My honest answer from the "inside" is two things: 1) self-driving cars/trucks has dominated funding (now drones) for too long and 2) iRobot is barely getting by

My honest answer from the "inside" is two things: 1) self-driving cars/trucks has dominated funding (now drones) for too long and 2) iRobot is barely getting by, spooking investors away from household robots. 10 years ago there were startup floor cleaners, warehouse robots, pool scrubbers, all making the news. Now people have tightened up their portfolios a little, I think, and those ideas get less funding behind DoD applications or self-driving stuff.