly this information that has served as an incentive for Amazon to acquire the company. It is millions of data that allow “mapping” the homes of millions of customers, albeit anonymously.
But this information could be very useful for Amazon, present in millions of homes already with its devices with Alexa assistant and Echo smart speakers. The integration of these devices with the robot cleaners seems obvious as soon as the acquisition is completed.
In addition, the company already launched a year ago its own robot cleaner, Astro, which so far had not enjoyed great popularity, but possibly in the future will incorporate the tools developed by iRobot and, of course, the Roomba OS operating system.
As noted by Amazon in an official statement, the addition of iRobot products to its catalog will help the company to “explore new ways to make users’ lives easier and more fun.”
However, it is not yet known whether the company will keep the popular brand and the details of the integration will have to be discussed, although Amazon has indicated that it intends for iRobot’s CEO to continue working for the firm.