Dyson Spot+Scrub AI robot vacuum with laser stain detection now available for $1,199

Dyson's new stain-spotting AI robovac is now available

Dyson's latest autonomous robot vacuum cleaner first debuted during IFA 2025 in Berlin last September. The Spot+Scrub Ai Robot is the company's follow-up to its 360 Vis Nav robovac launched in 2023 with upgrades that include a new self-cleaning roller mop, a multifunction dock, and lasers that can identify stains. It's available now for $1,199 through Dyson's physical stores and website -- which is the same price as its less capable predecessor. Dyson has abandoned the vision-based navigation system used on its earlier robovacs for lidar on the Spot+Scrub. It works alongside AI to recognize and avoid obstacles like socks and wires and uses green lasers to identify stains and determine when they've been properly cleaned. The Spot+Scrub's roller mop is cleaned as the robovac roams your home, and it can extend by 1.6 inches to clean closer to walls and the edges of furniture. The included dock drains and refills the Spot+Scrub's water tanks, empties its dirt bin without the use of replaceable bags, and thoroughly cleans the roller mop during a charge. But The Verge's Jennifer Pattison Tuohy found the dock to be very large during a hands-on look at the Spot+Scrub last year, while it and the vacuum also lacked Dyson's signature design. The company's robovacs haven't been anywhere near as impressive as Dyson's vacuums so far, but The Verge will be reviewing the Spot+Scrub to see if that has changed.

Dyson's new AI robot vacuum uses lasers to spot all the disgusting messes on your floor

The best robot vacuums seem to undergo substantial evolution every couple of years, and Dyson seems to be at the forefront of the latest shift. The company's new Spot+Scrub AI robot vacuum features lasers that help it detect stains and clean them. After making the media rounds, including our Spot+Scrub Ai review, it's available to buy from popular retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and even Dyson's website. While the most exciting aspect is the fancy laser, Dyson also included some useful features like a new self-cleaning roller mop (something we've seen on other robot vacuums like the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Omni) and a multifunction dock. We gave the new Dyson robot vacuum a 4-star rating, but it wasn't available to purchase at the time. Now that you can actually take the vacuum home, it's worth grabbing if you're looking for a high-end option to clean your home. One of the things we really liked was how hard it worked on dried-on stains. A lot of robot vacuums will make a single pass over stains and be none the wiser. With Dyson's new offering being "aware" of stains, it will keep going back and working on them until they're as close to completely removed as possible. It uses AI to recognize and avoid obstacles like socks and wires. If you've used a robot vacuum, you know they love to suck up wires, so one that promises to avoid the pitfalls of cord-eating sounds exciting. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds.

Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai robot vacuum first impressions: Not exactly the comeback story Dyson needed

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. Dyson had nowhere to go but up after its last robot vacuum. You don't even need to test the new Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai to already know that it completely dunks on the 2024 Dyson 360 Vis Nav any way you dice it. Still, as the third Dyson robot vacuum attempt after two flop releases, there's a lot riding on the Spot+Scrub Ai's success. If it sells well, that means the 360 Vis Nav truly was just a fluke. But if the Spot+Scrub Ai can't compete with the best robot vacuums of 2026 from other brands, perhaps it's time to accept that we don't always need to force the "stick vacuum brand to robot vacuum brand" pipeline. For the past few days, I've been trying the Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai at home against top flagship Roborock and Dreame models. My first impressions are up and down so far, taking me from cheering to cursing in the span of a few minutes. Let's discuss. I had been manifesting a robot vacuum with a laser since trying my first Dyson stick vacuum with a laser in 2022, so the dust-illuminating green light is easily the Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai's biggest talking point. The green light works together with AI to help the Spot+Scrub Ai find hidden stains and microscopic debris, decipher between wet and dry messes, and then adjust cleaning accordingly. Unlike many other robot vacuums, which just make a set number of passes in the specified zone or room, the Spot+Scrub Ai double-checks each spot before moving on and goes back again if necessary. The rest of the Spot+Scrub Ai's upgrades seem huge compared to the 360 Vis Nav, but were long overdue compared to the rest of the robot vacuum market. The Spot+Scrub Ai isn't just Dyson's first roller mop robot vacuum -- it's the first Dyson robot vacuum that mops at all. In classic roller mop robot vacuum fashion, the roller gets rinsed in real time to ensure that every inch of floor is being scrubbed with a clean pad. It's much less common to find a robot vacuum and mop combo that actually mops with warm water for more efficient stain breakdown, but the Spot+Scrub Ai does. (Most only wash the mop with hot water, but clean with room temperature.) The Spot+Scrub Ai also finally adds a self-emptying dock (those have been ubiquitous for half a decade), and washes and dries the roller mop. An AI-powered HD camera brings small obstacle avoidance technology to the Spot+Scrub Ai's resume, but it doesn't send or record images (so no livestream pet camera). For general vibe and decor purposes, I can't say that I'm thrilled with the look of the dock. The three canister situation is bulky (just like the robovac itself) and unnecessarily industrial. But if you think this design is loud, just wait until you hear the self-emptying noise. FWIW, I do appreciate the built-in detergent tank and bagless dustbin. Despite so many new features, Dyson surprisingly didn't hike the price from the 360 Vis Nav. The Spot+Scrub Ai costs $1,199.99, matching the debut price of the 360 Vis Nav when it came out in 2024. I'm glad that Dyson realized that the 360 Vis Nav was comically overpriced, which is probably why it's not hard to find it on sale for more than 60 percent off. The Spot+Scrub Ai started out by acing several of my standard litter box cleaning tests for all robot vacuums. I have an uncovered self-emptying litter box (crystal litter) in the bathroom and a Litter-Robot Evo (clumping grass seed litter) in the kitchen. Both areas get pretty covered in tracked litter after even a day, but I pour extra on the floor for the initial test. The Spot+Scrub Ai finished with about 98 percent debris and dust pickup of each litter type, spinning around to use the laser to check for lingering particles before officially marking the area as complete. Though the Spot+Scrub Ai is round (not D-shaped like 360 Vis Nav), the roller mop doesn't shy away from wall edges. I watched it scoot right up against baseboards, the open laundry closet door, and the washing machine. It even hugged the toilet as well as I could hope for in such a tight area. The first wet spill obstacle course included splatters of chunky salsa and a red wine spill on hardwood. The Spot+Scrub Ai bodied the salsa, picking up a surprising amount on the first pass. It turned around and came back the other way to grab the few chunks that were flicked out of the way at first. Overall, the Spot+Scrub Ai+ had to have made about five passes over the same spot of hardwood floor after I assume it noticed that some salsa, a piece of dry cat food, or a speck of litter was left behind. In the app, you can follow along on the map to see where a stain has been detected. That part had me cheering out loud. But that level of precision was missing when the botvac approached the spilled red wine. It wasn't the actual roller mop that blundered this spill, but the two spinning side brushes that are typically associated with dry debris. The Spot+Scrub Ai's whole ethos is using artificial intelligence to clean on its toes, right? There's been so much hype surrounding the joint slay of the AI camera and green light to make tweaks to cleaning in the moment -- to the point that they straight up included it in the title of the vacuum. So I feel like it's valid to assume that the Spot+Scrub Ai is smart enough to not make a mess worse. If it sees a puddle in the path ahead, wouldn't it make sense to pause the spinning dry brushes so that they don't further slosh the spill around? Instead, I witnessed the Spot+Scrub Ai drive right over the spill with side brushes spinning full speed ahead, spattering wine in the vicinity on the floor as well as all over the underside of the vacuum. (Liquid seeping into the interior parts is a recipe for your robot vacuum to stop working.) Those side brushes, now soaked in wine and salsa, don't get washed in the dock like the actual roller mop does. You can imagine my surprise when I heard the "cleaning complete" announcement, just to look down and see the abandoned puddle smeared to the corner of my kitchen Ruggable, plus a pile of spilled protein powder on the rug completely ignored. Dyson claims that the Spot+Scrub Ai relies on photographic evidence of mess removal before heading back to the dock. How was this missed? And what if the rug wasn't machine washable? Mopping fail aside, I have a few other concerns with the Spot+Scrub Ai. While I've accepted that roller mop robot vacuums are the tallest type of robot vacuum mop combo, the Spot+Scrub Ai is so thick and cumbersome that it limits the reach of the fancy AI cleaning features. It doesn't fit under the Litter-Robot step where a ton of litter gathers, whereas the ultra-slim Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete smoothly slides under with several inches to give. The Spot+Scrub Ai kept getting stuck under my kitchen cabinets, battling with this drawer for a minute straight. Similarly, the Spot+Scrub Ai ended up scraping some gross brown gunk off the bottom of the dishwasher because the squeeze was that tight. I'm also wondering if the Spot+Scrub's weight contributes to its struggles to lift safely over rug corners. The Spot+Scrub Ai has displayed mediocre rug and carpet performance so far. It did a satisfactory job with cat hair in the living room, but left behind more than a few sprinkles and tortilla chip crumbs on the same rug. Its 18,000 Pa suction power is a tad low for a $1,199.99 robot vacuum. I can't help but compare it to the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow, my current favorite roller mop robot vacuum. It costs $999.99 (as low as $849.99 on sale) and has 20,000 Pa suction. No, the Curv 2 Flow doesn't have the laser feature. If you're really sold on the laser and roller mop aspects, I have a better way for you to spend $1,199.99 on a vacuum setup: Spend $599.99 on the Eufy C28 robot vacuum (15,000 Pa) and $599.99 on the awesome Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones instead. Dyson baked a lot of customizable settings into the Spot+Scrub Ai's app, so I'm open to the possibility of cleaning and navigation getting better as we both make adjustments over time. But for now, I'm not sure that the Spot+Scrub Ai is the comeback story that Dyson needed in this market.