There's Finally a Robot Mop and Vacuum That Cleans Itself

Using a robotic vacuum and mop is preferable to cleaning floors yourself, but the most popular versions of such products still leave room for improvement. Narwal, an automated mop-and-vacuum hybrid raising money on Kickstarter, reimagines the old design by adding a self-cleaning station that makes homes cleaner and creates less work for you.

In addition to sucking up debris from floors, Narwal scrubs them clean. The device features two rounded mops that spin to remove tough stains and sop up liquids. While most robotic mops just spread dirty water around your home, the Narwal knows when it needs to be cleaned. Multiple times throughout a cleaning session, it returns to its station to be washed, rinsed, dried, and switch out its dirty water for fresh liquid. When it's done mopping, the bottom of the mop pads will be just as clean as your floors.

The Narwal system also boasts impressive technical features that make cleaning as hands-off as possible. Instead of programming a cleaning path every time you want to use it, Narwal remembers the map of your home and uses LIDAR to navigate around objects. You can also customize its cleaning style before assigning it to rooms that have different floor types or varying levels of dirt.

The self-cleaning robot vacuum and mop raised $100,000 in its first two hours on Kickstarter, greatly surpassing its initial $30,000 goal. Narwal is available for a pledge of $549 or more until the campaign ends on May 31, with shipping set for September.