Of all the businesses that might have launched a robotic vacuum in 2025, I didn’t have DJI within the operating — however right here we’re. The drone and digital camera producer launched the DJI Romo robovac in Europe at this time, following its China debut this summer season. The Romo is a combo robotic vacuum and mop with a twist — it’s clear. However, sadly, it may well’t fly. As a substitute, DJI has channeled its navigation experience right into a bot that stays firmly on the bottom.
I received a sneak peek on the see-through sucker on the IFA commerce present in September. Whereas I didn’t get to see it in motion within the tiny room behind DJI’s large sales space, I did get to take a look at the {hardware} — and there’s some fascinating tech right here.
The Romo is available in three fashions: the flagship, totally clear Romo P, which begins at €1,899 (round $2,200); the Romo A, which pairs a clear robotic with an opaque white base, for €1,599 (round $1,700), and the all-white Romo S, priced at €1,299 (round $1,500). All three are actually out there in Europe at retailer.dji.com.
Specs-wise, the three are almost equivalent (see chart). The P’s dock provides a couple of extras, however principally you’re paying that €300 for the cool issue of the clear tech.
Whereas I like a very good piece of clear tech as a lot as the subsequent gadget nerd, I’m skeptical as to how good it will look in your front room after six months of laborious work cleansing your flooring. Nonetheless, as a robotic vacuum reviewer, it was neat to get to see contained in the vacuum and the dock.
That mentioned, this can be a very costly vacuum for its specs — and seeing inside your vacuum has been achieved already (thanks, Dyson). Apart from navigation (extra on that in a bit), the Romo line is similar to Roborock’s cheaper Qrevo Curv collection. The curved base stations have an identical design, and the bots have the identical break up curler brush that funnels hair into the middle to be sucked away, together with an extendable facet brush for reaching into corners.
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Additionally they share the identical dual-spinning mop pad design, and each can acknowledge carpet and carry the mops to keep away from mopping it. The Romos provide increased suction energy — 25,000Pa — than the Curvs, together with a bigger, 164ml onboard water tank, which implies the bot received’t have to return to the dock as typically to refill.
The mannequin I noticed at IFA was the Romo P, and whereas the general design resembles the Curv, each the bottom station and the robotic itself are larger, heavier, and considerably taller — the higher to accommodate all its navigation tech. That is the place DJI’s experience clearly comes into play. The robotic makes use of a mix of twin fish-eye imaginative and prescient sensors and wide-angle dual-transmitter solid-state lidar, expertise derived from its flagship drones.
Based on DJI, this permits “millimeter-level impediment sensing expertise” that, mixed with machine studying, permits the Romo to detect objects as skinny as a 2mm charging cable or perhaps a taking part in card. That ought to imply it may well navigate your own home successfully with out getting tripped up by frequent objects like cords and socks.
The Romo can detect objects as skinny as a 2mm charging cable or perhaps a taking part in card
Whereas most flagship robovacs have top-notch impediment detection tech, this appears like a major step up. Roborock’s flagship StarSight navigation system on its top-of-the-line fashions can solely determine objects as small as 2cm by 2cm.
I’ve examined quite a lot of robotic vacuums and located that these with cameras are a lot better navigators, and the mixture of lidar and imaginative and prescient sensors within the Romo seems to be promising.
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The Romo’s self-cleaning base station additionally has a couple of distinctive options, together with a slot for a “flooring deodorizer answer” alongside the usual cleansing answer within the P mannequin. This offers you the choice to make the flooring odor good after vacuuming reasonably than doing a full mop with cleansing answer, which is a pleasant improve. It additionally incorporates a high-pressure jet system to wash the mop pads, together with sizzling air for drying.
One other neat design reduces the noise degree. DJI says the dock has a sound-suppression system with lengthy muffler ducts and muffler chambers that dampen the very loud screeching noise frequent in self-emptying stations by 80 %, to simply 65 decibels. You may see these via the clear paneling on the P mannequin, which could be very cool. However I keep that I want to see one once more in six months’ time earlier than deciding if see-through is a brilliant design alternative or a transparent mistake.
The Romo doesn’t have a US launch date, however we plan to check the European mannequin and observe up with a full assessment.
Images by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge
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