iRobot’s latest Roomba washes its own mop

The Roomba Combo 10 Max is a new robot vacuum and mop from iRobot that can wash its mop, empty its bin, and refill its mopping tank — meaning less manual labor on your part. The company’s new flagship robot vacuum will also be its first to support the smart home standard Matter. The vacuum is available for preorder starting today at irobot.com for $1,399.99, and in the UK for £1,499 and Europe for €1,499. Shipping starts in August, when it will also come to other retailers.

Building on the Roomba Combo j9 Plus’ retractable mopping system that picks itself up when it vacuums carpet, the Roomba Combo 10 Max robot and Auto Wash Dock is the company’s first robot vac with a fully multifunction charging dock. In addition to emptying the robot’s bin and filling its water tank, the new dock can clean and dry the mop and wash itself, so you don’t have to.

The dock also has a new look, to incorporate the mop cleaning, and is now made with antimicrobial plastics to help inhibit the bacterial growth and bad smells that are common on docks like these. “While there will still need to be an element of human cleaning [of the dock], this should help combat the build-up of ‘ick’ over time,” iRobot’s Warren Fernandez said in an interview with The Verge.

These multifunctional docks are becoming increasingly popular with models available from Roborock, Dreame, Eufy, and others. They allow the robot vacuum to work largely independently for a week or so — until you need to fill the dock’s water tank (some eliminate even that need by hooking directly into plumbing). Most competitor docks require access to the top to get to those tanks, but the 10 Max’s dock keeps the front opening style of the Combo j9 Plus. This is a nice feature, as you can use the top as a table area.

Unlike many of its competitors, the 10 Max’s dock doesn’t use hot water or hot air to dry the mop — Fernandez explained that because it’s a top-mounted mop, it will get a lot of airflow, so it dries quickly. He added that heat adds complexity and running costs to the dock.

According to Fernandez, the 10 Max’s dock automatically cleans and dries the mop pad after every run and can be set to wash after cleaning specific rooms — the bathroom, for example. The dock also cleans itself after it has washed the pad.

On the software side, Fernandez said the main improvement to the 10 Max is Enhanced Dirt Detect, adding the ability for the onboard camera to spot dirt. This is an upgrade to a feature on the j9 that identifies dirty areas and takes multiple passes to clean them. The 10 Max also brings a new mop-only cleaning mode, in addition to the options to vacuum, and vacuum and mop.

Most other features of the 10 Max are the same as the Combo j9, including the same suction power — which iRobot claims is 100 times more powerful than its i series (the company doesn’t release suction power specs) — and the presence of a camera for navigating and enabling AI-powered obstacle avoidance.

This allows the robot to see and identify common household objects, such as shoes, cables, pet bowls, and other pet-related clutter, and intelligently determine what to do. For example, it will clean a pile of popcorn but avoid pet poop. iRobot promises if its robot does roll into a “pet accident,” the company will replace it for free for the first year.

The company — whose business has faced increased competition in recent years, compounded by a failed attempt to sell to Amazon — has launched several new robots in the last 12 months, offering customers more options across a broader range of prices.

iRobot now had six different combination mopping and vacuum models: the Combo Essential ($275) and the Combo i5 (from $350) with swappable mopping bins; the Combo j5 (from $529) adding a camera for obstacle avoidance; the Combo j7 (from $600) bringing a retractable mop; the Combo j9 Plus with an auto-empty/refill dock for $1,000; and now the Combo 10 Max adding mop washing for $1,400.

iRobot also announced it’s adding Matter support to the 10 Max, which will allow it to work with any smart home platform that supports Matter, including Apple Home.

To date, all Roombas have worked with the Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart home platforms, letting you add your vacuum to your smart home routines and automations and control it with voice. But none have worked with Apple Home beyond a Siri Shortcut integration that allows for voice control.

According to iRobot, Matter support will come via an over-the-air firmware update in Q4 2024; this may coincide with the arrival of iOS 18, which Apple has said will bring support for Matter to Apple Home.

The company has also said it plans to add Matter across more of its products in 2025, but didn’t specify if this would come as an upgrade to existing products or just be built into new models.