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iRobot hasannouncedthe replacement to longtime CEO , Colin Angle . Gary Cohen , who previous held chief executive role at Timex and Qualitor Automotive , will be heading up the company , marking a major teddy from his predecessor , Angle , a cofounder of the company who held the persona from 1997 until January of this year .
Cohen join iRobot at a tumultuous clip . At the beginning of 2024 , afterregulators quashed Amazon ’s aforethought acquisition , the Roomba - maker place off nearly a third of its headcount .
In 2002 , iRobot in effect birth the robotic vacuity , launching what is , to escort , the only mainstream home base robot class . In the intervening two decades , however , the company has shinny to diversify its portfolio beyond the Roomba – though certainly not for deficiency of try . The competition , meanwhile , has since spring up far stiffer , with many histrion offering low-toned price alternatives as iRobot has continued to focus on the premium sphere .
The chairman of iRobot ’s board of directors , Andrew Miller , says the company has already made “ significant progress ” in its on - pop off restructure postal service - Amazon .
“ Gary ’s leadership timbre and area of expertness , including commercial-grade ontogeny , product innovation , blade - building , global distribution , and functional efficiency , are a strong match to address the opportunities that lie onwards for iRobot,”Miller note in a discharge . “ His proven rails record of successfully leading global consumer business organisation through challenging time gives us even dandy sureness that he is the right person to conduct the party on its path toward returning to profitable growth . ”
Cohen himself represent a shift in focus for the company . slant and cofounders Helen Greiner and Rodney Brooks are all roboticists by training , having fill at MIT ’s Artificial Intelligence Lab . Cohen ’s background is much more steeped in the boardroom . in all probability the unexampled CEO will have to make more difficult decision as the caller work to turn its fortunes around .
“ I look forward to do work with the board , the leading team , ” Cohen noted , “ and our employees across the caller to invigorate the category , create value , bring newfangled product to market place , and keep building the future of consumer robotics . ”
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Interim CEO Glen Weinstein will stay on for another two months as iRobot transitions to novel leaders .
