(credit: Valentina Palladino)

Roombas get a lot of attention for their ability to easily and autonomously suck up dirt, dust, pet hair, and anything else that might be infiltrating your carpet. While you can use Roomba vacuums on hardwood floors, they can’t handle cleaning up liquids or really scrubbing hard surfaces. iRobot announced its newest device today that addresses this issue: the Braava Jet Mopping Robot. iRobot has other hard surface-friendly devices including another Braava, but its hoping the tiny Braava Jet will make the case for robotic cleaning devices to folks who live in tighter quarters.

iRobot developed the Braava Jet by going to those most knowledgable about robot vacuums: current Roomba users. The company asked users where they felt their robo-vacuums could improve, and it found that while Roombas basically solved the issue of cleaning carpet around the home, users still had to mop hardwood and tile floors, specifically those in their kitchens and bathrooms. Also, hardwood is becoming the default flooring choice for new homes.

iRobot’s answer to these concerns is the Braava Jet. The tiny square robot is designed to get into tight corners of rooms and smaller spaces, and it’s easy to use since it has just one button on its top that’s used to start and stop the device. iRobot told us there was temptation to connect the Braava Jet to a smartphone app, like the Roomba 980 that was launched last year, but the company decided against it for two reasons: simplicity and price. The Braava Jet was designed to be as user-friendly as possible, and it’s also iRobot’s most affordable robo-vac at $ 199.