Neato Robotics, the company behind the Neato brand and its distinctively “D”-shaped robot vacuums, is closing up shop.
A spokesperson for Germany’s Vorwerk Group, which acquired Neato back in 2017, told TechHive via e-mail that Neato is “now being closed down despite lots of restructuring efforts,” and that the company had “not achieved its self-defined economic goals for several years now.”
The closure will “affect” 98 employees, Vorwerk spokesperson Stefan Watzinger said.
As it shuts down Neato, Vorwerk will use a 14-person team in Milan to “ensure the security of the infrastructure of Neato’s cloud services for at least five years,” while spare parts and repair service will also be “guaranteed for at least five years,” according to Watzinger.
Founded in 2005, Neato Robotics was known for its D-shaped robots, a design that makes it easier for the vacs to clean the corners and edges of rooms.
Neato’s vacuums were also among the first to incorporate LiDAR technology to map rooms.
The Vorwerk Group acquired Neato in 2017, but the robot vacuum maker continued to operate independently, according to VentureBeat.
Users on the Neato Robotics subreddit began to suspect something was amiss when the URL for the company’s customer login page began throwing 503 errors.
Later, they noticed that Neato’s Twitter feed had been deleted and its Facebook page disabled. Neato’s Instagram and YouTube accounts are still up and running.
Neato users also complained of hearing nothing but “crickets” from Neato’s support staff.
Responding to a query about the Neato user login errors, Watzinger said that “the Neato team is working hard to fix the issues…as soon as possible,” adding that “the technical issues are not related to the news [about Neato’s closure] in any way.”
Update (5/2/2023): Neato spokesperson Watzinger says the Neato user login page has been fixed:
After testing the page with Alexa and Google Home, we can confirm that the security fixes worked and https://login.neatorobotics.com is up and running again. As this page was built to let third-party services access to accounts, accessing it directly returns a Not Found page.
We reviewed a handful of Neato vacuums over the years, including the Neato Botvac D7 Connected from 2018, and the Neato D10 from last year.
We praised the Neato D7 for its “excellent navigation” and “deep cleaning,” adding: “If the Neato Botvac D7 is an indication of where robot vacuum technology is heading, the future of housework looks bright.”
We also liked the Neato D10, a LIDAR-enabled robovac that offers HEPA filtration, although we called its $599 price tag “a bit high for its capabilities.”
Despite shuttering the Neato brand, Vorwerk stil wants to “expand its investments in the field of vacuum cleaner robotics.” But it will do so by “bundling development capacities centrally” at a research and development site in Germany, “where 50 developers and engineers [will] develop both professional and consumer robotics systems,” Watzinger said.
Besides Neato, Vorwerk also owns the Kobold vacuum brand, which counts robot vacuums among its various models, as well as Nexaro, which specializes in robot vacuums for commercial venues.
Updated shortly after publication with more details about the Vorwerk Group, and to add follow-up comments from Vorwerk’s spokesperson.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer
Ben has been writing about technology and consumer electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers smart speakers, soundbars, and other smart and home-theater devices. You can follow Ben on Twitter.