[sudosysgen]

There is not much tech to steal here. 2D lidar mapping is something a high schooler could do 10+ years ago, and that was their core tech. The value was in executing earlier and better, and applying existing tech to robovacuums. If they could have sued they likely would, this is a valuable market.

[nobodyandproud]

It’s not just mapping.

Also, I recall Neato was often purchased and cannibalized by researchers for its lidar.

This was all cutting edge 10+ years ago. Even today, the features it supported offline then is just matched at best today in 2025/2026.

Not exceeded; and often crippled when offline.

[sudosysgen]

There is not that much more to it than lidar and 2D slam as far as the core technology. There are a lot more features yes but they are not nearly as valuable. I agree they are better, but that's for reason of execution and non-enshitiffication, not core tech.