RobotRisk Autonomous Systems Incident & Risk Register
RobotRisk / consumer robotics / iRobot

iRobot

Products: Vacuum, Vacuum + mop. Risk band: Elevated   RobotRisk index 22.1/100 (incidents/exposure, time-weighted) · 97th percentile of 91 consumer robotics companies.

Analyst brief

iRobot's record spans three entries from 2020 to 2025: a 2020 Canadian recall of the Clean Base charging dock over an electrical short hazard, a 2024 lithium battery fire in Miami Gardens that injured a resident, and a December 2025 report of a Roomba Combo unit overheating and partially melting while charging. The dominant failure mode is thermal/electrical in the charging and battery subsystem, recurring across three separate years and two product lines. Severity is mixed, from malfunction (2) up to fire with injury (4). An index of 22.3 places the company at the 96.7th percentile within consumer-robotics, reflecting a multi-year pattern that combines a formal recall action with press-reported fire and malfunction events rather than a single incident.

Entries by year and severity

012020 S3: 11202024 S4: 11242025 S2: 1125
S1S2S3S4S5

By incident type

By severity

RobotRisk index vs consumer robotics alternatives

Comparisons over time

RobotRisk index over time

Yearly entries vs category average

malfunction over time vs category

fire over time vs category

recall over time vs category

Incident log (3 unique incidents)

SevDateTypeLocationIncidentSource
S212/20
2025
malfunction Roomba Combo j7+ reported to overheat and partially melt while charging · 1 unit Farzan Law
S401/30
2024
fire Miami Gardens, FL, USARoomba lithium battery fire injures man in Miami Gardens house fire · 1 unit / 1 injury Local10
S312/21
2020
recall iRobot Clean Base for Roomba i7+ recalled in Canada over electrical short hazard · 11,971 units (Canada) Health Canada / Recalls.

Alternatives in consumer robotics

Dreame TechnologySharkNinjaYarboEcovacsWYBOTSTIHLHusqvarnaAiper
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