Samsung announces its new AI robot vacuum – and it can mop, steam and talk to your family

Samsung has unveiled a new range of home appliances with AI built into them. The 'Bespoke AI' range is designed to learn patterns in user behavior to then automatically optimize its own performance while recommending improved settings.

The line-up includes large appliances like fridges/freezers and washing machines, as well as cleaning tools like a cordless stick vacuum and a robot. 

At the Samsung Home Launch Event, the Jet Bot Combo caught a particular amount of attention thanks to a few surprising features we wouldn't normally expect from a robot vacuum cleaner.

What is the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo?

The Jet Bot Combo looks and sounds like an impressive robot. It's effectively a vacuum that can also mop and steam-clean floors by itself. Steam sterilization is a feature rarely found across robot vacuums, so it will no doubt be a big advancement for automated home cleaning.

Thanks to its AI capabilities, the Jet Bot Combo can drop the mops in the cleaning station while it vacuums the house and then mop only the non-carpet or rug areas when it's done. If it detects a tough stain, Samsung claims it can go back to the station, attach the mops, heat them with high-temperature steam and water, and then tackle the mess.

Like most robot vacs, it empties by itself into the cleaning station. But where the Jet Bot Combo stands out is in its ability to be self-sufficient for up to 2 months with two tanks for water: one for clean water and one for dirty water.

This'll likely be a savior for large, busy households that often see messes and spills, where frequently picking up the vacuum and mop isn't always an option.

This AI robot vacuum can interact with your family

But the Jet Bot Combo can do more than cleaning. Unlike any other robot vacuum, it has a camera for home monitoring, and you can record messages for remote communication with people at home. 

At the event, the Samsung product trainers explained that you can use this function to ensure your kids get out of bed when you're not in. You can remotely send the robot to specific rooms in the house, where it will relay whatever messages you've pre-recorded for them. 

The Jet Bot Combo also has audio and motion detection so that you know, in real-time, whether the kids really did get up. You could also use this feature to check on elderly family members or even for home security, but any remote viewing in a break-in would likely be limited from a robot vacuum cleaner.

While Samsung's announcements showcase impressive developments in combining AI with home tech, they do raise the question of whether some of these features are necessary. A robot that can tell a family member to wake up relies on the robot first of all being upstairs, and once you consider the speed at which robot vacuums travel, it could easily be achieved with a text or phone call. And with a phone call you can at least say more than pre-recorded messages. 

Audio and motion detection could become helpful in certain scenarios but, considering how much this will have contributed to the overall cost, it largely seems like a feature that'll be under-utilized most of the time.

That said, the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo's cleaning power sounds like it could be one of the best we've seen in a robot vacuum so far. We'll test it once it's available to see for ourselves.

Once released, the Jet Bot Combo could potentially be one of the best robot vacuums available. AI is becoming more commonly seen in our appliances, and hopefully, it'll make our home maintenance even easier as time goes on.