iRobot founder says company's bankruptcy revealed a new kind of competitor: 'The Chinese fast follower'

"If there's one lesson iRobot founder Colin Angle took from the company's bankruptcy, it's never to underestimate competitors. On December 14, iRobot, maker of the popular robotic vacuum Roomba, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will be acquired by its primary contract manufacturer, Chinese company Picea Robotics. Angle said one of his biggest takeaways as iRobot enters its next phase is that even market leaders must remain alert to competition from China. "It's certainly the advent of this new type of competitor, the Chinese fast follower, who had access to the Chinese marketplace, which iRobot effectively did not," he said on the tech podcast "Hard Fork" on Friday."

"iRobot was founded in 1990 by Angle, Helen Greiner, and Rodney Brooks - roboticists at MIT - who had a "vision of making practical robots a reality," the company says on its website. It released its popular robot vacuum, Roomba, in 2002, which effectively created the category of consumer robotics. For the next two decades, Angle said that the company grew the category and, for a brief period, was the leading manufacturer of vacuuming robots in China. The company reached its peak revenue in 2021, at $1.56 billion."

"In the years that followed, however, Angle said the home robotics market was upended by new entrants from China, such as Roborock, which had been chipping away at iRobot's dominance since its arrival in 2018. Other Chinese competitors include Dreame, Ecovacs, and Shar. Angle said that companies like Roborock had an advantage against iRobot because they had a "protected market to cut your teeth on for the competition.""

iRobot filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 14 and will be acquired by its primary contract manufacturer, Chinese company Picea Robotics. The company built the consumer robot vacuum category with Roomba, released in 2002, and reached peak revenue of $1.56 billion in 2021. The home robotics market was later disrupted by Chinese entrants such as Roborock, Dreame, Ecovacs, and Shar, which leveraged access to the Chinese marketplace and government subsidies. Those conditions created a protected market advantage for Chinese fast followers and contributed to mounting competitive pressure that eroded iRobot's market position. iRobot was founded in 1990 by Colin Angle, Helen Greiner, and Rodney Brooks.

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