IRobot is raising the bar for robotic floor care with its latest Roomba Combo models, now capable of both vacuuming and mopping with increased effectiveness. the company’s newest flagship, the Roomba MAX 705, boasts significantly upgraded suction power and clever features designed to simplify home cleaning routines. Currently available for a promotional price of €349, the new robot represents a notable advancement in the increasingly competitive smart home appliance market.
Roomba has overcome a significant challenge in the robotic vacuum market: simultaneously vacuuming and mopping with equal effectiveness. The company’s flagship model, the MAX 705, takes this a step further, delivering suction power up to 175 times greater than its Series 600 robots. This enhanced capability allows the home assistant to capture both visible and microscopic debris with advanced technology.
The latest Roomba builds on the company’s 35-year history of innovation, stemming from a group of MIT graduates. Control is managed through an intuitive mobile application, iRobot Home, allowing users to schedule automated cleaning routines – including simultaneous vacuuming and mopping – to run at specific times. This feature aims to alleviate the burden of floor cleaning for homeowners. According to the company, the Combo Max 705 is “designed for those who want it all – power, intelligence, and autonomy,” and is ideal for large homes, families with children or pets, and demanding cleaning schedules.
A crucial first step is accurately mapping the home’s layout. This is where the robot’s ClearView Pro LiDAR navigation system comes into play, utilizing artificial intelligence to create a detailed 3D map of the home. This prevents repeated collisions with objects. Once the robot learns the location of furniture legs, it will remember them for future cleaning runs, requiring minimal user intervention. The system is designed to operate with little maintenance for nearly three months.
Users can select specific rooms for cleaning via the mobile app, choosing to vacuum, mop, or perform both tasks simultaneously, or focus on localized cleaning areas. The robot automatically navigates the home in an orderly fashion, examining and cleaning as it goes. Once a cleaning cycle is complete, it returns to the AutoWash Base to empty collected dust and debris.
After 90 minutes of inactivity away from the AutoWash Base, the robot will conclude its work and automatically empty its dustbin upon returning home. The robot also intelligently returns to the base to periodically empty dirty water and wash the rotating mop during and after each cleaning cycle. The mop itself is then dried to prepare it for the next use. However, users are advised against interrupting the mop-washing process due to the noise generated by the hot air drying system. The device’s manual notes that this drying process can take several hours.
By default, the robot utilizes a combined vacuuming and mopping mode. To switch to vacuum-only or mop-only, select specific rooms, or customize cleaning routines, users can leverage the Roomba Home app. The device is equipped with dual multi-surface rubber brushes to extract and remove debris from carpets and hard floors, along with an edge-sweeping brush for hard-to-reach areas. Furthermore, Carpet Boost technology automatically detects carpets and increases suction power accordingly.
In anticipation of the holiday season, Roomba’s most advanced robot is currently available at a promotional price of €349 from the app store, a significant reduction from its recent Black Friday price of €699. This launch underscores the growing trend of smart home devices offering increasingly sophisticated cleaning capabilities.
