iRobot's New Hand-Held Floor Cleaner: What You Need to Know

iRobot announced a new hand-held floor cleaner called the Roomba Electro Plus on July 7, 2026. This is significant because iRobot has built its entire reputation on robot vacuums that clean on their own. For the first time, the company is selling a cleaner you operate by hand.

The Electro Plus vacuums, mops, and disinfects your hard floors all in one pass. The headline feature sounds like science fiction: the machine turns ordinary tap water into a cleaning and disinfecting solution using electricity, with no chemicals added. This process, called electrolysis, creates a substance called hypochlorous acid — a disinfectant that kills bacteria, fungi, viruses, and germs. iRobot says it kills 99.99 percent of these organisms Engadget.

The device borrows many parts from iRobot's robot vacuums. It uses the same spinning mop roller and dirt-detection sensors found in current Roomba robots. It also lies completely flat, which lets it slide under furniture and tight spaces — something traditional upright cleaners can't do Engadget.

On a single charge, the battery lasts up to 35 minutes, enough to cover about 1,292 square feet, according to iRobot. The device comes with a self-cleaning dock that automatically washes, dries, and sanitizes the mop head between uses — the same kind of hands-off maintenance iRobot has built into its robot vacuum bases Engadget.

The Roomba Electro Plus launched at $400 and was available for purchase the day it was announced Engadget. Adam Pope, iRobot's chief engineer and vice president, led the announcement CNET.

iRobot also released updated robot vacuums at the same time, including the Roomba Max 775 Combo at $1,000 Engadget. The company is now competing in both robot and manual floor cleaning — two different markets it used to keep separate.

Why This Matters for iRobot

iRobot filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2025. The company struggled as Chinese competitors like Roborock and Ecovacs undercut it on price while offering robot vacuums with similar or better features. A lender agreed to buy the company and take it private as part of the restructuring Reuters.

Entering the hand-held floor cleaner market makes sense for a company emerging from bankruptcy. Instead of continuing to fight an increasingly crowded and cheaper robot vacuum market, iRobot is hedging into a new category where it can apply its brand name and existing technology. Companies like Tineco and Bissell already sell self-cleaning cordless mops in a similar price range, though neither yet emphasizes the electricity-based disinfection approach Engadget.

Worth Noting

Whether the name "Roomba" — which has meant "robot that cleans itself" for nearly 25 years — will mean anything to shoppers when it's attached to a product you have to push by hand is an open question.

The hypochlorous acid disinfection method is real and well-documented chemistry. Commercial cleaners have used it for years. But iRobot's claim that it kills 99.99 percent of germs hasn't been tested by independent laboratories outside the company. We don't know yet which specific bacteria and viruses that test result covers, or how it might hold up under real-world household use.

This move tells us something about iRobot's post-bankruptcy strategy: the company sees more growth in the broader floor-cleaning market than in fighting a price war over robot vacuums.