iRobot found success when it focused on a simple task: cleaning floors. The earliest models were primitive by today’s standards, but they got the job done well enough to justify their price point. In addition to marking 62 years since Rosey’s TV debut, next month is also the Roomba’s 22nd anniversary. The robot vacuum is old enough to legally buy a case of Sam Adams.
In the nearly quarter century since the Roomba launched, much of iRobot’s R&D has gone into making the system smarter, adding sensing, mapping, and AI and integrating with smart assistants. The company has invested into other robotics categories as well, including gutter clearing, pool cleaning and a lawnmower that may never see the light of day, but all have failed to recapture the Roomba’s magic.