Neato Robotics, one of the main competitors to iRobot’s Roomba series, is shutting down due to not meeting its “self-defined economic goals” for years, according to parent company Vorwerk Group. The company promises to provide cloud and repair support to Neato customers for at least five years. The shutdown will affect 98 jobs. Neato emerged in 2005 and was known for pushing the limits of robot vacuum technology, such as adding WiFi in 2011 and LiDAR mapping in 2020. Vorwerk bought Neato in 2017 but continued to run the brand independently. Users started worrying weeks ago when they noticed a broken customer sign-in page, and Neato’s Facebook and Twitter accounts vanished, and support staff fell silent. Vorwerk is fixing the login issues and says they’re not connected to the shutdown.
2023-05-01 15:49:59
Link from www.engadget.com