iRobot’s bankruptcy isn’t the end, it’s a reboot, says CEO Gary Cohen

News that the manufacturer of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, iRobot, Filed for bankruptcy This week was no surprise. Its CEO, Gary Cohen, was as well Warning investors all year long The company may run out of cash unless a buyer is found. when The last possible deal fell throughBankruptcy became inevitable. But Cohen says this isn’t the end of iRobot; Instead, he sees it as the beginning of a new chapter for the company, which he hopes will once again turn it into a leader in a competitive market and perhaps take it into new, greener territory.

Cohen was brought in in early 2024 to turn the company around Co-founder and CEO Colin Angell has stepped down After the failed acquisition of Amazon. In an interview with Edge this week, Cohen insisted that bankruptcy is a good thing for iRobot and its customers. “This is good news for us,” he says. “It keeps us alive in the long term.” “It keeps 500 employees employed and keeps a global brand going, based in Boston,” he says. “We have just signed a long-term lease on our headquarters as a result and are keeping all of our engineers, R&D and software development in that building.”

While it is Not good news for shareholders For a public company that will now become a private company, or for Several iRobot employees have been laid off Over the past three years, it has given millions of people who own a Roomba some hope. “It’s business as usual,” Cohen says. “iRobot is here to stay. We don’t expect any interruptions.”

As part of Pre-packaged bankruptcyiRobot will be purchased by its contract manufacturer, which could be completed as soon as next month, according to Cohen. China-based Picea Roboticswhich has recently become its major creditor. The move means that although iRobot will continue to operate as before, it will be wholly owned by Picea.

As a major contract manufacturer since just before Amazon’s selling collapse, Cohen credits Picea with helping the company shift from its previous trajectory to a more consumer-focused brand.

Thanks to Picea, iRobot was able to do just that Launching eight new robotsits largest lineup ever, in March of this year. “We finally gave people what they wanted, including lidar navigation and combined scanning products,” Cohen says. “Working with Picea, we closed the technology gap we had for four years in one year. We didn’t outpace the competition, but we closed the gap, and we’re on track to launch our next-generation products in 2026.”

That first wave of new products was largely disappointing. It’s no surprise that Picea makes robotic vacuum cleaners

they are It is similar to many other mid-range Chinese brands In the market. But there were some innovative features, including on board Dust compression box Which eliminates the need for an automatically empty dock, and Retractable cover for new spin mop iRobot has been added to its top model. However, both are developed by Picea. I asked Cohen about the new font size already being developed by iRobot, and he said it was a “partnership.”

The key to transformation, he says, is speed. “By partnering with Picea, we can be as fast and nimble (as our Chinese competitors),” he says. iRobot’s culture of developing the technology first, then figuring out how to commercialize it, has slowed it down in the age of the fast Chinese follower. Cohen also confirmed what Angell said In my interview with himthat the failed acquisition of Amazon hurt innovation. “Under the Amazon deal, they made some sort of agreement not to make changes — innovation stopped,” he says.

“But frankly, consumers were not satisfied with our product lines.” This stems from issues before Amazon, including a range of strategic and execution choices, he said. “We were late to the party on collections, late on multi-function docks… and we didn’t even have one on the market until the end of last year. And it wasn’t a great product.”

Cohen says the biggest problem was sticking with vSLAM rather than switching to lidar. This was something he resolved immediately. “Clients want their home mapped out in 20 minutes, not two hours,” he says. However, Angle keeps it up It was a wrong move For the company.

“Colin was a visionary, and he felt his way of using camera-based technology was the right way to go,” Cohen says. “I totally agree with that,” he said, noting that the new high-end Roombas also use cameras. “The problem is that we had 200 software engineers developing machine learning to make these products work with camera-based navigation. And we couldn’t execute against it. We couldn’t bring his vision to market. I have hundreds of dead robotic lawnmowers in this building, because we couldn’t commercialize that vision.”

Cohen, who Background in consumer productsNot robots, he says he hopes his legacy at the company will be to shift its culture from technology-first to consumer-led and commercialize those ideas. The initial products might seem rushed because they clearly were. But for Cohen, it was a foot in the door. Now they can build on it.

this “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em“The approach may work, but it risks turning the brand into just one among many undifferentiated products. Angle’s vision may have been difficult to execute, but it’s hard not to be disappointed if that vision gets lost. It’s what helped create this entire product category.”

While Picea clearly led the way in this first round of reinvention, Cohen hinted that there will be more iRobot DNA in future products. “When I got here, the new product wardrobe was really impressive,” he says. “There wasn’t a single thing Colin hadn’t thought of.” “If you can get it to market, it will wow and delight people. We’re not short of ideas. We have some of the smartest software engineers, and I want to harness their energy into a competitive product.”

But of course, it may no longer be up to Cohen. When asked if he would remain in his position, he said they were still working on the CEO position. Requests for comment from Picea were politely deferred to “official announcements.”

If iRobot can implement Cohen’s vision, where does he see the company in five years? “That’s a tough one — given this environment, especially with all the humanoid robots coming out, which haven’t been commercialized either, by the way.

“I think we have to take it one step at a time,” he says. “We have the desire and ability to grow beyond regional value chains.” “We think the home is a good place to start, and we think the outside of the home is another. I won’t go into specific products, but you can discover them all.” maybe iRobot Terra Robotic Lawn Mower We will live to see another day.

The idea that the inventor and early market leader of the modern robotic vacuum could resurrect itself and take on the now-entrenched competition seems like a fantasy. However, it has two cards to play: a strong, recognizable brand name and an innovative design designer that can inject some momentum into its competitors. If this bankruptcy turns into a marriage between American robotics innovations and Chinese efficiency, achieving this achievement is not unlikely. But that’s a pretty big “if.”