iRobot’s new Roomba is a mop and vacuum in one

Robot vacuums that can also mop have been around for a while, but most make you remove the mop before they can vacuum your carpets — unless you like slightly damp carpets. iRobot’s newest bot looks to solve this problem with a retractable robot mop arm that can lift itself up and under the vacuum to mop when it’s needed and stow itself up top when it’s not.

Roomba Combo Plus j7 Plus is $1,099 available for preorder now The roomba combo j7 plus will ship in October and comes only with the Clean Base auto-emptying cleaner. The two-in-one vacuum mop uses a new combination of acoustic sensors to detect the different types of flooring in a home and “decide” when to lift its pad to avoid thread counts and when to lower it to clean hard floor types like wood and tile. 

Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot, spoke The Verge in an interview that it’s the first “hands-free” two-in-one vacuum and mop robot — because, while other companies have mopping pads on their robot vacuums in most other cases, the user has to manually attach the mop to clean the floors. The mop must be removed when the carpets are being vacuumed.

This is mostly true. The $950 Roborock S7 PlusThis competitor bot can also lift its pad when it crosses carpet. But it only raises by a few micrometers. By contrast, the Roomba Combo j7 Plus lifts the mopping pad up completely, so there’s no chance of a damp rug. 

The Roomba Combo J7 Plus is basically the Roomba Plus j7A robot vacuum with an integrated mopping device. The mop has a smaller bin to accommodate a 210ml water tank, and a larger 4,400mAh battery. In most other respects, it’s identical. The app allows for smart room mapping, scheduling and virtual no-go areas to be controlled. It also works with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant and Siri Shortcuts for voice command. It also comes with iRobot’s Clean Base to automatically empty the bin, but users do have to refill the water tank manually.

Some manufacturers, such as Roborock EcovacsRobot vacuums / mop with bases that empty the bin can be used refill the robot’s water tank. Users may need to attach and remove the mopping pads from robots with thicker carpets.

You can customize the cleaning jobs of the new Roomba in the iRobot App. It can vacuum the living area and then mop and vacuum kitchen. You can adjust the water level to get a deeper clean and you can set it to clean a specific area twice. Angle stated that this motion was comparable to an oscillating motion used by other robot vacuums to simulate scrubbing floors.

It’s interesting that iRobot chose just to add a pad to its flagship robot vacuum rather than produce a whole new vacuum and mopping bot. The design appears quite simple — using aluminum alloy arms to raise and lower the pad and then tuck it on the robot — and doesn’t alter the overall look of the vacuum much at all.

And while it’s hard to see how it can clean as well as iRobot’s dedicated mopping robot, the Braava Jet m6,Angle stated that the Combo was just as efficient as the Braava jet in their testing. However, he did say they still consider the Braava Jet combined with a Roomba robot vacuum to be the “ultimate cleaning experience” as the two robots can work at the same time.

The simplicity of the Combo design means it could be easily incorporated into iRobot’s other models — such as the more budget-friendly Roomba i3 Plus Evo. Presumably, iRobot started with the j7 as it is iRobot’s “smartest” robot.

It was reviewed earlier in the year., and it does a good job of avoiding most common household items — including pet waste — thanks to an AI-powered brain. This means it’s less likely to get derailed during a clean and more likely to actually get the job done. 

Intelligence is partially powered by iRobot OS, an AI platform that helps the robot’s navigation system recognize more than 80 common objects, according to iRobot. iRobot will release an OS update that allows for the identification of more items in conjunction with the robot vac.

According to the company, iRobot OS 5 recognizes pet toys, litter boxes, litter boxes, and back packs as well as shoes / slippers and socks. It also recognizes cords, headphones and clothing. 

Roomba Combo J7 Plus puts that intelligence to work with a new ability that automatically detects and recommends areas that may need additional cleaning. The mopping and vacuuming bot can autonomously suggest new “Clean Zones” around dishwashers, toilets, ovens / stoves, litter boxes, and pet bowls. You can also use the app to ask the robot to clean the area using an Alexa voice command or Google Assistant voice commands. This capability is available to Braava Jet m6 as well as other smart-mapping Roombas.

A new feature for compatible Roombas running OS 5 is the ability skip a room while cleaning. Instead of closing down the entire job while the family watches TV, you can tell the robot to skip the room using the app or a voice command.

iRobot is Amazon recently purchasedThe deal is still open, but it has not been closed. FTC being investigatedThis is partly due to Besorgnization around how the company’s data on consumers’ homes might be used by Amazon to gain an unfair advantage in the space. iRobot has recently been awarded the TÜV SÜD Cyber Security MarkRoomba j7 robot vacuum protects customer data from cyber security threats, but not its owners.