Leading consumer robotics brand iRobot, best known for its Roomba series of robotic vacuums has been at the forefront of automated cleaning robots since 2002 and is celebrating a major milestone in the company’s 20-year history.
Over 40 million robots later iRobot continues to innovate, as today they have big two announcements to shake up their fleet of automated cleaning robots.
Intelligence is the beating heart of the Roomba line and their devices are powered by the iRobot OS. Some version of this technology is in all Roombas for the last few years and is what gives them their smart features.
The first announcement is the update to the fleet's operating system, iRobot OS 5.0. This means that existing Roomba owners will see some of the benefits of this update and the newest models will gain some remarkable enhancements.
For pet owners, the new updates expand on the features provided in the last update including keep-out zones, recommendations for pet shedding season, and of course the invaluable ability to avoid pet poop.
With the latest update, the Roomba can now recognise pet toys and detect and avoid bowls and litter trays but it's also aware that these are dirtier areas that will require more regular cleaning so it will carefully focus on carefully cleaning those zones unless told not to.
For those with children, the 5.0 enhancements now add object detection for things like backpacks and many other household items, making it recognise more objects and avoid them, so you won't need to pre-clean before you send the Roomba around the house, thus saving you precious time.
This update also makes the Roomba more capable to clean around difficult items like stoves, dishwashers, and toilets with improved navigation Roomba claim it will be much less likely to get stuck and have to abort its current task, providing greater peace of mind.
With the OS update, users' control of the Roomba has also been greatly improved, the device is now capable of accepting up to 600 voice commands, so you won't even need to use your phone or touch the vacuum if you don't want to, making it a truly hands-free experience.
A new feature has been added called Active room skipping, this allows you to set the robot to ignore rooms that are currently in use so it won't disturb you when relaxing, watching a film, or interrupting gaming time.
You can also press the Skip button in the iRobot Home App using Alexa to request the Roomba to skip that room and it will move on to the next area.
These updates will benefit several models including the 600 series, i3, m6, s9, and j7 with the more advanced models like the j7 and s9 getting the most benefits.
The iRobot OS 5.0 updates have already begun rolling out to customers worldwide.
Roomba Combo j7+
Secondly, iRobot announced a brand new Roomba model the Roomba Combo j7+, and as the name denotes this robot vacuum has some new features and is a combination of another product.
The Combo j7+ features a 2-in-1 design for vacuuming hard floors, carpets, and rugs and it is also a mopping robot too. This is due to the addition of a fully retractable mop pad that lifts itself to the top of the robot when it encounters carpet and rugs.
Keith Hartsfield, chief product officer at iRobot said:
“Until today, many 2-in-1 robot vacuums and mops delivered a poor user experience either because they required separate, time-consuming cleaning jobs or created more mess by not fully lifting the mopping pad high enough to avoid carpet and rugs. The Roomba Combo j7+ uniquely solves both of these challenges,”
This gives users the convenience of having two functions without you having to switch modes or send out a dedicated mopping bot like the Braava jet® m6, saving on you having to finish the job, or foot the cost of having an extra robot by having one streamlined machine to do both the vacuuming and the mopping.
The Combo j7+ is so smart it knows which surfaces are safe to use the mop on, it will deploy the mop pad when detecting hard floors and when the tank has enough water.
However, When it detects carpet it will secure the mop pad and lifts it to the top of the unit. Then when it's on a surface it cannot mop like a carpet Two fully retracting, durable, metal mop arms raise the mop pad and store the pad back on top like the roof of a convertible car to prevent wet carpet messes.
In combination with the new iRobot OS 5.0 updates, the Combo J7+ can be set to vacuum and mop or vacuum only, as well as adjust the amount of cleaning solution they want the mop to dispense.
With an exciting new design and an improved battery as well as enhanced internal sensors Combo j7+ allows it knows if it has no pad or water and avoids damaging the mop pad and will send a notification to the user, but it will also continue the job even if it can’t finish mopping rather than shut down and await user interference.
Like most modern Roomba's there is a + version that comes with a Clean base, a base station that not only charges the unit but also allows it to automatically empty itself, however, this will only apply to dust and dirt and not liquids.
Of course, like all modern Roomba's the Combo J7+ will get smarter over time as it also benefits from future updates to iRobot OS, which will further improve and refine its features and who knows maybe even add some new abilities.
The Roomba Combo j7+ is available in the UK for £999 on irobot.co.uk from October 4, 2022. The Roomba Combo j7 robot vacuum and mop can also be purchased without the Clean Base for £799GPB on irobot.co.uk
