Making more and more daily chores and other tasks automated in the home has become a seriously huge trend in the tech world. We’ve seen the beginnings of robots replacing some of the more annoying every day or weekly tasks like vacuuming with the iRobot Roomba 980, but what about that other floor cleaning chore that nobody likes? iRobot is here to save the day again, but this time around with mopping instead of vacuuming. Mopping isn’t actually anything new for iRobot, as it has a number of different product ranges dedicated to all sorts of different floor cleaning tasks as well as other robots to clean pools, gutters and more. The Braava Jet does things a little differently than other iRobot mops though, and that’s the real big deal here.
Starting off we’re looking at a $199 MSRP, which is $100 less than the Braava 300 series which retails for $299. That makes this the least expensive iRobot product yet and one that’s sure to turn heads. The Braava Jet looks a bit like an automated Swiffer in action and uses the square shape of the Braava 300 rather than the circular shape you might be familiar with on iRobot products. It’s a smaller design than some other iRobot products and that enables it to get into more places to clean, including even the small space around your toilets. Aside from the square shape you’ll find the jet sprayer on the front to get the floor wet, a vibrating cleaning head to loosen dirt and the Braava Cleaning Pads to clean everything up. Each of the three different cleaning pads changes the mode for the Braava and makes it work just a little bit differently.
There’s a wet mopping pad for triple-pass cleaning, a damp sweeping pad for double-pass cleaning, and a dry sweeping pad for simple single-pass cleaning. Each of these serves a different purpose and is built for different floor types, so be sure to check that out if you’ve got sealed floors, tile, stone or wood. There’s even an eject button right on top of the unit so you don’t have to even touch the pads to throw them away, just hold the robot over the trash and hit eject. Those looking for a more eco-friendly solution can get reusable, washable pads as well. The Braava Jet also uses iRobot’s newest navigation software to map your household and clean more efficiently, moving in a more intelligent pattern than older models did. As is expected this one comes with a rechargeable battery built in and can even be used with the Virtual Walls from the Roomba series. This one hits store shelves April 1, 2016 for $199. A box of 10 cleaning pads retails for $7.99 and the washable ones go for $19.99 for a box of two.
