We learned earlier this week that iRobot, the company behind Roomba, had been taken over by a Chinese contract manufacturing company, Picea, following years of financial struggles. The deal has led to plenty of negative press, but when I spoke to the company’s CEO, Gary Cohen, he assured me the future for iRobot was far brighter than the headlines would have us believe.
It’s kept a brand alive. We’ve saved 500 jobs.
Gary Cohen, iRobot CEO
“I’m feeling great. This is good news for us. This sets iRobot on a new path, a new beginning – a reboot, as many of our employees have been saying,” he says. “Just from a process standpoint, this transaction fixes our balance sheet. It helps us out. It protects a lot of stakeholders, and for me, importantly, it’s kept a brand alive. We’ve saved 500 jobs.”
Cohen was brought in to save the struggling iRobot in May 2024, following a high-profile failed acquisition by Amazon. Without a buyer, it would have been curtains for the brand that was so instrumental in shaping the robot vacuum market. He explains that the deal means iRobot has been able to keep its headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts, alongside its innovation team and international teams worldwide.
Although not a widely known name, Picea Robotics is no mysterious interloper, either, but a company that iRobot has had close dealings with over the past year. Cohen tells me how it was first assigned as one of iRobot’s contract manufacturers just before the Amazon deal fell through.
“So fast forward to when I joined. We made a decision to totally get rid of our legacy product lines in one year, and we chose Picea as the partner to do that. We still kept our innovation engine. We designed the specs that we wanted to have in the marketplace, but then Picea did more of the engineering development, tooling, purchasing and even testing,” he recalls.
As part of that reboot, Picea even introduced some new features of its own, which were developed in conjunction with iRobot.
This isn’t a story about being taken over by a Chinese company. This is a story of a partner kind of saving a company.
Gary Cohen, iRobot CEO
The new lineup is still in the process of being rolled out, and it must be said the new models haven’t been an overwhelming success so far. Still, Picea’s work on the project was enough to convince Cohen of Picea’s potential as a partner.
It wasn’t the first company to try to purchase iRobot, but early deal attempts were derailed by US tariff turmoil in the Spring. Then, when a serious potential buyout eventually fell apart in October, Cohen had to find a new way to save the company.
“Chapter Seven [liquidation bankruptcy] was not something I really wanted to have happen. I had too much invested in the company and the employees, and so we went to Picea and said, ‘Would you be interested in buying the company?’ And that’s how it materialized,” he explains.
“So this isn’t a story about being taken over by a Chinese company. This is a story of a partner kind of saving a company, and a partner that we have a really good experience with.”
Looking forward
The final deal is a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in which the struggling company can continue operations while reorganizing its finances. Under this agreement, Picea will “receive 100% of the equity interests in the Company,” as described in a statement from iRobot.
Day-to-day, Cohen explains that the deal means what were two separate sides of the business will be more smoothly integrated, and insists the teams are “actually excited” at the prospect of a more connected setup.
The original iRobot has already been developing its 2026 lineup with Picea before the takeover, and the results will be launching in the spring.
Collectively, we’ll be able to put the best brains together from a technical standpoint.
Gary Cohen, iRobot CEO
Cohen tells me that Picea is a relatively new company, but has doubled its size in the past three or so years, and is already a key player in contact manufacturing for robot vacuums. He asserts that they “bring a lot to the party,” not just in manufacturing but also on the technical side of things.
“By partnering with them, we have over 1,000 patents. Collectively, we’ll be able to put the best brains together from a technical standpoint,” he says. “I look at them as more than a contract manufacturer. They’ve got some brilliant software robotic scientists. We do as well. So by partnering with them, we’ll be able to bring innovative ideas to consumers better and faster than even our competitors. They bring to us a get-to-market-faster, lower-cost structure, but also a lot of innovative ideas.”
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