The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail

iRobot continues to diversify with $72M foray into air purification

By Steve Crowe | November 18, 2021

Listen to this article
Voiced by Amazon Polly
iRobot Aeris air purification

iRobot acquired Aeris, a supplier of air purifiers. Here are products from both companies. | Credit: iRobot

iRobot continues to diversify itself with non-robotics products. iRobot announced today it paid $72 million in cash to acquire Aeris Cleantec AG, a Switzerland-based developer of air purifiers. iRobot will pay more for the acquisition if Aeris hits certain performance targets in 2022.

Aeris’ two co-founders and nearly 30 employees have already joined iRobot. The companies said Aeris will eventually adopt the iRobot brand. Like iRobot, Aeris was born out of technology developed at MIT when it was founded in 2016.

“Today’s acquisition of Aeris is an important step in iRobot’s strategy to expand our total addressable market and diversify our product portfolio in ways that will provide consumers with new ways to keep their homes cleaner and healthier,” said Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot. “We are enthusiastic about the growth potential for Aeris’ products, especially as the pandemic has raised greater consumer awareness of the value of maintaining a cleaner, healthier home. We are also excited about the potential to leverage our Genius Home Intelligence platform and existing ecosystem of home robots to bring the iRobot experience to air purification.”

Air purification systems have been in higher demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Grand View Research, the global residential air purifier market is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2020 to over $6.7 billion in 2027.

The acquisition also supports iRobot’s smart home focus, which Angle has talked about for years now. iRobot said it plans to add new features and functionality to Aeris’ products, integrating them with its existing ecosystem of home robots and its Genius Home Intelligence platform.

The Robot Report reached out to iRobot for more clarity about its air purification product plans, but a spokesperson said the company can’t speculate about future products or technologies.

On the surface, there doesn’t appear to be a robotics angle here. Could iRobot add air purification capabilities to its cleaning robots or charging docks or add autonomous navigation capabilities to an air purifier? Perhaps. But Angle told The Boston Globe the Aeris acquisition is the “least robot thing we’ve ever acquired.”

In prepared remarks ahead of today’s conference call about the acquisition, Angle offered more insight into why iRobot acquired Aeris. It sounds like this is more about building an ecosystem of smart home products and turning Genius into a home automation control platform.

“We see tremendous potential to extend the AI, home understanding and other relevant technologies that power our Genius Home Intelligence Platform into air purification. As we noted on our Q3 results call last month, we see Genius as a fundamental building block to help us create a larger ecosystem as we enter new, adjacent robotic and smart home categories. By integrating elements of our Genius technology into the Aeris product portfolio, we expect to further extend our competitive differentiation in this category with air purification systems which will be unique for their intelligence and resulting performance.”

Aeris generated about $8 million in revenue in 2020, but said it’s on track to roughly double revenue in 2021. Angle said iRobot is optimistic that “air purification will be a $150 million in annual revenue product category for iRobot within the next several years while also helping improve the long-term profit profile of our company.”

While Aeris is iRobot’s first non-robotics product acquisition – it acquired a distributor in 2016 – it’s not the company’s first product that isn’t a robot. Earlier in 2021, iRobot introduced its H1 handheld vacuum. The H1 is designed to clean spaces that are basically out of reach for robots at the moment, such as couches, curtains and stairs.

The non-robotics diversification certainly is a major part of iRobot’s future strategy. Again, Angle has talked about iRobot’s potential role in the smart home for years, now we’re seeing iRobot pick away at that. Angle told the Globe iRobot “has been studying various products to take advantage of digitally connected homes beyond cleanup robots, and eyeing possible acquisitions, to expand iRobot into everything from security to energy efficiency to health.”

Aeris is the first such acquisition, but it won’t be the last.

About The Author

Steve Crowe

Steve Crowe is Editorial Director, Robotics, WTWH Media, and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo. He joined WTWH Media in January 2018 after spending four-plus years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends Media. He can be reached at [email protected]

Tell Us What You Think! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Articles Read More >

waymo
UN allows autonomous vehicles to drive up to 130 km/h
Brian Gerkey with ROS Humble Hawksbill logo behind him
Brian Gerkey on the success of Open Robotics and ROS
june top 10 image
Top 10 robotic stories of June 2022
STARFISH gripper
RE2 hits technical milestone with STARFISH robotic gripper

2021 Robotics Handbook

The Robot Report Listing Database

Latest Robotics News

Robot Report Podcast

Brian Gerkey from Open Robotics discusses the development of ROS
See More >

Sponsored Content

  • Magnetic encoders support the stabilization control of a self-balancing two-wheeled robotic vehicle
  • How to best choose your AGV’s Wheel Drive provider
  • Meet Trey, the autonomous trailer (un)loading forklift
  • Kinova Robotics launches Link 6, the first Canadian industrial collaborative robot
  • Torque sensors help make human/robot collaborations safer for workers

RBR50 Innovation Awards

Leave us a voicemail

The Robot Report
  • Mobile Robot Guide
  • Collaborative Robotics Trends
  • Field Robotics Forum
  • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
  • RoboBusiness Event
  • Robotics Business Review
  • Robotics Summit & Expo
  • About The Robot Report
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search The Robot Report

  • Home
  • News
  • Technologies
    • Batteries / Power Supplies
    • Cameras / Imaging / Vision
    • Controllers
    • End Effectors
    • Microprocessors / SoCs
    • Motion Control
    • Sensors
    • Soft Robotics
    • Software / Simulation
  • Development
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Human Robot Interaction / Haptics
    • Mobility / Navigation
    • Research
  • Robots
    • AGVs
    • AMRs
    • Consumer
    • Collaborative Robots
    • Drones
    • Exoskeletons
    • Industrial
    • Self-Driving Vehicles
    • Unmanned Maritime Systems
  • Markets
    • Agriculture
    • Healthcare
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Mining
    • Security
  • Financial
    • Investments
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Earnings
  • Resources
    • Careers
    • COVID-19
    • Digital Issues
    • Publications
      • Collaborative Robotics Trends
      • Robotics Business Review
    • RBR50 Winners 2022
    • Search Robotics Database
    • Videos
    • Webinars / Digital Events
  • Events
    • RoboBusiness
    • Robotics Summit & Expo
    • Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum
    • DeviceTalks
    • R&D 100
    • Robotics Weeks
  • Podcast
    • Episodes
    • Leave a voicemail