Irobot announces eight new vacuum robots

After a tumultuous 2024, in which Irobot lost his Founder and CEOColin angleAmazon abandoned his acquisitionand the company dismissed A large part of its staffIrobot is back with a major upheaval of its robotic emptiness line.

This week, the company that invented the robot vacuum cleaner over 20 years ago announced eight new models which are certainly not the Rochbas to which you are used to it. Not only do they seem completely different, but they also work differently, thanks to a new-to-roomba functionality: Lidar navigation and cartography.

The new range starts at $ 299 and rises to $ 999. It presents the entry -level series 105 of vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaners with the option of an automatic vitiation quay, the 205 series with a new on -board dust compactor and high -end 405 and 505 -range models which provide for the first time with two -range spinning pads. The new robots come in black and white and will be available to pre -order on March 18 at Irobot.com In the United States and select European markets.

According to the company, this is the largest launch of product in the history of the Irobot. But it is not the biggest surprise. Irobot finally adding LIDAR navigation and room mapping – a technology used by most competitors – is a huge change that should bring faster mapping and more features to rocks. The company also launches a new IROBOT application which adds a real -time cleaning view helped by Lidar and began to publish suction power specifications for its robots.

All new models have 7,000PA and four suction levels, according to Warren Fernandez d’Irobot, Warren Fernandez. Although he emphasizes that it is not all about the suction power, it is significantly lower than the competition. Roborock’s new model, The Saros 10At 22,000P (but costs $ 1,600).

Facing Growing competition Chinese manufacturers, Irobot has returned to the drawing board with this new line. With a completely new industrial design, the Rochbas have been redesigned from zero to accommodate the passage of the camera Vslam navigation in Lidar.

In an interview The penis, Fernandez said Irobot had made the change now after evaluating technology for a while, because they believe that Lidar is finally quite mature and affordable enough to adapt to their product roadmap.

The main advantage of LIDAR is smarter map for low -cost jars, including specific room cleaning and the possibility of creating clean areas and conservation areas in the application. For high -end models, this should mean faster cartography and more agile navigation.

In addition, an ultrasonic carpet detection sensor on all rocks, so that robots can intelligently avoid carpets during cleaning. Cleaning models have all three levels of water flow and unique Irobot Smartscrub option. Previously, most of these features were reserved for high -end rocks, which started $ 500.

Most models now have a Lidar tower on the top, and automatic gear quays have a whole new look. Overall, the new rocks are much more like models of the main competitors of Irobot: Roborock, Dreame and Ecovacs.

The most fanciful model of the new line is the Romboba of $ 999 (€ 799) plus 505 Robo Robot Plus Autowash Dock (yes, the name has worsened). This is the first Roomba with double rotation mop pads to clean hard floors. It can also extend its right mop to the outside to clean along the edges and lift its 10 mm mop to avoid carpets with low battery. Roborock and Dreame have variations on these features for a while.

The 505 is delivered with a new multifunction quay which ishes and dries the cushions of Vadrouille, fills the tank of mop and empty the tank. He also adds heated drying, something The Combo 10 MaxThe Irobot high -end vacuum cleaner / robot which was launched last summer, does not have. Like the 10 max, the 505 has a detection of obstacles fueled in AI, thanks to an on -board camera, it should therefore recognize and avoid things like cords, socks and pet waste.

Fernandez says that the 10 max remain the current flagship model because he has better cleaning power than the 505, but he refused to give him suction specifications. It uses a different MOP – a retractable system that puts the mop on the bot to avoid carpets. According to Fernandez, the 505 is the only Roomba among the new models that will support the Matter Smart Home StandardWhat the 10 max is also doing. All new models will support existing integrations with Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri and Google Home.

Roomba plus 405 Robot Plus Autowash Dock combo is a drop in price at $ 799 (€ 699). It keeps all the same basic features – a combo vacuum cleaner and a mop with mop pads and a multifunctional quay – but it differs from 505 in several ways. He cannot extend his mops, has no detection of obstacles fueled by AI (because there is no camera) and lack of heated drying of mop. It also has the standard navigation of the Irobot Lidar Clearview, while the 505 has a pro version, which, according to Fernandez, is more precise and can see smaller objects.

Budget programming also gets a big bump. The new Romberba 105 and 205 series have the same map -based map, the 7000PA suction, the virtual conservation areas, automatic carpet detection and avoidance, and the detection and avoidance capacities of objects as 405, all worked unavailable on the level of entry level Roomba i5 And Combo essential line.

The two new models are available in a vacuum option or a combo option which adds a removable flat microfiber cleaning cushion. The 105 works with an automatic reception station, but the 205 uses the new dust compactor technology. “It’s a bit like a miniaturized version of a trash compactor,” explains Fernandez. He says that it can last two months before emptying, against 75 days on the automatic agricultural platform. You do not need to find space for an automatic agricultural dock, which means that you can stick your robot under a sofa or a bed, and he added that there is no strong drain noise or the need to buy trash bags.

The two series are at the price in the same way: $ 449 for the 105 Vac Robot Plus Autoempty Dock; $ 469 (€ 449) for the 105 Robot Plus Autoempty Dock combo; $ 449 for the 205 Dustcomompactor Vac Robot; and $ 469 (€ 449) for the 205 Dustcomompactor Combo Robot. (It’s more expensive than Roomba essential line With an automatic vacuum platform, but they do not have Lidar.) If you agree to empty a tank once a week, you can opt for the robot 105 VAC for $ 299 or the Combo 105 robot for $ 319 (€ 299).

There are innovations here; The dust compactor will appeal to those who do not like the additional size of these large automatic gear docks. I saw something similar The Narwal Freo X Ultra and found that it was very good. But overall, this programming represents Irobot capitulating in competition.

For years, under the founder and CEO of Colin Angle, the company was firm in its conviction that its superior cleaning capacity and its smarter robots were simply better. It seems that the new CEO, Gary Cohen, has taken a look at the competitive landscape and decided that what people really wanted is tampons of mop, lidar towers and suction specifications, so that’s what you get. “Last year, we reinvented our Irobot research and development laboratories, and these robots are the result of the brilliance of our engineers and world class designers,” he said in a press release.

This approach “If you cannot beat them, join” is clearly designed to save the business in difficulty. The price is competitive and combined with the name of Romberba, it is a strategy that could well work, assuming that the products are as good and as reliable as jars have traditionally.

I can’t wait to test the new robots to see how they accumulate in current rocks, which have long been My favorite robot vacuum cleaners. But for today, I am a little sad to see decades of innovation and business in Irobot being trampled on in what seems to be a boring race in the middle.