SEEKING ALPHA?iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) brings to market a consumer robot that cleans floors: The iRobot Scooba 450 (available beginning Tuesday, January 7).
IRBT stock spikes
iRobot closed sharply higher after announcing new floor-scrubbing robot, Scooba 450. iRobot has launched the Scooba 450, appox. $600 floor-scrubbing robot meant for consumers but said to be based on “industrial-style cleaners,” and can be seen at CES 2014 (Las Vegas) beginning January 7th.
iRobot claims the 450 is 3x as effective as prior-gen Scooba model at cleaning floors, and can wash away up to 99.3% of all bacteria. The robot pairs a three-cycle cleaning process with a scrubbing brush that spins at 600+ rpm.
iRobot?s new wet floor scrubbing system
Unique to the market and based on industrial-style cleaners, Scooba 450 uses the new Scooba Three-Cycle Cleaning Process to maintain constantly clean floors and wash away up to 99.3% of bacteria.* Scooba 450 is up to three times more effective at cleaning floors than previous Scooba models.
“There’s a lot of science behind the new Scooba 450,” said Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of iRobot. “In order to clean better, we have to clean differently. Reinventing our unique Scooba platform represented both an opportunity and an intense challenge to our engineers. They’ve taken that challenge and delivered the next disruptive force in floor cleaning technology.”
“On the heels of the revolutionary Roomba 800 Series launch last quarter, I am proud to announce the Scooba 450, which once again raises the bar for cleaning efficacy, our consumers’ top priority,” said Christian Cerda, senior vice president and general manager of the Home Robots business unit at iRobot.
“Very few people believe that their hard floors are as clean as they should be with traditional solutions. Scooba 450 represents a brand new platform for wet floor scrubbing that allows people to keep their floors constantly clean.”
In the past year, iRobot introduced a full line of new robots for home maintenance: the Mirra” Pool Cleaning Robot, the Braava” Floor Mopping Robot, the Roomba 800 Series Vacuum Cleaning Robots, and now the new Scooba 450 Floor Scrubbing Robot.
PRICING: The iRobot Scooba 450 floor scrubbing robot is available in North America for $599.99 at www.irobot.com. The Scooba DryDock Charging and Drying Stand is $79.99.
