iRobot's First Wet-Dry Mop Uses Electricity to Disinfect Your Floors, Chemical-Free

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iRobot's new five-in-one floor cleaner can disinfect your floors without using any chemicals or cleaning fluids.

Ajay Kumar Editor

Ajay has worked in tech journalism for over a decade as a reporter, analyst, product reviewer, and editor. He got his start in consumer tech, breaking Android news at Newsweek before going to PCMag, where he reviewed hundreds of smartphones, battery packs, and chargers as a Mobile Analyst. He also worked at Lifewire, a Dotdash Meredith brand, as a Tech Commerce Editor, putting together tested best-of lists and assigning product reviews across categories including smart home, uninterruptible power supplies, generators, and automotive tech.

Most recently, he was Section Editor, Mobile at Digital Trends, spearheading his team's coverage of breaking news, features, reviews, roundups, deals, and more across a variety of mobile products, including phones, wearables, VR headsets, batteries, and chargers. If you want Ajay's advice about anything tech, especially solar panels, UPS, batteries, EVs, and charging technology, you can reach him at [email protected].

Expertise 13+ years of experience in consumer product reviews, buying guides, best lists, and tech news across a variety of tech categories. As a homeowner, Ajay is also familiar with the unique electrical issues that can crop up in a prewar apartment building.

3 min read

iRobot may be best known for its robot vacuums, but like competitors Dreame and Roborock, it's also getting into the wet-and-dry mopping category. The Roomba Electro Plus is the company's first non-robot vacuum product, but it's also another first: It uses electricity to clean and disinfect hard floors instead of a traditional cleaning solution.

"The device uses tap water, which contains naturally occurring free chlorine," said Adam Pope, iRobot chief engineer and vice president, in a video interview with me. "A small electrical current creates hypochlorous acid from this chlorine, a safe and effective disinfectant applied to the roller and floor to kill germs."

The Roomba Electro Plus is essentially creating electrolyzed water on demand that can be used in place of regular floor cleaners. According to Pope, it can kill 99.99% of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other germs without any added chemicals, toxins or steam, making it safe for pets and kids and environmentally friendly. I asked Pope if it would still take a cleaning solution for those who preferred a particular scent, for example, and he told me that while a standard cleaning solution isn't compatible, an iRobot cleaning solution would be available.

In other respects, the Electro Plus is more of a traditional wet-and-dry cleaner, though it comes with all the bells and whistles we've come to expect from similar units we've tested, such as the Roborock F25 Ultra. It has the PowerSpion roller mop we've seen on iRobot's robot vacuums, with automatic dirt detection that adjusts roller speed and water flow for deeper cleaning. The rollers use anti-hair wrap technology, and the included docking station automatically heats, washes, dries and sanitizes the mop when you press a button after docking it.

According to iRobot, it can be controlled with just one hand because, like the F25 Ultra, it has powered assistance wheels and is fairly lightweight. The design can lie flat up to 180 degrees to get under furniture, and its battery life should last for around 35 minutes in the eco-mode setting.

The Roomba Electro Plus will cost $400 at launch and will be available starting July 7.

An all-new robot vacuum lineup

Also new from iRobot is a whole lineup of robot vacuums, replacing parts of the company's existing lineup. At the top is the Roomba Max 775 Combo Robot Plus AutoWash Dock. Priced at $1,000, it's the most advanced model in the lineup, with lidar, 3D mapping and advanced obstacle recognition and avoidance for pet zones, cords, shoes and more. It's also designed for power mopping, with the same PowerSpin roller mop as the Electro, 167-degree-Fahrenheit hot water cleaning, a self-emptying docking station and bagged waste collection with carbon odor control.

The 775 Combo also comes with a companion, the Roomba Max 715 Vacuum Robot Plus AutoEmpty Dock, for $700. It has the same suction and vacuum performance, as well as the docking station, but it won't include mopping capabilities.

The Roomba 575 Vacuum Robot Plus AutoEmpty Dock is a $700 vacuum-only model, but aside from mopping, it offers most of the same navigation and obstacle-avoidance features. It should last for three months without needing to empty with the included docking station.

The Roomba 515 Combo Plus AutoWash will cost $700 and offers a more compact design that fits under furniture more easily, as well as a longer battery life of up to 295 minutes (almost 10 hours). iRobot says it can clean up to 2,000 square feet on a single charge. It also has an onboard water tank for its mopping pads, lidar mapping and a self-cleaning docking station for washing and drying the mops.

On the more mid-price end is the Roomba Plus 415 Combo Plus AutoWash Dock at $600. It has the same compact body as the 515 Combo, which is 46% more compact, and also comes with dual-spinning mopping pads, pad dry and lidar navigation.

These robots are availbile for preorder now through iRobot.

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AJAY KUMAR

Editor

Ajay has worked in tech journalism for over a decade as a reporter, analyst, product reviewer, and editor. He got his start in consumer tech, breaking Android news at Newsweek before going to PCMag, where he reviewed hundreds of smartphones, battery packs, and chargers as a Mobile Analyst. He also worked at Lifewire, a Dotdash Meredith brand, as a Tech Commerce Editor, putting together tested best-of lists and assigning product reviews across categories including smart home, uninterruptible power supplies, generators, and automotive tech.

Most recently, he was Section Editor, Mobile at Digital Trends, spearheading his team's coverage of breaking news, features, reviews, roundups, deals, and more across a variety of mobile products, including phones, wearables, VR headsets, batteries, and chargers. If you want Ajay's advice about anything tech, especially solar panels, UPS, batteries, EVs, and charging technology, you can reach him at [email protected]. See full bio