DJI arriving in robot vacuums is a surprise in itself. The Romo P is the company's first, and it turns up with a navigation system well beyond the category norm and an enormous washing base — which is what explains a high launch price.
Overview
Until now you were more likely to find DJI in the drones section: the Air 3S, Mini 5 Pro and Mavic 3 all sit high in that field. Whether the same success translates to something as earthbound as a robot vacuum is the question, and the company has stacked the deck — the Romo P vacuums and washes the floor in a single pass using a pair of rotating mop pads.
To understand its surroundings it carries a highly sophisticated navigation system: camera, LiDAR, drop sensors and collision sensors. That should let it map a home precisely and avoid the obstacles domestic life scatters in its path — a sock, a toy, a cable.
As is now standard, it ships with a massive dock. That station empties the robot's bin, empties its dirty-water tank, cleans the mop pads, dries them and recharges the machine. DJI also promises 200 days of peace of mind from an exclusive waste-water deodorising system.
Design and first impressions
Among robot vacuums uniformly dressed in white, the Romo P stands slightly apart. The livery is familiar enough, but the top panel is completely transparent, showing the machine's insides — not unlike the rear covers of expensive supercars that like to display their engines. Instead of connecting rods and camshafts you get the waste collector, the suction circuit and the drive shafts for the mop pads.
The imposing base carries the same transparent treatment, revealing pipes and ducts, bags and tanks, aluminium plates and plastic grilles. Whether that appeals is a matter of taste, but it does not get in the way of handling: the dust bag and detergent bottles are reached by tipping the front flap, and the clean and dirty water tanks lift out of the back and drop straight back in.
Physical buttons are kept to a minimum — two on the robot, one to start or pause and one to send it home, with the base carrying a similar button plus an option to silence the voice prompts.
App and day-to-day usability
Pairing phone to robot is genuinely simple, which is not always true in this category, and the app is intuitive once running. Mapping the space takes only seconds and produces a map of very satisfying precision, on which you can split zones, merge them, flag a rug or a pet area, and set no-go zones.
From the home screen you see whether the robot is cleaning or docked, and if docked, whether maintenance is under way — washing or drying the pads — and how long it has left. Starting a session means choosing the service (vacuum and wash, vacuum only) and the intensity: suction power, water flow, and a navigation style of fast, standard or precise. Contextual bubbles mean you are never really lost.
Navigation: the star of the show
You would be tempted to credit DJI's drone expertise, because the navigation is genuinely effective. With LiDAR, camera, bumper and drop detection, it moves without ever getting lost, and it avoids obstacles well regardless of type — around a trainer, around a cable, no trouble.
It is not perfect. Flat objects it tends to ignore: a sock was swallowed without warning. A designer chair caused no difficulty, and sawdust spread under the seat and around the legs was properly picked up, which confirms it actually went there. It was not fooled by a curtain either.
Rugs need care, though. The robot struggles to climb from hard floor onto a rug, and sometimes drags the edge along with it. Removing the two circular pads is a good way to avoid that.
Vacuuming: the measured results
Performance is genuinely good, provided it is not on a long-pile rug.
On long-pile rug the rubber-bladed brush is simply not suited to the surface and suction is insufficient: 52 % of debris recovered in normal mode and 55 % in boost. On thin carpet it is far better, reaching 93 % normal and 95 % boost. On hard floors it collects 99 % in both modes. More passes will improve any of these.
The limit shows in the crevice test. Fine dust spread in the groove of a bar saw only 2 % recovered, and even in boost more than 95 % of it remained. Old floorboards will not be its natural territory — though few robots in the wider comparison fully satisfy on that test.
Maintenance and noise
Upkeep should not present serious problems, largely thanks to the base, which washes the pads automatically and empties the bin into a disposable dust bag — though that bag is barely recyclable, being several glued materials, paper with hard and soft plastic. The base's components are easy to reach and it is covered in stickers explaining what to do.
The robot is similar: pull the collector from the back to empty it, and the filter inside comes out easily for cleaning. The roller pair underneath detaches without difficulty, as do the two mop pads, held on by magnets.
One real annoyance: the side brushes need a screwdriver to remove. That is a poor decision given how readily hair tangles around them.
Noise is well contained. In normal mode it reaches 48 dB(A) and in boost 53 dB(A), so it will not greatly disturb anyone working from home, or a pet. The station is not much louder at 50 dB(A) during extraction, which is entirely bearable for the few minutes the process lasts.
Verdict
The Romo P is exactly what its specification suggests: a navigation showcase attached to a maintenance system that genuinely reduces the work of owning a robot vacuum. The mapping is fast and precise, obstacle avoidance is among the better implementations, the app is complete without being confusing, and the base handles the tedious parts.
What it does not have is suction power to match. Hard floors are handled comprehensively at 99 %, and thin carpet well at 93 to 95 %, but long-pile rugs and deep grooves defeat it, and no amount of navigation cleverness compensates for that.
Buy it for hard floors, easy maintenance and the navigation. Look elsewhere if your home is mostly deep carpet, or if ground-in stains are the problem you actually need solved.
