iRobot which was the original US robotic vacuum brand before the Chinese took over have unveiled the Roomba Duo, its first two-robot cleaning system.

Rather than trying to make one conventional robot do everything, Duo uses a large cylindrical main robot that vacuums, steam-mops and wet-washes floors, plus a much smaller companion robot. The main unit physically carries the smaller robot on top, then uses a mechanical arm to lower and deploy it underneath low furniture and into areas the larger machine cannot reach.

Both robots share the same home map and use AI to divide cleaning duties.

The primary machine uses a 60mm PowerSpin Max roller applying a claimed 46N, roughly 4.7kg, of downward pressure, combined with controlled steam to loosen dried-on dirt. The smaller robot is only 8.35cm high and 29.8cm wide, allowing it to clean under beds, sofas and TV cabinets.

Both employ ClearView Pro LiDAR and PrecisionVision AI, while the larger robot adds elevated AI cameras for mapping and stain detection.

The system also has a shared AutoWash dock handling mop washing, drying, water management and dust disposal. Importantly, however, iRobot is describing the Roomba Duo being demonstrated in Berlin as a prototype, and has not announced pricing, commercial availability or an Australian launch date.

Roomba is currently broadly distributed locally.

JB Hi-Fi currently ranges machines including the Combo 10 Max and Roomba 205, The Good Guys carries newer products including the Max 705, Plus 575 and Plus 505, and Harvey Norman ranges the Roomba 205, Plus 405 and Plus 505.

The only problem is that the brand is currently distributed by Melbourne based IXL home who do limited if any marketing for the brand in Australia Vs the likes of Ecovacs, Dreame, Roborock and Mova who are not only outspending iRobot that is now Chinese owned after the US creators of the brand cxollapsed due to a lack of funding.

The next problem is that Roborock, Dreame, Ecovacs and DJI have been aggressively out-innovating traditional robot-vacuum brands, particularly in mopping, obstacle climbing and docks.

Roomba Duo is iRobot’s clearest attempt yet to leapfrog those rivals with a fundamentally different architecture instead of merely increasing suction power.