Roomba
It's from 2002, before you were born.
- Maker
- iRobot
- Type
- Robot vacuum cleaner
- Debuted
- 2002
- Note
- Cats accept it as ruler
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About
As of 2026, it's 24 years old.
iRobot, a company founded by MIT roboticists who'd previously built things for the military and Mars, released the Roomba in 2002 and quietly invented a new household genre: the disc that bumps around your floor with grim determination.
Early models were more enthusiastic than precise, ricocheting off table legs and occasionally redistributing whatever the dog left behind. But they got smarter, learned to map rooms, and became the internet's favorite vehicle for a confused cat.
The Roomba is the little robot that taught a generation to lift their feet, name their appliances, and feel oddly affectionate toward a vacuum.
