iRobot has announced two new robot vacuums in its Roomba line, the Roomba j9+ and Roomba Combo j9+, and they come with some serious upgrades over previous models. Not only are they capable cleaners (they already look like some of the best robot vacuums around), iRobot promises they’re a lot smarter too – with a nicer docking station to boot that offers both fashion and functionality.
New and improved real-time navigation allows Roomba to recognize and avoid a variety of common floor obstacles, such as shoes, cords, backpacks and pet bowls, so it’s less likely to run into trouble while cleaning. your house.
iRobot also says this new vacuum can tell the difference between pet waste and, say, a pile of popcorn. It’s something other robot vacuums can struggle with, sometimes with disastrous results. The brand is so confident in the quality of its smart object detection that it has an official pet owner pledge promising to replace any Roomba j9+ that doesn’t avoid pet waste.
Best of all, the Combo j9+ has the same improved mop design as the Roomba Combo j7+ model. Usually the mop attachment is located under the robot; it drops down when it’s needed and rises up when it doesn’t. But even in the highest position, there isn’t often much space between the mop and the floor, so it’s not unusual for the mop to brush against objects when your robot is on two surfaces of different heights, such as a hard floor and a thick rug . This can cause some of the dirt from the mop to transfer to the carpet and other surfaces, turning your cleaning robot into a dirt spreader.
Both the Combo j9+ and Combo j7+ have a mop that folds down from a compartment on top of the Roomba during use, and when it’s done it flips back up – meaning there’s no chance of it accidentally wiping surfaces where he shouldn’t come. In addition, it is very easy to change the mop head, clean it and replace it with a new one, while the vacuum cleaner is placed in a base station.
Speaking of the base station, it also gets an updated design to make it a piece of furniture you won’t be ashamed to show off in your home. As Colin Angle (CEO and co-founder of iRobot) put it at a briefing we attended prior to this announcement: “Whether you like it or not, your docking station is going to be on display… it’s not like a little charging station that you can hide behind your couch.”
With this in mind, iRobot has tried to take a more fashion-oriented approach. You still get a dock that can automatically charge and empty your Roomba (storing up to 60 days’ worth of dirt – and 30 days’ worth of clean water for Roombas with a mop), but it’s now lined with black textured plastic and a faux wood top that you can decorate with a few houseplants, or place it next to your sofa to use the station as a table. The design actually looks quite nice and could hide in plain sight in a modern styled home.
iRobot recognizes that this fashion-oriented design will fall apart if the station gets dirty and smelly, so it takes steps to keep it clean. The new mop placement helps prevent your Roomba from smearing it with dirt, and because the station only stores clean water instead of dirty liquid, it shouldn’t have a tank, requiring you to spend a lot of time cleaning every month to eliminate odors. prevent.
That said, to really know how well the new Roomba and base station designs work, we’ll have to try them out for ourselves – there’s only so much we can learn from a five-minute demonstration.
If you’ve already purchased the new Roomba designs, they’ll go on pre-sale in Europe from September 11 – with international availability later in September and 2023 (we don’t have exact dates yet). The basic Roomba j9+ robot vacuum costs $899 / £999, while the Combo model with a mop costs $1,399 / £1,249. We’re awaiting feedback on pricing and availability in Australia, but based on exchange rates these would be around AU$1,400 and AU$2,185 respectively.
Enhancements for your existing Roomba
Not only is iRobot launching new Roombas in the coming months, it’s also introducing a new iRobot OS 7 update for its j9+ and Combo j9+ models. Best of all, one of the new features is coming to your current j7+, if you have one.
The exclusive feature of the j9+ is Dirt Detective. Based on its cleaning history and your habits, iRobot says, your Roomba will automatically learn which rooms to prioritize cleaning, how best to clean each room, and which rooms to tackle last – like just mopping your bathroom after it has been cleaned. done with the rest of your house.
Both the j9+ and j7+ lines get SmartScrub. Instead of just wiping your floors, if there’s a stubborn mess, you can command your Roomba to scrub the floor with a steady downward pressure and a forward and backward motion – like humans would do when they scrubbing a floor. According to iRobot, this feature provides two times deeper scrubbing compared to a typical robot vacuum.
Again, we’ll have to try this feature out to see how effective it is in practice, but it certainly sounds like a solid improvement for the new Roomba and the existing j7+.