iRobot's Roomba was once the biggest name in robot vacuums – so big that some still use it as a synonym for the whole product category. So what happened to the company to cause it to fall from its lofty perch to the point where it was forced to file for bankruptcy, saved from oblivion thanks to a takeover by Chinese contract manufacturer Picea?
I caught up with iRobot CEO Gary Cohen a few days after news of the takeover broke to discuss what went wrong. Cohen is a relatively new addition to the iRobot team, having been drafted in around 18 months ago to help get the company back on track, and he's adamant that the company's woes can't be placed entirely at the door of tariff chaos or failed Amazon deals, as some have suggested, although neither of those things helped the situation.
