is a senior reviewer focused on smart home and connected tech, with over twenty years of experience. She has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
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The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai Robot is the company’s first combination robot vacuum and mop. It debuted at Dyson’s Berlin store during the IFA tech show this week and is a follow-up to the company’s 360 VisNav robot vacuum, which launched in 2023. Featuring a new round design, a self-cleaning roller mop, lidar navigation, and Dyson’s first multifunctional dock, the Spot+Scrub also comes with an “AI” moniker because it’s 2025 and doesn’t everything?
I spent some hands-on time with Dyson’s newest robot floor cleaner and came away underwhelmed. Dyson’s traditional vacuums set high expectations, but its robot versions have yet to meet them. I didn’t get to test the Spot+Scrub or see its stain-targeting feature in action, but my time with it didn’t convince me that Dyson has finally cracked the robot vacuum code.
The Spot+Scrub in action at Dyson’s Berlin store.
The headline feature is AI-powered stain detection, and despite the buzzword, this idea does appear to address one of the biggest problems with robot mops — that they don’t do as good a job as manual mops. When its onboard cameras spot stains, the Spot+Scrub can “identify, react, check, and clean,” according to Dyson, using green lasers to highlight the dirt and allow the cameras to see it better. This helps it identify the type of stain, whether it’s dry or wet, and clean it appropriately, continuing to clean it until it’s gone.
Several robot vacuum mops from companies like Narwal, iRobot, Ecovacs, and Dreame offer similar “dirt detection” features — to varying degrees of success, based on my testing. Dyson seems confident that the Spot+Scrub is superior.
In an interview at Dyson’s event this week, James Dyson, founder and chairman of Dyson, said that he thinks the current crop of robot mops “are disappointing.” “Quite a lot of stain is left on the floors,” he says. “That’s why ours is better, because we can see the stain and we go back and get it until it’s gone.”
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