Scooba Wins Good Housekeeping Seal

If you were worried the Scooba mopping robot might not be up to snuff, fear not: it just earned the Good Housekeeping Seal of approval.

Well, you knew it had to happen someday: now household robots are getting the Good HousekeepingSeal.

iRobot’s floor-mopping Scooba is the latest (and only the second) household robot to earn the coveted award; iRobot’s sweeping robot Roomba previously took home Good Housekeeping honors.

“People are changing the way they clean their floors,” said Greg White, executive vice president and general manager, iRobot. “Today they turn on the Scooba and dishwasher after dinner, put their kids to bed and return to find clean floors and dishes. The Good Housekeeping Seal underscores the fact that Scooba really helps maintain a cleaner floor.”

Roomba and Scooba are earning accolades as the first robots most consumers interact with on a regular basis. Although they do require some adjustments to daily routine and don’t necessarily do as good a job as a top-notch housecleaner, the robots essentially do what they’re supposed to, on their own, without any real intervention from their operators. As the Good Housekeeping Seal implies, they perform as promised and meet consumers’ expectations of a household robot.

On the upside, they may also provide hours of entertainment for pets.