The Roomba robot maker is replacing its Scooba 380 with the 390, a longer-lived floor cleaner with a simplified design. Like previous Scooba models, it can clean sealed hardwood floors, tile, and linoleum surfaces.
Its power management system ensures the machine's battery will operate for 30 percent longer than earlier models, according to iRobot. As with the 380, it can clean 850 square feet per battery charge.
Design improvements include color-coding for parts that users have to maintain, such as the tank, cleaning head, and brush. The device's handle latch is now easier to open.
The 390 can be limited to certain areas of your home with iRobot's Virtual Wall barriers, and will also automatically avoid drop-offs at the top of a flight of stairs. You can see more 300 series behaviors in the PR vid below.
The bot washes floors with a four-stage process, first prepping surfaces, then washing, scrubbing, and finally squeegeeing.
The Scooba 390 is 14.8 inches across and weighs 8.6 pounds. It goes on sale today for $499.99 at iRobot. Its younger brother, the Scooba 230, will remain in the product lineup as the best model for tight spaces such as around toilets.
iRobot, which has sold over 7.5 million home cleaning robots to date including the popular Roomba vacuum, also said it will now offer the Scooba 230 scrubber to markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.
One more sign that robots are conquering the world.

CNET