In a bit of a shock announcement, Amazon has confirmed an agreement to acquire robot vacuum cleaner specialists iRobot, in a deal reported to be around $1.7 billion.

The deal is yet to be finalised, but an agreement merger is already in place, meaning it is simply an issue of dotting i’s and crossing t’s.

“iRobot has a history of making customers’ lives easier with innovative cleaning products for the home. iRobot has continued to innovate with every product generation, solving hard problems to help give customers valuable time back in their day,” noted Amazon of its interest in the company in a press release.

“Amazon will acquire iRobot for $61 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.7 billion, including iRobot’s net debt. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by iRobot’s shareholders and regulatory approvals. On completion, Colin Angle will remain as CEO of iRobot,” it also confirmed.

At this stage it remains to be seen what will happen to existing iRobot products, as well as the company’s customer-facing software, which includes a dedicated mobile app.

More than likely these elements will be folded into an Amazon offering of some kind, and should offer the company a new division of robots in its stable, which to date has very much been focused on warehouses to date.

With a solution like Alexa also onboard there is scope to further develop its smart home offerings too, once the acquisition is finalised.

If you are interested in iRobot vacuum cleaners, we recently got to review one with some interesting results.