For a long time, iRobot felt untouchable.

They didn’t just make robot vacuums. They were robot vacuums. If you said “robot vacuum,” people immediately thought of the Roomba.

It was one of those rare brands that became the category.

And now?
It’s basically over.

When Roomba Was Actually Great

The original Roombas were fantastic. They were simple, reliable, and did exactly what they were supposed to do:

• Bounce around
• Hit everything eventually
• Go back to the dock
• Keep your floors reasonably clean

No apps.
No accounts.
No cloud.

You could plug them in with a cord, let the battery fully charge, and forget about them. They were appliances, not “smart devices.” And that was their strength.

Features Nobody Asked For

Somewhere along the way, iRobot forgot what made Roomba good.

Instead of focusing on better cleaning, durability, and repairability, they started chasing features that weren’t needed:

• Wi-Fi
• Always-on cloud connectivity
• Apps that added friction instead of value

Even worse, those features actively made things worse.

Always-connected Wi-Fi meant:

• Roombas constantly waking up
• Batteries draining faster
• Batteries being completely depleted when a Roomba was lost under the bed
• Robots that were dead when you actually wanted to use them

Then came the cost cutting.

Cutting Corners on the “New and Improved” Models

Even the so-called base models, which were supposed to be modern versions of the old reliable lineup, started losing basic functionality.

Things like:

• Removing the ability to just plug it in with a cord
  (to save something like $0.20 per unit)
• Cheaper materials
• Shorter battery life
• Less serviceability

This wasn’t innovation. It was regression disguised as progress.

Everything Became Consumable

Then came the real killer: consumables.

Early Roombas were relatively cheap to own long-term. You replaced parts when they wore out, not on an arbitrary schedule.

Later models?

• Beater brushes that needed constant replacement
• New HEPA filters every few months
• Proprietary parts at premium prices

Suddenly, owning a Roomba wasn’t just expensive upfront. It was expensive forever.

This is the exact pattern Cory Doctorow coined as enshitification:

• Add features users don’t want
• Remove features they rely on
• Increase ongoing costs
• Lock users into ecosystems
• Extract value instead of delivering it

None of this made floors cleaner. It just made Roombas worse to own.

How Did We Get Here?

iRobot spent years riding the success of Roomba without truly evolving the core product. Meanwhile, competitors focused on what actually mattered:

• Better navigation
• Stronger suction
• Smarter obstacle avoidance
• Vacuum + mop combos
• Lower prices

Roomba… mostly stayed Roomba.
Just with more friction and higher operating costs.

Then came the attempted lifeline: the planned acquisition by Amazon.

On paper, it made sense. In reality, regulators killed the deal. And when that happened, the floor dropped out.

The Collapse Was Fast

After the Amazon deal died:

• Layoffs followed
• Product lines were slashed
• R&D was cut
• Leadership destabilized
• Stock price cratered

This wasn’t sudden. It was inevitable.

Death by Enshitification

Roomba didn’t die because robot vacuums stopped being useful.

They died because they forgot they were an appliance company and tried to become a SaaS company.

The original Roombas solved a real problem, simply and reliably. The later ones tried to solve imaginary problems while nickel-and-diming their most loyal customers.

The End of an Era

Roombas will probably still exist for a while. You’ll still see the name on shelves. But the company that defined the category? The one people trusted?

That version of iRobot is gone.

RIP Roomba.
You didn’t lose because robots failed.
You lost because you forgot what made you good.