I had the opportunity to get hands-on experience with Dyson’s latest robot floor cleaner, but it left me unimpressed. While Dyson’s traditional vacuums have set a high bar, their robotic counterparts haven’t quite matched up. Although I didn’t get to test its full capabilities or witness its stain-targeting feature in action, my initial interaction failed to convince me that Dyson has perfected the robotic vacuum technology.

The standout feature is its AI-driven stain detection. Though the terminology might seem buzzy, this function addresses a significant issue with robot mops – they often don’t clean as effectively as manual mopping. Utilizing onboard cameras to detect stains, the Spot+Scrub can “identify, react, check, and clean,” as per Dyson’s claims, employing green lasers to make the dirt visible for precise cleaning. This enables it to determine the type of stain, whether dry or wet, and clean accordingly, persisting until the stain is completely removed.

Many other robot vacuum mops, such as those from Narwal, iRobot, Ecovacs, and Dreame, boast similar “dirt detection” features, though with varying efficiency based on my evaluations. Dyson is confident that the Spot+Scrub stands out among them.

At Dyson’s event, James Dyson, the founder and chairman, expressed that current robot mops are “disappointing.” He noted that “a considerable amount of stains are left on floors,” asserting that their solution is superior as it continuously addresses detected stains until they vanish.

Besides stain detection, the Spot is designed to “spot” obstacles like socks and cables, aiming to avoid them successfully. Dyson has replaced its vision-based navigation with lidar, which should enhance the navigation problems experienced with its Vis Nav model.

The other big change is that the Spot+Scrub is round, a departure from the Vis Nav’s squared-off look. It has a decent 18,000 Pa of suction power, which peaks on carpet thanks to a built-in carpet sensor. Its super long, soft microfiber roller mop tackles the wet floor cleaning, extending out to clean along edges, and a combined rubber bristle brush sits behind the mop to help get up dry dirt. The roller mop raises when it encounters carpet to avoid getting your rugs damp, but it doesn’t have the extra protection of a cover that we’ve started to see on mopping bots. Dyson didn’t share pricing, but plans to launch in China later this year and the US in 2026.

My first impression seeing the Spot+Scrub in Dyson’s Berlin store this week was how big it is. The robot itself is about a third larger than the Vis Nav, and its dock is “hulking.” Part of the reason for that is the large roller mop it uses to wet clean. Roller mop bots are the hot new thing in robot vacuums, replacing spinning mop pads.

Ecovacs, Dreame, Eufy, and others have all rolled out roller mop models recently, the main advantage being that the mop can be cleaned while it runs, rather than having to head back to the base for a refresh. This requires a lot of onboard infrastructure, though, which is why they’re all so big. The Spot+Scrub is probably 4 inches tall (although I didn’t take out a tape measure), but there’s no lidar tower on top, so it may still make it under your couch.

The Spot+Scrub comes with Dyson’s first multifunction dock that automatically empties the robot’s bin, cleans and dries its mop, and refills and drains its water tanks. This is also very large, and while it has touches of the signature Dyson design, including some pops of red and purple, overall, neither it nor the robot itself looks that different from every other robo vac out there, which is disappointing.

The dock’s most interesting feature is the bagless dust container that can hold 2 liters of dirt. It’s a larger version of the Vis Nav’s onboard bin. To empty it, you pull it out, place it over a trash can, press a button, and the waste dumps out. While having to potentially deal with a bit of dust spillage while emptying isn’t ideal, it’s a fair tradeoff for not needing to buy separate bags, which is what most auto-empty docks use. Ecovacs’ latest robot vacuum, the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone, which also launched at IFA this week, has a similar dustbin solution.

The Spot+Scrub works with the redesigned MyDyson app, which I got a sneak peek at. It now shows the robot’s real-time cleaning progress, thanks to the addition of lidar navigation. From the app, you can schedule the robot and choose how it cleans: either vacuum, vacuum and mop simultaneously, just mop, or vacuum then mop.

The app also shows when the robot has identified a stain that it went back to clean, so you can check its work. Connectivity-wise, Dyson tells me Matter support is planned, which would allow the Spot+Scrub to connect to smart home platforms like Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home for voice control and other features.

So far, Dyson has failed to dazzle with its robot vacuums, despite having developed them since the 1990s. It’s one thing to build the world’s best vacuum; it’s quite another to create the world’s best robotic vacuum. While its Vis Nav had impressive cleaning power, its app, navigation, and overall experience were just okay.

My initial impressions of the Spot+Scrub are that it feels quite iterative, not the game-changing product you’d expect from Dyson. But if its stain-seeking and scrubbing feature really works as advertised, and it can properly navigate my house, then I’ll be impressed. I look forward to testing it.

Photos and video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge