IFA 2026: Roomba Max 875 adds a carpet-sealing skirt

iRobot is bringing its first new flagship robot vacuum in years to IFA 2026, where it announced and showed the Roomba Max 875 Combo and Roomba Plus 678 Combo in Berlin. The company says both models are available now through iRobot’s website, priced at $1,199 and $899, respectively.

The launch is also iRobot’s first major trade-show appearance under Picea Robotics, the contract manufacturer that bought the American robot-vacuum company out of bankruptcy in January. iRobot is exhibiting at IFA from September 4–8, 2026.

The main change is called SealForce. When the robot detects carpet, a skirt lowers around the cleaning head to create a tighter seal against the floor. The seal is intended to direct more of the blower’s airflow into carpet rather than letting it escape around the head.

The system is paired with a vane-type blower motor rated at 20 liters per second of airflow in the Max 875. iRobot says the combination produces three times deeper carpet cleaning than the same vacuum without SealForce. That is a company claim; the supplied material does not include independent carpet-cleaning test results or the conditions behind the comparison.

“To a level beyond what’s previously been possible.”

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How the two new Roombas differ

The Max 875 is iRobot’s most powerful published vacuum yet, with a rated 35,000 Pa of suction. The company historically avoided publishing detailed suction figures, so the number is useful for specification comparisons, but it does not by itself establish real-world cleaning performance.

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Both robots use lidar and camera-based vision for navigation and obstacle detection. The 875 has a slimmer footprint than the Roomba 775 and can cross thresholds up to 3.5 centimeters high. Unlike iRobot’s familiar dual-roller design, it uses a single rubber brush. Pope said the change accommodates the tighter carpet seal; it also creates a trade-off for users who prefer dual rollers for picking up pet hair.

The 875's mop is a self-cleaning roller design with more downward pressure than the one in the Roomba 775. It can extend sideways for edge cleaning, and a retractable cover shields carpet during vacuuming. iRobot also added ThermaMist, which sprays heated mist ahead of the mop to pretreat stains.

A new hair-cutting anti-tangle main brush and an anti-tangle side brush address hair buildup mechanically. After cleaning, the included dock empties the robot’s bin, washes the mop with hot water and dries it with hot air.

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The $899 Roomba Plus 678 retains SealForce and the extending roller mop but reduces the blower specification to 30,000 Pa of suction and 18 L/s of airflow. It lacks ThermaMist and the retractable mop cover. Instead, its SprayForce system applies cleaning fluid to a stain, then returns later to mop the pretreated area.

The 678 also lifts its mop 10mm when it detects carpet. That is a simpler carpet-protection mechanism than the 875's cover, and the source material does not say whether the two robots use the same carpet-detection behavior beyond their stated ability to detect carpet.

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iRobot is borrowing a proven high-end approach

SealForce is new to iRobot, but the underlying idea is not new to robot vacuums. The Narwal Flow 2 and Dreame X60 Max Ultra are named as examples of current flagships using variations of a sealing system that improves airflow against carpet.

The 875's main hardware change is therefore an attempt to close a performance gap rather than a wholly new category feature. iRobot is combining the seal with features specific to this launch—heated-mist pretreatment, a hair-cutting brush and a side-extending roller mop—but the material does not provide comparative benchmark results against Narwal or Dreame.

The design shows where iRobot has directed its engineering effort. A tighter cleaning-head seal can improve airflow delivery at the carpet, but it requires a moving skirt and carpet detection. The 875's switch from dual rubber rollers to a single brush is another consequence of fitting the sealing mechanism, according to iRobot’s chief engineer. Buyers who care more about pet-hair pickup than the company’s carpet-depth claim will have to weigh that design change themselves; no independent testing is supplied here.

Both models support Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Siri Shortcuts. iRobot said they were still going through Matter certification, so Matter support should not be treated as available functionality at launch. The company has not provided a completion date for that certification.

The new products arrive as iRobot returns to a major public hardware event after years away and begins operating under Picea Robotics' ownership. The company’s earlier IFA 2026 announcement focused on automated floor washers, cordless vacuums and carpet cleaners shows the trade show’s focus on less hands-on floor care. iRobot’s pitch is narrower: make a conventional robot vacuum work harder on carpet without adding legs or articulated arms.

The two Roombas are listed as available now in the United States, but the three-times-deeper carpet-cleaning claim has not been independently demonstrated in the supplied reporting. SealForce’s real advantage, rather than its feature list, remains unresolved for a $1,199 purchase.