HomeFloor-cleaning robot

Robot vacuums and mops

Name: Robot vacuums and mops
Brand: Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, iRobot, Shark

by Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, iRobot, Shark

Small, flat robots that drive around the floor on their own and vacuum it. Many newer models also mop and empty themselves into a base station. Wikipedia, Robotic vacuum cleaner

Stage 5 of 5

Regulator-cleared or mass market

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Independently reported
Human help: None reported
Last milestone: 10 March 2026

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: Sold in shops and online around the world; smart vacuums make up nearly three-quarters of the 32.7 million home cleaning robots shipped in 2025, IDC says. IDC, 10 Mar 2026
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: Our sources report it working without human help.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

03Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

19 Dec 2022
MIT Technology Review reported that photos taken inside homes by Roomba test robots, including one of a woman on the toilet, were shared online in 2020 by gig workers paid to label the images for AI training. iRobot said they came from special development robots, not ones sold to customers. MIT Technology Review, 19 Dec 2022
Feb 2026
A man trying to steer his DJI Romo robot vacuum with a game controller found he could reach about 7,000 Romo vacuums in 24 countries, including live camera feeds, microphone audio and home floor plans. DJI said it fixed the flaw with updates on 8 and 10 February. DroneXL, 17 Feb 2026

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass marketThis robot
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
Placed by: IDC counted 32.7 million home cleaning robots shipped worldwide in 2025, up 20% on the year before. Smart vacuums were nearly three-quarters of them (10 March 2026).
4
Paying customers
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. The hint of about 92,000 Amazon US searches in one August 2026 week could not be confirmed from a trustworthy source. No CPSC recall of a floor robot vacuum was found (CPSC recalls found were for robot pool cleaners and ordinary cordless vacuums).

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Robot vacuums and mops (Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, iRobot, Shark): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/robot-vacuums. Checked 19 October 2026.