The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai Robot is the corporate’s first mixture robotic vacuum and mop. It debuted at Dyson’s Berlin retailer throughout the IFA tech show this week and is a follow-up to the corporate’s 360 VisNav robot vacuum, which launched in 2023. That includes a brand new spherical design, a self-cleaning curler mop, lidar navigation, and Dyson’s first multifunctional dock, the Spot+Scrub additionally comes with an “AI” moniker as a result of it’s 2025 and doesn’t all the pieces?
I spent some hands-on time with Dyson’s latest robotic ground cleaner and got here away underwhelmed. Dyson’s conventional vacuums set excessive expectations, however its robotic variations have but to fulfill them. I didn’t get to check the Spot+Scrub or see its stain-targeting characteristic in motion, however my time with it didn’t persuade me that Dyson has lastly cracked the robotic vacuum code.
The headline characteristic is AI-powered stain detection, and regardless of the buzzword, this concept does seem to deal with one of many greatest issues with robotic mops — that they don’t do pretty much as good a job as guide mops. When its onboard cameras spot stains, the Spot+Scrub can “determine, react, examine, and clear,” in line with Dyson, utilizing inexperienced lasers to focus on the grime and permit the cameras to see it higher. This helps it determine the kind of stain, whether or not it’s dry or moist, and clear it appropriately, persevering with to wash it till it’s gone.
A number of robotic vacuum mops from firms like Narwal, iRobot, Ecovacs, and Dreame supply comparable “grime detection” options — to various levels of success, based mostly on my testing. Dyson appears assured that the Spot+Scrub is superior.
In an interview at Dyson’s occasion this week, James Dyson, founder and chairman of Dyson, stated that he thinks the present crop of robotic mops “are disappointing.” “Various stain is left on the flooring,” he says. “That’s why ours is healthier, as a result of we will see the stain and we return and get it till it’s gone.”
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Together with stain detection, the Spot may also “spot” objects like socks and cables to hopefully keep away from them. Dyson has additionally ditched its vision-based navigation system for lidar, which I’m instructed ought to assist with the navigation points its Vis Nav had.
The opposite massive change is that the Spot+Scrub is spherical, a departure from the Vis Nav’s squared-off look. It has an honest 18,000 Pa of suction energy, which peaks on carpet because of a built-in carpet sensor. Its tremendous lengthy, delicate microfiber curler mop tackles the moist ground cleansing, extending out to wash alongside edges, and a mixed rubber bristle brush sits behind the mop to assist rise up dry grime. The curler mop raises when it encounters carpet to keep away from getting your rugs damp, nevertheless it doesn’t have the additional safety of a canopy that we’ve began to see on mopping bots. Dyson didn’t share pricing, however plans to launch in China later this 12 months and the US in 2026.
Dyson has did not dazzle with its robotic vacuums
My first impression seeing the Spot+Scrub in Dyson’s Berlin retailer this week was how massive it’s. The robotic itself is a couple of third bigger than the Vis Nav, and its dock is “hulking.” A part of the explanation for that’s the giant curler mop it makes use of to moist clear. Curler mop bots are the hot new thing in robot vacuums, changing spinning mop pads.
Ecovacs, Dreame, Eufy, and others have all rolled out curler mop fashions just lately, the primary benefit being that the mop may be cleaned whereas it runs, quite than having to go again to the bottom for a refresh. This requires a number of onboard infrastructure, although, which is why they’re all so massive. The Spot+Scrub might be 4 inches tall (though I didn’t take out a tape measure), however there’s no lidar tower on high, so it could nonetheless make it beneath your sofa.
The Spot+Scrub comes with Dyson’s first multifunction dock that routinely empties the robotic’s bin, cleans and dries its mop, and refills and drains its water tanks. That is additionally very giant, and whereas it has touches of the signature Dyson design, together with some pops of purple and purple, general, neither it nor the robotic itself seems to be that completely different from each different robo vac on the market, which is disappointing.
The dock’s most attention-grabbing characteristic is the bagless mud container that may maintain 2 liters of grime. It’s a bigger model of the Vis Nav’s onboard bin. To empty it, you pull it out, place it over a trash can, press a button, and the waste dumps out. Whereas having to doubtlessly cope with a little bit of mud spillage whereas emptying isn’t perfect, it’s a good tradeoff for not needing to purchase separate baggage, which is what most auto-empty docks use. Ecovacs’ newest robotic vacuum, the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone, which additionally launched at IFA this week, has the same dustbin answer.
The Spot+Scrub works with the redesigned MyDyson app, which I acquired a sneak peek at. It now exhibits the robotic’s real-time cleansing progress, because of the addition of lidar navigation. From the app, you’ll be able to schedule the robotic and select the way it cleans: both vacuum, vacuum and mop concurrently, simply mop, or vacuum then mop.
The app additionally exhibits when the robotic has recognized a stain that it went again to wash, so you’ll be able to examine its work. Connectivity-wise, Dyson tells me Matter help is deliberate, which might enable the Spot+Scrub to connect with good dwelling platforms like Apple Dwelling, Amazon Alexa, and Google Dwelling for voice management and different options.
Thus far, Dyson has did not dazzle with its robotic vacuums, regardless of having developed them because the Nineteen Nineties. It’s one factor to construct the world’s greatest vacuum; it’s fairly one other to create the world’s greatest robotic vacuum. Whereas its Vis Nav had impressive cleaning power, its app, navigation, and general expertise had been simply okay.
My preliminary impressions of the Spot+Scrub are that it feels fairly iterative, not the game-changing product you’d anticipate from Dyson. But when its stain-seeking and scrubbing characteristic actually works as marketed, and it may well correctly navigate my home, then I’ll be impressed. I stay up for testing it.
Photographs and video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge