This Robot Vacuum Aims to Compete With the Suction Power of a Stick Vacuum

Sep 02, 2026 - 10:16

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This Robot Vacuum Aims to Compete With the Suction Power of a Stick Vacuum

Robot vacuums are a great way to do some general cleaning, but most lack the power of a dedicated vacuum cleaner because you can’t pack enough suction into a small design. iRobot may have an interesting solution for that with its new Roomba Max 875 Combo, which it describes as the “most powerful robot ever” because it uses a proprietary vacuum seal technology that concentrates suction power on the floor.

“With the Roomba Max 875 Combo Robot, we not only increased overall suction power, but also changed how that suction gets applied to the carpet,” Adam Pope, vice president and chief engineer at iRobot, said in a statement. “With SealForce, we’re able to seal the chassis against the carpet fibers, so the airflow, which has the greatest impact on pickup performance, has somewhere to go instead of escaping around the edges. More suction helps, but the seal is what takes it to a level beyond what’s previously been possible.”

I cover vacuums and home tech for CNET. While I’m here at IFA Berlin 2026, I’m determined to seek out the most interesting tech that solves your most common cleaning problems. I’m excited to see the Roomba Max 875 Combo Robot in person on Wednesday. I’ll report back with my impressions later.

Roomba Max 875 Combo shown using autowash

In a video call with me prior to IFA Berlin 2026, Pope described the technology as being similar to pressing down harder on the carpet when you’re vacuuming with a regular vacuum, to increase the seal and focus the suction on a particular spot. In the case of the Max 875, rather than pressing down, the robot vacuum’s chassis lowers a “skirt” that forms a tight seal against carpet fibers.

Once the seal is established, it can use 35,000 pascals of suction to clean the floor, which iRobot describes as “tornado-like airflow.” The company also says that it has three times deeper carpet cleaning and the best pickup performance to date among its models. Essentially, rather than just boosting suction power, the robot vac is making its suction more targeted and efficient on the surfaces it cleans. It’s a good idea if it works as promised. In our testing, we’ve generally found that cordless vacuums have better suction than robot vacuums, but this type of tech could help robots catch up.

There’s also some other interesting cleaning technology under the hood. To handle dried-on stains on hard floors, the Max 875 Combo continuously sprays heated mist as it mops, loosening and softening older stains so the mop roller can remove them. Pope told me that the new roller mop is also the industry’s largest, has 300 rotations per minute and 18 newtons of downward pressure. The company claims that all this gives the robot vacuum twice the stain removal, 3.75 times deeper scrubbing and 1.2 times wider coverage per pass.

Max 875 cleaning corners with its roller mop.

Available on other robot vacuums, the 875 Combo has an AI-powered carpet-detection feature that automatically raises the mop when it detects carpet and lowers a protective shield to prevent dripping. It also comes with the other high-end features we’ve come to expect from flagship robot vacuums, including antitangle and hair-cutting main brushes, side brushes, lidar navigation and AI object recognition for more than 300 household objects.

The 875 Combo also has a docking station that washes the mop with water heated to 176 degree Fahrenheit and dries it with air heated to 131 F; it also auto refills cleaning fluid and self-empties into a debris bag that should last up to 90 days.

Roomba Plus 678 Combo is docked and being washed.

The Roomba Max 875 Combo will cost $1,199 and launch alongside the $899 Roomba Plus 678 Combo. The 678 Combo falls more into a midrange price segment, but it has plenty going for it. It comes with its own unique feature that iRobot calls SprayForce AI.

It uses 40,000 pascals of high-pressure water (not heated) to break up dried messes and improve mopping efficiency by 40%. The mop rollers come with 15 newtons of downward pressure and 30,000 pascals of suction for vacuuming, as well as the SealForce tech. Other capabilities are pretty similar, including automatic mop lifting (without the protector), antitangle and hair-cutting brushes, edge cleaning, lidar navigation and AI obstacle avoidance as well as a self-emptying and self-cleaning docking station.

Both the $1,199 Roomba Max 875 Combo Robot and AutoWash Dock and the $899 Roomba Plus 678 Combo Robot and AutoWash dock models are available now at iRobot.com.

Editor ’s note: Ajay Kumar’s travel costs for the IFA conference were covered by Roborock. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our own.

Ajay Kumar

Smart Home & Robotics Editor

CNET's Smart Home & Robotics Editor covering robot vacs, home appliances, smart home, and yard & outdoors. Built CNET's lab-exclusive testing methodology and lab awards. See full bio