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The Roomba i7+ robot vacuum returns to its all-time low price
Of note is the Roomba i7+ for $699, which is $100 off its normal price. The standard Roomba i7, which does not come with a Clean Base, is also $100 off. Buy Roomba i7+ at Wellbots - $699 Buy Roomba i7 at Wellbots - $499 We reviewed the Roomba i7+ when it came out and gave it a score of 87.
iRobot's Roomba i3+ is its cheapest vacuum with a self-cleaning dock
You can control the Roomba i3+ with the redesigned iRobot Home app for iOS and Android that’s powered by iRobot Genius.
iRobot's Roomba gets a huge intelligence boost
iRobot is unveiling a new software platform that lets its Roombas and Braava mop work with other smart devices, and learn from your behavior.
iRobot's high-end Roomba i7+ vacuum is back down to its lowest price
It’s hard to get around the former, but Wellbots’ sale makes it much easier to recommend the i7+.
This week's best deals: Fitbit Inspire HR, the Apple Watch and more
This week's best deals include $100 off the Apple Watch Series 5, the Fitbit Inspire HR fitness tracker for $70 and $300 off the Roomba i7+ robot vacuum.
iRobot suspends plans to launch its robotic lawn mower
iRobot suspends plans for its robotic lawn mower, Terra, due to COVID-19.
iRobot's IFTTT support lets smart home devices talk to your Roomba
iRobot's IFTTT support is about to become much more useful if you're a fan of smart home tech. The company has formed a partnership with IFTTT that will let you integrate smart home gadgets directly inside iRobot's Home App, effectively giving those devices control over your Roomba vacuum or Braava mop. To start, iRobot's IFTTT page already has five recipes for common devices and apps.
Engadget readers can save on iRobot Roomba i7 vacuums
If the price of vacuum robots has kept you away from the tech, we may be able to help. We've partnered with Wellbots to provide Engadget readers with an exclusive discount on iRobot's high-end Roomba i7+ and i7 series vacuums.
Roomba update tells your robovacs to steer clear of trouble spots
iRobot's Roomba vacuums just got an update that improves their cleaning prowess by telling them what not to do. Roomba i/s and Braava jet M6 models now have Keep Out Zones that outline specific areas they're not allowed to visit. The company suggests this for keeping robots away from your pet's food bowls, but it could also be helpful for problematic rugs or cords. You can set them up in iRobot's Home app.
The best Alexa-compatible smart-home devices for Amazon Echo
By Rachel Cericola This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to Alexa-compatible smart-home devices for Amazon Echo. Imagine walking into your home at night, arms overflowing with groceries. Even if you've installed smart lights, you'd need to put the bags down, pull out your phone, unlock it, open the app, find the control for the lights you want, and then tap the icon—might as well just stick with a plain old wired switch. But with an Alexa, you simply say, "Alexa, turn on the kitchen lights." And it's not just lights; Alexa is capable of controlling everything from basic smart plugs to garage doors. All three smart-speaker platforms (Alexa, Google Assistant, and to a lesser degree, Siri) can control a variety of smart-home devices and add an extra level of convenience to your smart-home system. We think Amazon's Alexa has a slight edge over the others because it works with more devices, and the wider family of Amazon Echo products makes it easier to fit them everyplace in your home. However, if you already have a Google Home speaker, the differences aren't large enough for you to need to switch platforms. We have guides for the best devices to use with Google Assistant and Siri/HomeKit. The Amazon Echo (or Echo Dot) offers a convenient interface for your smart home and provides functionality that an app on your phone can't. If you already have some Alexa-compatible devices or one of the three major smart-home hubs (SmartThings, Wink, or Insteon), adding an Echo can make accessing those devices more interesting and convenient. Taking advantage of its near-instantaneous response time and reliable voice-recognition processing is significantly faster than pulling out your phone and opening an app just to turn the lights on or off. Some products, such as Philips Hue lights and Nest thermostats, have native Alexa support, while others require you to enable a third-party skill. We tested plenty of both varieties to come up with the best-performing and most reliable recommendations, which we're continually testing to ensure that each new firmware and app update meets our high standards. Over the past several years, Wirecutter's editors and writers have tested just about every smart-home device of consequence. As more people end up buying smart speakers and platform support gets more and more important, we wanted to provide one place where you could access all of our picks that are compatible with the devices you already own, across all of our smart-home recommendations. Because these devices receive regular updates with additional compatibility and new features, we are continually testing and reevaluating our picks in our own homes to confirm that they still meet our recommendation standards. We'll update this guide as we learn new information, but be sure to read the full reviews if you'd like more details and test notes. If you don't yet have an Alexa-enabled device, or you want to learn more about what Alexa is and what you can do with these things, check out our full guide to Alexa and Amazon's Echo line of smart speakers.
Amazon previews Prime Day deals before the shopping frenzy
Amazon claims Prime Day 2019 will be a "two-day parade of more than a million deals." The action starts July 15th and new deals will drop as often as every five minutes for a full 48 hours. Today, Amazon released a preview of what's to come.
iRobot enters the classroom with acquisition of Root Robotics
iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, is about to do more than vacuum your house, mop your floors and mow the lawn. Today the company announced that it's acquired Root Robotics, and it will add the Root educational coding robot to its lineup.
Clean freaks: Share your thoughts about the iRobot Roomba i7+
People have been arguing about the utility of robot vacuums for as long as there have been robot vacuums. Some feel they're just expensive gadgets with extensive limitations, while others see them as important steps toward a real-life Rosey from The Jetsons. While reviewing the Roomba i7+, Engadget's Devindra Hardawar thoughtfully weighed the pros and cons of iRobot's latest model, the i7+. It's quieter and offers a much-requested self-emptying feature, but it's also quite expensive and requires proprietary bags. Despite these trade-offs, it still earned a solid score of 87.
Turn your Roomba's travels into 'Doom' maps
Game developer Rich Whitehouse has found a rather unusual way to celebrate Doom's 25th anniversary: make your robot vacuum pay tribute. The industry veteran has developed a script for the game data conversion tool Noesis that translates the floor maps from Roombas to playable maps for the original Doom -- yes, of course it's called Doomba. You'll have to specifically record the robot's journeys for this to work (you can merge files if the run is interrupted), but it can otherwise whip up a hellish version of your home with minimal effort.
Google and iRobot team up to better map your home
Your Roomba's home mapping could be useful for more than more effective cleaning. Google and iRobot have formed a partnership to improve smart home technology using consumer robots. The two will find "additional ways" to link their platforms beyond Google Assistant control, including the possibility of using a Roomba's map-based spatial awareness to "simplify home setup" and foster "powerful new automations."
The Roomba i7+ is the robot vacuum I’ve been waiting for
Adulting is hard. But over the past 12 years, iRobot's Roomba made it just a bit easier for me by keeping my floors clean, no matter how lazy I felt. But while the company has steadily improved its robot vacuums over the years -- by making them more powerful, adding sturdy rubber rollers and integrating room mapping -- they're still very similar to the first model that debuted in 2002. That's why the $949 Roomba i7+ is such a huge deal: It can not only vacuum your floors better than before but also empty its dust bin into a Clean Base. It's the epitome of lazy cleaning technology: something that can do its dirty work without making you leave your couch.
There’s finally a Roomba that can empty itself
Since 2002, iRobot's Roomba has been something of a status symbol: a robot vacuum that can clean your floors while you sit back and relax. It's steadily become better and more efficient at cleaning since it debuted -- the last flagship model, the Roomba 980, added floor mapping three years ago. But once your Roomba finishes up, you still have to unload the dustbin manually. It's a stark reminder that we haven't reached the automated cleaning utopia of The Jetsons. That changes with the $949 Roomba i7+ -- it's smarter than ever before, and it can unload up to 30 dirty bins on its own without any help. Rosie the Robot, here we come.
High-end Roombas will find your home's WiFi dead spots
That fancy new Roomba you got over the holidays could help suss out your home's WiFi weak spots this month. A forthcoming patch will add a wireless coverage map to the Roomba's vacuum heat map. From the sounds of it, the test group for this new feature could be relatively tiny.
iRobot and Black & Decker settle over alleged patent infringement
iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuum, has taken to challenging its competitors over alleged patent violations in an effort to hold on to its market share. In April, it named a number of companies including Black & Decker, Bissell, iLife and Hoover in a complaint filed to the US International Trade Commission wherein it asked the commission to investigate their supposed patent violations and ban any products that it finds to incorporate any infringed upon intellectual property. Now, however, iRobot says it has reached an agreement with Black & Decker.
Roomba robotic vacuums now follow IFTTT instructions
If Roomba vacuums are going to feel like they're truly part of your connected home, they need to do more than dutifully clean your floors on a set schedule. Thankfully, iRobot is helping them do just that. It just added IFTTT "recipes" that tell Roomba robots when to clean or to interact with other devices. You can tell your robovac to start cleaning when you leave or stop when you get home, for starters. However, the cleverest tricks come when the robot interacts with the outside world. You can tweet to your Roomba to start a command, or have it post to Facebook or Twitter when it's done. You can even have it flash your Hue lights or play music (on Android devices) when it's finished, in case there's something you need to do immediately afterwards.
