iRobot created the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, first released in 2002.
The Roomba was developed by iRobot, a company founded in 1990 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists Colin Angle, Helen Greiner and Rodney Brooks. The original Roomba used sensors and programmed behaviors to navigate floors, avoid obstacles, detect edges and return to cleaning areas after changing direction.
Its consumer success helped make autonomous mobile robots familiar outside laboratories and factories. Roomba models have evolved to include improved mapping, app control, charging docks and other features. The product is sometimes confused with robotic vacuums from Dyson, Ecovacs or Neato Robotics, but the 2002 launch associated with the Roomba belongs to iRobot. The name Roomba is a brand name, not a general term for every robotic vacuum.