Robot War Breaks Out as Roomba Maker Sues Upstart SharkNinja (1)

The company that unveiled the Roomba robotic vacuum in the early 2000s launched a product last year that takes house cleaning to a new level: It maps your home, schedules sweeps through each room, empties the dust bin itself and even knows where to resume cleaning after has returned to its base for a recharge.

After being recognized by Time magazine for one of 2018’s inventions of the year, iRobot Corp. says it’s no accident that rival SharkNinja Operating LLC came out with a similar device a year later.

“Shark is not even shy about being a copycat,” iRobot ...