Monday, September 17, 2012

Evolution Robotics Acquired By iRobot

Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics, the Idealab robotics technology firm headed by Paolo Pirjanian, has been acquired by iRobot. iRobot said that it will pay $74M for Evolution Robotics, which is best known for its Mint automatic floor cleaning robots. Evolution Robotics said the purchase will be in cash, and will provide it with intellectual property, engineering talent and new products. Evolution Robotics was backed by Idealab, and also had raised funding from CMEA Ventures, The Quercus Trust of California, and Vodafone. The firm has a long history; it was originally spawned out of Idealab back in 2001, focusing on developing pure robotics technology and not retail products; it decided to hit the retail market in 2010 with the Mint floor cleaning robot, after variously applying its technology to toys, shopping cart scanners, cell phones, and the military.

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