The article recounts the history of iRobot's Roomba robot vacuum, detailing its development, near-failures, market success, and lasting impact on consumer robotics, as featured in a podcast episode of Version History.
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<p class="has-text-align-none">If you had a Roomba, especially in the early days of the robot vacuum, it was in many ways a fairly unsophisticated machine. It would just bump around your house, looking for something to suck up, until its battery died or its (way too small) tank filled up. Not that it mattered, though. You probably loved your Roomba. You probably gave it a name.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-none">On <a href="https://pod.link/1840983742">this episode of <em>Version History</em></a>, we tell the story of the Roomba, and how it made vacuums lovable. <em>The Verge</em>'s David Pierce and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy are joined by iRobot's co-founder and former CEO Colin Angle to trace the robovac revolution back to its origins, with a group of engineers try …</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/podcast/953275/roomba-robot-vacuum-version-history">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>
# How Roomba started a robot revolution
Source: [https://www.theverge.com/podcast/953275/roomba-robot-vacuum-version-history](https://www.theverge.com/podcast/953275/roomba-robot-vacuum-version-history)
[](https://www.theverge.com/authors/david-pierce)
David Pierce
is editor\-at\-large and Vergecast co\-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech\. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired\.
If you had a Roomba, especially in the early days of the robot vacuum, it was in many ways a fairly unsophisticated machine\. It would just bump around your house, looking for something to suck up, until its battery died or its \(way too small\) tank filled up\. Not that it mattered, though\. You probably loved your Roomba\. You probably gave it a name\.
On[this episode of*Version History*](https://pod.link/1840983742), we tell the story of the Roomba, and how it made vacuums lovable\.*The Verge*’s David Pierce and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy are joined by iRobot’s co\-founder and former CEO Colin Angle to trace the robovac revolution back to its origins, with a group of engineers trying desperately to build a business out of robots\. Any kind of robots\. We explain how iRobot developed Roomba for nearly a decade, all the times it nearly fell apart, and the somewhat surprising reasons the product took off\. We also look at the vast market that grew around Roomba, and the ways iRobot failed to keep up\.
This is the second episode of the fourth season of*Version History*\. If you missed last week’s season premiere,[on the Harmony remote](https://www.theverge.com/podcast/949620/harmony-universal-remote-version-history), make sure you catch up\! Here’s how to get every episode, and all our other fun stuff, as soon as it drops:
If you’re a*Verge*subscriber, you can also[get access to*Version History*](https://www.theverge.com/bulletin/795051/verge-podcast-ad-free-set-up-how-to)\(and all our other podcasts\) with no ads\. All you have to do is[visit your account settings](http://theverge.com/account/podcasts?_gl=1*16vcfij*_ga*OTAwMzUyLjE3NDU5MzQ4MTg.*_ga_9GXHZT6RVE*czE3NjgxMzkyMDMkbzI3NCRnMSR0MTc2ODEzOTMwMSRqNDkkbDAkaDAkZEVrd3AyZ2pzZHdDeEc2OE5RM0NFS3hmMVlwZU9QVi1XLXc.)\.
If you want to know more about the Roomba’s long backstory, here are a few links to get you started:
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- David Pierce
iRobot unveiled the Roomba Duo, a concept robot that combines a heavy-duty floor washer with a smaller Roomba, showcased at the IFA tech show in Berlin. The duo can clean collaboratively, with the main unit handling larger areas and the smaller unit accessing tight spaces.
iRobot announces its first non-robotic floor cleaner, the Roomba Electro Plus, which electrolyzes tap water to create a disinfectant, along with five new Roomba robot vacuums with improved suction and lower prices.
The article highlights early Prime Day sales for Roborock robot vacuums, focusing on models like the Qrevo 2 Pro and Qrevo Curv 2 with powerful suction and mopping features at discounted prices.
The US FCC has banned imports of advanced robotic devices, including robot vacuums, citing national security concerns, affecting companies like Roborock and Ecovacs.
The Roborock Qrevo 2 Pro is reviewed as a top budget robot vacuum with excellent edge cleaning and AI features like SmartPlan, though it struggles with small obstacles on the floor.