Neato Robotics is being shut down after 18 years

News Summary

  • The Bay Area firm rose quickly, becoming one of iRobot’s primary competitors years before every single consumer electronics firm took a crack at the space.
  • The category is broadly considered to be the first mainstream home robot — and 21 years after the first Roomba went on sale, it continues to stand alone.
  • The two had partnered years prior, bringing the robot vacuums to the appliance firm’s native Germany.
  • Neato has brought valuable experience and innovations to Vorwerk’s product development in the field of cleaning robots over the past few years.
  • Over that time, Neato attracted its own unique fanbase by on-boarding new innovations, like its 2011 introduction of Wi-Fi connectivity.Five years ago this September, Neato was purchased by Vorwerk.
  • The company notes [run through Google translate]:The consolidation of Vorwerk also affects the stake in the US company Neato Robotics, which has been 100 percent owned by the Vorwerk Group since 2017.
In many meaningful ways, the robot vacuum has been a true success story. The category is broadly considered to be the first mainstream home robot and 21 years after the first Roomba went on sale, i [+2179 chars]