Latest news with #robovac
The Verge
5 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Narwal's wall-hugging mopping robovac is finally available for preorder.
Posted Aug 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM UTC Narwal's wall-hugging mopping robovac is finally available for preorder. With a mopping pad that can extend to reach the edges of walls, the standard version of the Flow is discounted from $1,499.99 to $1,099.99 for preorders while a version with a more compact dock that can connect to plumbing is $1,599.99 discounted to $1,399.99. 1/4 The standard version of the Narwal Flow (left) next to a version that includes a more compact dock (right). Image: Narwal Robotics Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Andrew Liszewski Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Andrew Liszewski Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gadgets Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Smart Home Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech
The Verge
24-07-2025
- The Verge
iRobot's new Roomba could solve the roller mop's biggest problem
is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. iRobot's first roller mop-equipped robovac has a unique trick to help keep your carpets dry. Announced this week, the Roomba Max 705 Combo is an upgraded version of the robovac iRobot launched in April, offering a 'first-of-its-kind' mop cover that it automatically deploys when cleaning carpets. Unlike with mopping pads, many robovacs with roller mops often can't lift up their mops to clear carpets, nor can users — or the robovac itself — easily remove them. Robovacs like the Deebot X8 Pro Omni attempt to avoid getting your carpets wet by vacuuming them first with a dry mop or allowing you to set boundaries around them. The Max 705 Combo's mop can extend to go along edges and reach corners. Image: Roomba It sounds like the Roomba Max 705 Combo will try to fix the carpet dilemma with its new mop cover, though iRobot doesn't share how exactly it works, other than showing an image of what looks like a plastic shield that extends around the bottom of the mop roller. The Roomba Max 705 Combo can also extend its mop to reach corners and the edges of walls. Like the 705-series robot vacuum iRobot launched in the spring, the Max 705 Combo features anti-tangle dual rubber brushes, lidar navigation, and the ability to avoid toys, cords, and pet waste. Previous Next 1 / 4 Image: Roomba The Roomba Max 705 Combo also comes paired with an AutoWash Dock that offers heated mop cleaning and drying for up to 75 days, along with auto-emptying and auto-refilling functions. This robovac doesn't come cheap at €1099 (~$1,292 USD). It's also only available in Europe for now, but iRobot says it plans to launch the device in North America and Japan 'later this year.'
Gizmodo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
This $400 Robot Vacuum Is Stealing the Spotlight From $1,000+ Competitors on Amazon
The sheer number of robot vacuums now available on the market is both good and bad news if you're shopping for one: Good because you've got a lot of models to pick from, but bad because you can spend a lot of time going around in circles trying to figure out which option might be best for you. If you're aiming to get the most bang for your buck—and we're assuming most people are—then the Eureka E20 Plus robovac deserves a place on your shopping shortlist. Right now it's at its lowest price so far this year on Amazon: It's yours for $370.98, and you can easily spend twice or three times as much as that on the more expensive models that the Eureka E20 Plus is going up against. Even at that lower price point though, you don't have to make too many compromises in terms of performance and features. In fact the Eureka E20 Plus has so much going for it that it really does pose the question of why you would spend any more than this. It's a capable and reliable all-rounder. See E20 Plus at Amazon The Eureka E10s has already taken on cleaning duties for thousands of Amazon shoppers, combining versatile vacuum and mopping abilities with an appealing price point, and the Eureka E20 Plus goes above and beyond: you get 8,000Pa of suction power rather than 4,000Pa, so the grime has even less of a chance of sticking around. With that level of suction, on both carpets and hard floors, you're going to get a deep clean experience that'll leave your home looking spick and span. The robovac makes a high standard of cleaning look effortless, and means you can get on with more important or enjoyable activities while your floors get cleaned. As well as double the suction compared to the Eureka E10s, you also get half the tangles—or thereabouts. The Eureka E20 Plus introduces a new rubber roller brush, designed to reduce hair tangles through a V-shape that makes it much less likely that hair will clog up its workings. If you've got pets at home, it's ideal: It solves the problem of having to manual clean up before the robovac gets to work on its own routine, because you know pet hairs aren't going to be a problem. For 10 centimeter-long hair, the E20 Plus boosts the anti-wrap rate to 94 percent, up from 80 percent on the E10s model. Besides those improvements, the Eureka E20 Plus also keeps everything that's good about the Eureka E10s and that has made it so popular: It's a bagless, two-liter design with a maximum of 180 minutes of running time between charges, which should be enough to cover all but the biggest of homes in one pass. There's also the same auto-emptying base station here that means maintenance isn't something you need to worry about or spend a long time handling (it's got an impressive 45-day capacity). Thanks to the one-touch emptying mechanism that's in place, your Eureka E20 Plus is quickly ready to go again and get back to work, vacuuming and mopping with aplomb. It's all bagless, so you don't need to worry about buying dust bags regularly or having them burst on you when too much dirt and dust has accumulated. In addition, the multi-cyclonic separation feature keeps suction strong and ensures your filters last, preventing clogging that can sometimes occur. See E20 Plus at Amazon The competence of any robot vacuum is heavily reliant on how well it navigates around your rooms. There's a big difference between a model that glides around obstacles and through doorways without a hitch, and one that wastes half its battery life going down dead ends and covering ground it's already been over. You're not going to find navigation a problem with the Eureka E20 Plus, as it comes fitted with a DuoDetect AI™ 3D Obstacle Avoidance system that eliminates stuck spots—that's the same navigation system as you get with the more expensive flagship Eureka J20 model, by the way, which backs up the idea of this robovac model offering high-level features for those on a mid-level budget. Getting the robovac to calculate the best routes through your home is a largely automated process, thanks to the advanced LiDAR sensor system that's in place here, and you can also specify no-go zones for the device too: Regions in your home where you don't want the robot vacuum bumping into people, pets, or valuable family heirlooms. Because the robot vacuum can guide itself via lasers, it's perfectly happy operating during the evening and night as well as the day. You can leave it running while you're asleep upstairs, and come down the next morning to floors and carpets that look good as new. There are still more smart features to talk about. The Eureka E20 Plus is fitted with an auto-lifting mop mechanism, which means it can be raised by 10 millimeters whenever carpets are detected. Your carpets won't get wet, and your robovac won't be distracted as it switches to and from hard floor surfaces. The Eureka E20 Plus is powerful but affordable, smart but simple to use, and packed with features that promise a superb level of cleaning and as little in the way of maintenance and upkeep as possible. Add in an 18 percent Amazon reduction on the original list price of $449.99, and it's a great time to pick one up too. If you don't think that particular robovac is perfect for you, there are plenty of other Eureka models available for your consideration. They include the newly launched Eureka Reactisense, (more portable and affordable), the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra (a more expensive model, but boasting 16,200Pa of suction), and the Eureka Rapidwash 630 (particularly great for pet hair and sticky messes). That gives you plenty of choice from the Eureka range when it comes to your next cleaning gadget, and there should be something there to suit most buyers. For an all-rounder that gives you a huge amount of value for money and outstanding cleaning performance, however, the Eureka E20 Plus is hard to beat. See E20 Plus at Amazon
Forbes
19-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Matic Robots Is Challenging The Robovac Status Quo
Matic, docked and ready Anthony Karcz Matic Robots is doing things differently. In a market dominated by "me too" robovacs, Matic Robots is diverging from the trail beaten into homes worldwide. A cleaning invasion marked by circular bots with mopping pads and docks large enough to require their own rooms has gotten, well, boring. Instead of delivering yet another cookie-cutter robot, the company has developed a high-profile (literally) mopping robovac that cleans more like a person than an appliance. I sat down with one of the founders of the company, Mehul Nariyawala, and got to learn more about why Matic Robots is making the decisions it is and what they plan for the future. Nearly every other robovac on the market is a low circle, studded with sensors and a central radar hump. The one notable exception is Dyson's 360 VisNav, which also relies mainly on a unique visual input system for navigation. The VisNav and Dyson's original robot, the 360 Eye showed Mehul and his cofounder, Navneet Dalal, that it was possible to break the mold and still develop an effective robot. They turned that concept into a platform for new cleaning technology. Blocky and big-wheeled Anthony Karcz The Matic's visual "halo" is set high on the bot, giving it a dramatically different perspective than any other robovac on the market. "It gives the Matic context for what it's seeing," said Mehul. "It knows if it's looking at a couch or a cabinet or a garbage can." Indeed, that kind of contextual visual language will unlock a whole new set of behaviors as the Matic evolves. Mehul confirmed that the company still plans to deliver behaviors to the Matic, where it will park itself by the sink when it needs water or by the trash can when you need to change out dust bags. While the hardware most robovacs use to analyze their surroundings is widely accepted, Mehul noted the determination of other robovacs to try and clean things that can't be cleaned as a resultant limitation. The low perspective is good for determining floor types but isn't necessarily the best for figuring out if obstacles are part of something else. Indeed, Matic Robots is working on updating Matic so that it can determine "floor and not floor," essentially. So, for example, when it sees an area rug, it knows that it won't be able to clean it effectively and avoids it. Loki supervises the Matic Anthony Karcz Matic's visual navigation creates real-image maps based on what it can actually see (and you can see what it sees in the map it dynamically builds in the app). Rather than lock in a map, Matic is nimble, determining if things are temporary or permanent obstacles in real time, even letting you add new rooms on the fly. The extra height gives it the visual perspective of a toddler (after all, who's better at navigating at ankle level?), and it really does make a difference. The Matic's large wheels allow it to navigate deftly around obstacles. The most amusing example of this was when my cat flumphed down in the path of the Matic as I sent it to go clean around his litter box. This would confound just about any robovac but the Matic simply pivoted and plotted a path around him without hesitation. It even followed the curve of his tail. Contrast this with the latest, most advanced robovac from Roborock. Watching that device navigate my office, I was surprised by how doggedly dense the bot could be. It tried to get past the low lip of my sliding glass door to escape onto the patio. It was confounded by the clear display cases that it can see into but can't get past. It banged into the stability board that I was standing on. Its low perspective dooms it to make seemingly avoidable mistakes. Unboxing is an event Anthony Karcz Matic's reliance on visual navigation pays off in other ways too. When you first set up the bot, it gets to work, mapping your home before you even get the dock out of the box. When you do place the dock, it simply notes it on the map it's building, knowing that's where it needs to park itself later. It makes for a robot helper that immediately feels more capable and autonomous. If the decals that come in the box weren't enough of an indicator, the Matic was built to be endearing in a way that most home robots aren't, with rounded corners and contrasting colors. It even has a special unpacking process where the large LCD display shows a personalized greeting (the buyer's name is programmed in at the factory) and rolls itself out of its box. That difference in hardware does slow the Matic down. Rather than clean and mop simultaneously, it has a dual-action head that vacuums, then mops. It takes more time than I'm used to from traditional robovas. However, Matic Robots' ultimate vision for their device is that it doesn't require you crafting whole-house cleaning routines. Instead, the company ultimately wants Matic to recognize when and where it needs to clean based on the rhythm of your household — like cleaning the kitchen after you've finished cooking or sweeping the entryway when you come in from outside. There are issues that the Matic Robots team is still ironing out. The roller mop, despite the constant wringing and rinsing while it cleans, still needs to be washed and dried by hand every week (depending on usage), otherwise it starts leaving dirty streaks on the floor. And the rubber brush bar, while impressively tangle-free, would still benefit from a customizable notification in the Matic app, lest the ends become clogged by impacted hair that ends up at either end of the brush. What was notable when talking to Mehul (and Navneet as well when I ran into a problem with an early production unit) is that they see these challenges as problems to fix rather than waving them off as limitations of hardware. In the few weeks I've had a Matic tooling around my home, I've seen the app evolve and new features pop into existence, introducing solutions and fun touches (like a recent Easter egg hunt). So the ultimate question, then, is if Matic's technology is innovative enough to beat companies that have been doing this for years? Matic Robots has a unique business model that's focused on privacy and its founders have the confidence to try new things rather than blindly adopting established patterns. Indeed, I think they're one of the more interesting consumer tech companies to watch as they roll out the Matic for consumers. You can find out more on their website.
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Forbes
Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni Combines Its Best Mopping And Vacuuming In One Bot
With an under-the-hood redesign, the X9 Pro is an impressive robovac I know, I was just praising Ecovacs for delivering one of its more impressive mopping robovacs with the X8 Pro Omni, but the company just released a new version that combines the best parts of the X8 with the suction technology of their other high-end robovacs in one machine. Ecovacs doesn't guarantee performance when standing the bot on its edge Ecovac's latest and greatest flagship robovac (coming about a month after its other latest and greatest flagship bot…this company is prolific!) takes an upgraded Ozmo roller mop and adds a boosted vacuuming system to create an X-series robovac that's better than any other individual bot in the company's lineup. I'm a big fan of roller mop technology. I first saw the technology applied in a robovac last year the Eufy S1 and instantly recognized how the tech could finally address the "dirty mop pad" issue of mopping robovacs. The main issue at hand is simple—mops get dirty. Even if you have the bot go back and clean itself every 20 minutes or after each room, there's a non-zero amount of time when the robovac is mopping with dirty pads, essentially just redistributing dirt. Given, they are laying down fresh water as they go, so the bots are picking up some dirt as they move other dirt around but it's still problematic. The mop has been reworked slightly for better performance The Ozmo roller mop in the X9 is an evolution of the roller mop technology I saw last year. It's even an evolution over the X8 that I just saw last month. It applies considerably more downward pressure than your traditional mopping pads but it also cleans the roller as it rotates. The X9 has an improved roller comb that gathers debris as well. Here to decimate dirt lodged in corners The mop also has a neat trick where it extends out past the body of the X9, essentially squaring off the circle and reaching into edges where a roller mop that's stuck under the body of a circular robot couldn't reach. It does make the bot a bit whiny: that little motor extending and retracting isn't the quietest. Still, it's a small price to pay for every nook and cranny getting cleaned. One note: while the X9 does regularly do a deep clean at the Omni station of the roller mop, you'll still need to get your hands dirty on occasion—there's still the small tray in the mopping unit that gets filled with slimy dirt after about a week or so of daily cleaning. What's cool about the X9's upgraded wet mopping capabilities is that the bot can now raise the main brush and side brush when it detects a wet mess. So rather than driving into a spill and flinging it around or getting it sucked up into the vacuum portion of the bot, the X9 Pro Omni can clean it with just the roller mop. Lifting the wet mop so that you don't get carpets and rugs wet is practically standard at this point, but raising the dry cleaning components is rare. So rare that I've only seen it on one other bot—the Matic Robot (more on that in the coming days). If it was just the roller mop that had gotten upgrades, the X9 would still be an impressive bot but Ecovacs pulled out the stops and added in their BLAST (Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology) system to improve the overall performance of the vacuum as well. Possibly the first vacuum to be able to back up the claims made by its promo renders BLAST is a combination of a redesigned on-demand 100W high-torque motor and SuperBoost battery. The motor takes advantage of an optimized airflow path to boost suction when needed (like on carpets and rugs). The battery delivers 50% higher discharge current but is also larger so that it lasts 2.5 times longer, all without heating up. What's interesting is that the overall suction of the X9 is actually lower at 16,600 Pa to the X8's 18,000 Pa. I'm actually OK with this since you don't really need all that suction on a regular basis for hard floors. You just need to be able to deliver increased suction and agitation when on carpet. The end result is that the X9 performs better on soft surfaces without sounding like a leaf blower or needing to recharge more often. Other hardware has been improved as well, with third-generation ZeroTangle main and side brushes. Compared to the X8, you can see that the X9's brush is more robust. The side brush for the X9 is similar to designs I first saw on Roborock that uses two offset bristle arms instead of a multi-armed brush wheel. It's a small design shift but it means that the X9 is quieter and that there are little to no hair tangles. Speaking of tangles, the X9 employs onboard AI to detect and avoid problematic items like shoes and cords. It will also use its AI to intelligently clean each room based on floor type and usage (like choosing to clean bathrooms last so as not to cross-contaminate). It will even figure out optimal paths based on previous blockages its encountered. You can also (finally) add Ecovacs robots to your Apple Home using Matter. It's extremely helpful once you've set all the parameters you want in the Ecovacs app and you just want a single app to control things like scheduling. Understated but effective The X9 Pro is paired with Ecovac's Omni station—it's a great design that needs no upgrades. It washes and dries the mop with 145° hot air and needs little to no maintenance. Since roller mops use less water overall, you won't be filling up and emptying the reservoirs nearly as much as with a mop pad system. I'm sure that Ecovacs will make changes next calendar year but honestly, there's only so much more that can be done to improve the station at this point. While it can be somewhat tiresome (if not impossible) to try and stay ahead of innovations in robovacs, the tech in the Deebot X9 Pro Omni is at the absolute top of the charts right now. The Deebot X9 Pro Omni is on sale now on the Ecovacs site at a reduced introductory price of $1,299 ($1,599 MSRP).
