iRobot Acquires Competitor Evolution Robotics for $74 million

By Frank Tobe | September 20, 2012

Mint floor cleaning robots produced by Evolution Robotics differ from iRobot's methods; plan is for them to be developed and marketed as complementary.

Evolution's CEO Paulo Pirjanian will become the new iRobot CTO.

Financial downside of the acquisition is that iRobot must sell off Evolution's inventory at breakeven plus they acquired a loss of $7 million and a very low GP margin for the whole product line. So Q4 and the next 2-3 quarters for iRobot are going to take a big hit — as did iRobot's stock yesterday and today on the news.

The acquisition includes many US and international patents. iRobot CEO Colin Angle said that the patents and technology acquired from Evolution – particularly involved with visual SLAM technology – will enable iRobot to navigate future floor cleaning robots at lower cost.

To read a transcript of Colin Angle's comments and answers to investor questions, click here.

About The Author

Frank Tobe

Frank Tobe is the founder of The Robot Report and co-founder of ROBO Global which has developed a tracking index for the robotics industry, the ROBO Global™ Robotics & Automation Index. The index of ~90 companies in 13 sub-sectors tracks and captures the entire economic value of this global opportunity in robotics, automation and enabling technologies.