iRobot just unveiled its new $1,399 Roomba Combo 10 Max — the first Rooma to offer truly hands-off vacuuming and mopping. Available to buy from August, the Combo 10 Max features and updated AutoWash Dock which now cleans the mop, in addition to its usual emptying and tank-filling functions.
This eliminates my hangup with Roomba's previous flagship, the J9+ Combo, which required you to manually remove and clean the mop pad after each run. Like that model, it has a unique retractable mop pad to avoid wetting carpets, a table atop the dock, and front camera for AI obstacle avoidance. However, in addition to the updated dock for one full week of set-and-forget cleaning you also get improved Dirt Detection and Matter to control it from smart home platforms.
Docked and loaded
Roomba's deceptively low-profile dock is accessed from a pull door where you can swap out tanks from the side. This leaves a useful table on top for storage or displaying decor while packing plenty of functionality under the hood. Its 3-part system includes a 3-liter clean water tank to fill the mop, a 2.5-liter dirty water tank to drain it, and a bin bag that holds 60 days of debris.
Roomba's Combo 10 Max rolls onto this base to charge, empty, and refill while the dock washes and dries its mop to prevent grime buildup or odors. The entire setup is built with anti-microbial materials to prevent bacteria and odor build-up.
Self-cleaning robot mop docks are nothing new, which is a point I harped on when I reviewed the J9+ Combo last year. Roborock's hybrid models immediately come to mind as even the affordable Q Revo can vacuum, mop, and clean itself for a week. At CES, some manufacturers like SwitchBot even showed off docks that not only clean and dry the mop pad but also connect to your plumbing system for a truly set-and-forget automated floor cleaning solution.
Roomba Meets Matter
iRobot will add Matter support to the Roomba 10 Max in Q4 of 2024 through a software update. This universal protocol will allow the bot to work with any smart home platform that supports Matter such as Apple Home or Samsung SmartThings. Roomba has supported Alexa and Google smart home platforms over the past decade so it'll be a welcome change to integrate a robot vacuums into more complex routines from other places.
Although the suction performance and camera resolution remain unchanged, the Combo 10 Max has several refinements. The onboard camera now spots dirt for the Enhanced Dirt Detect feature. This better identifies dirty areas and takes multiple passes to clean them. The Combo10 Max also brings a new mop-only cleaning mode, in addition to the options to vacuum, and vacuum and mop.
You can pre-order the vacuum now at irobot.com for $1,399.99. If you're in the UK it's £1,499 while Europe charges €1,499. The Combo 10 Max will begin to ship and hit other major retailers in August.
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