Neato Robotics, the company behind the Neato brand and its “D”-shaped robot vacuum cleaners, is closing its doors.
A spokesman for Germany Vorwerk Group, which acquired Neato in 2017he told TechHive via email that Neato is “now in the process of shutting down despite several restructuring efforts” and that the company “hasn’t met its self-defined economic goals in several years.”
The closure will “affect” 98 employees, Vorwerk spokesman Stefan Watzinger said.
With the closure of Neato, Vorwerk will also “take over” a team of 14 people in Milan to “ensure the security of Neato’s cloud services infrastructure for at least five years”, while spare parts and repair service will also “ guaranteed for at least five years,” according to Watzinger.
Neato, which was founded in 2005 and has produced a number of highly regarded robot vacuum cleaners, was known for its D-shaped robots, a design that makes it easier for vacuum cleaners to clean the corners and edges of rooms.
Neato vacuum cleaners were also among the first to incorporate LiDAR technology to map rooms.
THE Vorwerk Group acquired Neato in 2017but the robot vacuum continued to operate independently, according to VentureBeat.
Users on the Neato Robotics subreddit began to suspect something was up when the company URL customer login page he started throwing 503 errors. We’re contacting Vorwerk spokesperson Watzinger to find out when (or if) the page will be fixed.
Later, they noticed The Neato Twitter feed had been canceled and his Facebook page deactivated. Neato’s Instagram AND YouTube accounts they are still up and running.
Neato users have also complained that they hear nothing but “crickets” for Neato support personnel.
We’ve reviewed a handful of Neato vacuums over the years, including the Neato Botvac D7 Connected since 2018 and the Neato D10 of the last year.
We praised the Neato D7 for its “excellent navigation” and “deep cleaning,” adding, “If the Neato Botvac D7 is any indication of where robot vacuum technology is headed, the future of housekeeping looks bright.”
We also liked the Neato D10, a LIDAR-enabled robovac that offers HEPA filtration, though we called its $599 price tag “a bit steep for its capabilities.”
