On Friday (05), Amazon announced the purchase of iRobot, a company specializing in robotics and creator of Roomba, one of the first and most popular domestic robots on the market. The acquisition cost $1.7 billion and shows another breakthrough for the company created by Jeff Bezos in the smart home appliances industry.
The transaction between the giants, which cost $61 per share in cash, brought one of the industry’s oldest and most reputable companies into Amazon’s portfolio. To get an idea, iRobot has been on the market for more than 30 years and launched Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner that now has several models, in 2002.
Despite the acquisition, Amazon has already announced that the brand’s products will continue to be compatible with voice assistants from other companies, without any kind of exclusivity with Alexa. In addition, they will continue to be sold at retailers other than Amazon itself.
In a statement released this morning, Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot, demonstrates that the company’s vision seems to be well aligned.
“Amazon shares our passion for creating smart innovations that empower people to do more at home, and I can’t think of a better place for our team to continue our mission,” he explains.
Astro was Amazon’s latest bet
Amazon has long been betting on smart home appliances. In addition to Alexa itself, at the end of 2021 the company launched its latest project in the sector: the Astro, a cute-looking domestic robot that wanders around the house, performing small tasks.
Controlled by voice command, the robot functions as an Amazon Echo Show on wheels, sending alerts, making video calls and even carrying small volumes, through a coupled bucket.
Under the façade of a vigilant robot that seems to have come out of a cartoon, the device has a mobile screen that simulates real expressions and also has a periscopic monitoring camera.
In the testing phase, Astro remains available exclusively by invitation to Amazon U.S. customers.
