iRobot exits Chapter 11 as Picea takes full ownership of the Roomba maker

iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 14, 2025 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. On the same day it signed a deal to hand the whole company to Picea, the Chinese contract manufacturer that already built its robots and had lent it money.

The money problems were large. The Register reported that iRobot owed Picea $158.3 million as of October 31, 2025, with $29.1 million of that past due. Revenue for the quarter ending September 27 fell 24.6% from a year earlier to $145.8 million. iRobot blamed weaker consumer spending, lost market share, US tariffs and the collapse of its planned $1.7 billion sale to Amazon. In early 2025 it had already warned that it might not survive the year.

The court confirmed the plan on January 22, 2026, and it took effect on January 23, according to iRobot's filing with the SEC. Shenzhen PICEA Robotics and its subsidiary Santrum Hong Kong now own 100% of iRobot. The old shares were cancelled, so stockholders received nothing, and iRobot is now a private company. Retail Dive reported that, under the plan, Picea agreed to cancel $180 million in first lien loan claims and $74 million in supply agreement claims.

Some things did not change. iRobot says its headquarters stays in Bedford, Massachusetts, and Gary Cohen remains CEO. The company also set up a US subsidiary called iRobot Safe, with a board of US citizens and a US based data security officer, to protect US customer data. That is a company commitment, and no outside review of how it works has been published.

For owners, the main question is the app. When it filed, iRobot said it had no plans to disrupt app functionality and that product support systems would not be affected, as reported by Tom's Guide. Many recent Roombas rely on the app for setup, schedules and maps, so that promise matters more than the ownership change itself.

Two things were not addressed in the announcements we reviewed: how existing warranties are handled under the new owner, and how long parts for older models will be sold. Neither has been confirmed either way, so owners should not assume a change, but they also should not assume a guarantee.

Roomba models are still listed as on sale on our floor rankings, including the Roomba Max 775 Combo, the Roomba Plus 405 Combo and the Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo. The ownership change alone does not change how these robots clean. Long term support is the part to watch.