Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

The iRobot Genius 4.0 update makes Roombas even smarter

Patrick Hearn
By

The iRobot Genius software is one of the guiding features behind why Roombas work so well. The latest update is live today and includes Imprint Smart Mapping for the Roomba i3 series, Siri commands, and clothing and towel detection for the Roomba j7 series.

The new Imprint Smart Mapping for Roomba i3 and i3+ allows users to make customizable Smart Maps of their homes. This means users can now ask Roomba to clean specific spaces within the home or set up schedules for specific rooms. The most impressive part isn’t the room-specific cleaning, though; it’s the ability to set up Room-Specific Cleaning Preferences.

Recommended Videos

For example, if one room tends to be dirtier than others (like the foyer and entryway versus an office), you can set the Roomba to focus on deeper cleans in those areas. The same applies to the Braava jet, too — you can ask it to dispense more cleaning solution in certain rooms, like the kitchen or bathroom, versus the hallway.

Related
iRobot Roomba i3 Plus cleaning a wooden floor.

The inclusion of Siri is also newsworthy, as this is the first time that Siri has worked with Roomba. There are more than 600 Alexa and Google Assistant commands, but the Siri command library is still on the smaller side. That said, it has Siri Shortcut Integration.

Other features include a Child and Pet Lock to prevent roving toddlers from accidentally pressing the start button atop the Roomba. Once this feature is activated, you’ll only be able to start the Roomba through the app until you deactivate the lock.

In addition, Genius 4.0 includes a Do Not Disturb mode that disables the Roomba and prevents it from running during specific windows of time. This means you never have to worry about it starting up while you’re asleep or in the middle of a meeting.

Finally, the last addition is increased object recognition. While the Roomba j7 and j7+ can already detect shoes, socks, headphones, and pet waste, Genius 4.0 adds two more items: Towels and clothing. The robot vacuum will avoid these items and clean around them. If you forget to tidy up ahead of time, you can rest assured the Roomba will still do a good job of cleaning, even if it misses a few spots because of things on the floor.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Patrick Hearn
Patrick Hearn
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Patrick Hearn writes about smart home technology like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, smart light bulbs, and more. If it's a…
Ecovacs launching robotic lawnmower, commercial floor-cleaning robots in 2023
The ECOVACS GOAT 1 mowing a lawn.

Ecovacs, a prominent name in the world of home service robots, is expanding its lineup with a robotic lawnmower and commercial floor cleaning robot. The two products are expected to arrive in China next year, although pricing and North American release dates are yet to be determined.

The robot lawnmower, Goat G1, is arguably the more interesting of the two, as it’s designed for both personal and commercial use. This will be the first robotic lawnmower from Ecovacs, although it builds on existing technology to offer a lawn-mowing experience that works much like a robot vacuum. After mapping out your yard with an accompanying smartphone app, the Goat G1 will go about cutting grass with centimeter-level precision, thanks to a 360-degree camera and the ability to scan 25 frames per second to avoid moving obstacles.

Read more
Oral-B’s iO4 and iO5, the latest in the smart toothbrush lineup, are finally available
The black iO5 toothbrush by Oral-B.

At CES 2022, Oral-B announced its newest and most affordable models in its smart, electric toothbrush lineup, the iO4 and iO5. Now those two toothbrushes are finally available for you to use.

The two models are similar in many ways and bring a host of features to your everyday cleaning rituals. For example, they both have a linear magnetic drive system that produces quiet and controlled micro-vibrations that affect the bristle tips. This system helps to keep the pressure on your teeth at a proper level.

Read more
The j7+ is iRobot’s first two-in-one vacuum and mop combo
The Roomba Combo j7+ mopping wood floors.

Robot vacuums have quickly become a key part of a connected smart home, and iRobot is giving customers a new, premium option with the Roomba Combo j7+ -- a robot vacuum that can both mop and vacuum without any additional user input, thanks to a retractable mophead that stows away when moving from hardwood to carpet.

This retractable mophead is what sets the j7+ apart from the competition. Most premium robot vacuums feature both mopping and vacuuming capabilities but require the user to swap out the mophead before letting it roll onto the carpet. With the Roomba Combo j7+, that’s all been automated. Not only can iRobot’s new product detect what type of surface it’s on but it can also raise its mop pad in the air to avoid saturating your carpet.

Read more