The 26-year-old robotics company sold the defense portion of its business to Arlington Capital Partners for $45 million on Thursday. While the deal will take a few months to finalize, the newly private company will focus on defense, public safety and the industrial market.
This means robots like the bomb-disposing PackBot and First Look, which some know as the “ThrowBot” for its ability to literally be thrown into dangerous situations, will now be part of the new iRobot Defense & Security (D&S) organization.
iRobot founder Colin Angle will remain CEO of iRobot, which will now be focused squarely on the consumer robotics market, which includes the popular Roomba robot vacuum. Last year, the company unveiled its first connected robot vacuum, the Roomba 980, which can be controlled via smartphone. During a conference call on the sale, Angle noted that sell-through on the new Roomba was “greater than we anticipated in United States” in Q4.
“We believe iRobot has an incredibly bright future. With the sale of D&S we can solidify our position as the leader in home robots,” said Angle during an investor call announcing the sale.
The company’s military business has declined in recent years, which prompted iRobot to start looking for strategic alternatives in April of 2014. According to Angle, the home robot business generates roughly 90% of the original company’s revenue.
“iRobot sees significant growth opportunities in the consumer robotic technology market, particularly in light of the successful Roomba 980 launch and the potential presented by the connected smart home…. We are confident that our strategy of focusing on the home will position iRobot for continued growth and success,” said Angle in a release on the sale.
Sean Bielat was named the CEO of the new defense-focused company. “I am thrilled to be rejoining such an amazing organization,” he said in a release, adding, “As an independent company, we will be focused on our own goals and objectives and pursue the numerous opportunities that lie ahead of us.”
During the conference call, Angle also provided some insight on how it will approach the business sector, noting that the business-focused telepresence robot effort (most visible in the Ava 500 robot) is more or less dead. “We shifted engineering investment in remote presence to benefit our home business… so it’s primarily a business development exercise for developing strategic partnership. We’re no longer making a significant engineering presence on remote presence.”
Also, to avoid any confusion, iRobot Defense and Security will be renamed later this year when the sale is closed. If they’re open to suggestions, we like PackBot Corp.
