The new Roomba costs almost $1,000, works with Amazon's Alexa, and can empty its own dust bin up to 30 times so you only need to clean it once a month
- iRobot's new Roomba i7+ comes with a self-cleaning base and dust bin that sucks out debris and prepares the vacuum for its next cleaning session.
- The bin can be used up to 30 times without being emptied, which means you shouldn't have to worry about cleaning the Roomba or the bin more than once per month.
- The house-cleaning robot can also automatically map out your home and section it off by rooms, which can be edited in Roomba's mobile app. The device is also Alexa-enabled, allowing you to tell the Roomba to start cleaning or assign it to a certain room that might need extra attention.
iRobot's newest Roomba device is designed to clean your home without requiring you to touch or look at the dirt it picks up more than once a month.
The Roomba i7+, priced at $950, is the latest addition to iRobot's line of home-cleaning robots. It comes with a self-cleaning dust bin base that automatically removes dirt and debris from the Roomba, and can be used up to 30 times before it needs to be emptied. That means you should only have to empty the base about once per month. However, the self-cleaning base can only be used with the Roomba i7, and isn't compatible with previous Roomba versions.
In addition, the Roomba i7+ automatically maps out your house and sections it off by rooms while it cleans. You can then use the iRobot HOME app to tweak the room boundaries, which allows you to use the app or voice assistants like Amazon's Alexa to tell the Roomba to only clean a particular room. Roomba learns the general layout of your home after a few cleaning sessions, and it can store up to 10 different floor plans.
If you don't want or need the base that automatically replaces the Roomba's dust bin, you can buy the standalone Roomba i7 for $699. Pre-ordered Roomba i7s will ship on September 12, but they won't be available in retail stores until October.
The key differences between the i7 and the previous 980 lineup of Roombas is the inclusion of the base and the home-mapping features. Otherwise, they're pretty similar. The Roomba 980 is priced at $699, but doesn't have a self-cleaning base. However both are able to avoid falling down stairs or drops in a floorplan, both are compatible with the iRobot HOME app and compatible voice assistants like Alexa, and both can avoid objects and furniture that gets in the way.