I’ve tested far too many robot vacuums. And as much as I love the machines, mopping often leaves something to be desired. When I’ve been testing robot vacs, they’ve often struggled to mop up stains on hard floors. That’s why autonomous dust-suckers are starting to arrive with roller mops. Not only does iRobot’s latest Roomba have one of these new mops, it also has a clever piece of tech to protect your carpet.
When robot vacs mop your floors, they often also make a soggy mess of your carpets in the process. But the new Roomba Max 705 Combo has a first-of-its-kind mop cover that slides into action when it senses carpet.
The Roomba Max 705 Combo comes with a PowerSpin roller mop that scrubs with plenty of pressure. Thanks to heated water, it also has a better shot at loosening up sticky messes that inevitably end up on kitchen tiles. It can wash itself mid-job, which means it won’t just smear yesterday’s pasta sauce around.
The vacuum side of things sounds pretty impressive too. It supposedly offers 175 times more suction than the 600 series, and anti-tangle rubber brushes to deal with pet fur and hair. After completing a clean, this dust-sucker will head back to the AutoWash Dock. It handles self-emptying for up to 75 days, washes and dries the mop with heat, refills it, and gives the robot a rinse between jobs.
You can manage the whole thing through iRobot’s companion app or shout at it via Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. Plus, onboard LiDAR and AI combo can apparently tell the difference between a charging cable and a dog toy to avoid any collisions.
The Roomba Max 705 Combo Robot + AutoWash Dock is available for pre-order now for £1099/€1099. You can order directly from iRobot, and it’ll also head to the US later this year.
