iRobot has ‘faced challenges arising from external market conditions’ - Olga Yastremska/Alamy The robot vacuum maker behind Roomba is being taken over by a Chinese company after Donald Trump’s tariffs helped tip it into bankruptcy. iRobot, which popularised the robot vacuum cleaner, said it had agreed a sale to manufacturing partner Picea that would secure its future. The company had been valued as high as $4.5bn (£3.4bn) almost five years ago but was hit hard by cheap Chinese competition. A deal to s ...