Roomba

A squat robotic vacuum cleans a carpet covered in food debris.
Hungry Roomba loves nuts. Photo: iRobot

Roomba is an autonomous vacuum and one of the most popular consumer robots in existence. It navigates around clutter and under furniture cleaning your floors, and returns to its charging dock when finished.

Creator

iRobot

Year
2002
Country
United States 🇺🇸
Categories
Features
Rotating view of a dark gray, squat, round robotic vacuum stood up on its end. It's bottom view shows its brushes and cleaning system.
Interactive
See a 360° view of Roomba i7+. Photos: iRobot

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Appearance

Neutral

Did you know?

Some Roomba owners buy outfits to dress up their robots.

The vacuum is going under a bed.
It cleans where you never bothered to. Photo: iRobot
Overview of Roomba 900 series. Video: iRobot

More videos

Audio

CyberSuck? DustPuppy? iRobot CEO Colin Angle reveals how the company arrived at the name Roomba for its robotic vacuum.

CyberSuck? DustPuppy? iRobot CEO Colin Angle reveals how the company arrived at the name Roomba for its robotic vacuum.

Photo: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg/Getty Images

History

MIT roboticists Colin Angle, Helen Greiner, and Rodney Brooks cofounded IS Robotics, which later became iRobot, in 1990. The following year, another MIT engineer, Joe Jones, became iRobot's first full-time hire, and began pursuing the idea of an autonomous cleaning robot, a project he'd been exploring even before joining the company. Despite difficulties in obtaining funding, Jones built several prototypes of what would eventually become the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner.

In September 2002, the company introduced the first Roomba model. Less than three years later, iRobot was selling a million units a year. Early models were known for zigzagging randomly to achieve full room coverage. Later models feature a new visual simultaneous localization and mapping (vSLAM) navigation system, allowing it to clean more efficiently. As of 2022, there have been ten generations of Roomba models.

In 2010, Roomba was inducted into Carnegie Mellon University's Robots Hall of Fame, with an entry that read, in part: "A humble, disk-shaped machine, the Roomba doesn't have a personality or a face, doesn't dazzle with speed or bright lights. It just sucks up dirt and dust from carpets and rugs. Critics said it wasn't a very good vacuum cleaner. But it was good enough for lots of people who didn't care to spend their time vacuuming their homes. […] In the process, a whole new category of robot—the domestic consumer robot—was created."

iRobot has reportedly sold 40 million Roomba units over the past two decades. In August 2022, Amazon announced its intention to acquire iRobot for US $1.7 billion.

A photo-illustration shows the robot in action cleaning a house and lines indicating boundaries.
Infrared emitters keep Roomba confined... Photo: iRobot
A photo-illustration shows the robot in action cleaning a house with white arrows and lines showing its path.
...or Roomba can vacuum the whole floor. Photo: iRobot

Specs

Overview

Capable of picking up pet hair, dirt, dust, allergens, and more. Equipped with dirt detection system, schedule function, dual counter-rotating brushes and high-efficiency filters.

Status

Ongoing

Year

2002

Website
Width
35.1 cm
Height
9.14 cm
Length
35.3 cm
Weight
3.94 kg
Sensors

Cliff detect sensors, obstacle detection bumper, floor tracking sensor, acoustic and optical sensors (for detecting areas with excessive dirt and debris).

Software

iAdapt navigation system

Power

Lithium-ion battery

Cost
$250 to $900 (depending on model)