The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us? I tested the world's smallest robot vacuum in my busy family home – here's how it coped. Does its neat size mean you have to compromise on cleaning power? I put it to the test to find out.
Sabrina Sahota Deputy IndyBest Editor Tuesday 24 March 2026 12:47 GMT
The docking station on the Roomba mini is just 21cm wide. Robot vacuums have come a long way since iRobot released its first Roomba model back in 2002. There are now countless models on the market that incorporate technology from laser-guided navigation to mopping, self-emptying docking stations and more. iRobot is going one step further to stand out from the crowd with the release of what it's claiming is the world's smallest robot vacuum, the iRobot Roomba mini, and I've put it to the test in my busy family home.
Design and Setup
As an appliance expert, I've tested my fair share of robot vacuums, so I know how enormous some of them can be. I've witnessed many cram themselves into tight spaces and struggled to find a spot in the home for bulky docking stations, particularly those with dual compartments for mopping fluid and emptied dust, which often require a meter or so of clearance either side. The Roomba mini has a diameter of just 24cm, with a docking station that's 21cm wide, so it's perfect for studios or one-bedroom flats where space is at a premium. It's certainly tiny in comparison to other robot vacuums out there, but does its neat size mean you have to compromise on cleaning power? Keep reading to find out how it fared in my busy family home.
How I Tested
I set up the Roomba mini in my house for a few weeks to see how it performed. I ditched my trusty cordless vacuum for a few weeks and let the Roomba mini loose on the open-plan ground floor of my house. I tested its vacuuming and mopping functions across my kitchen, living room, dining area, hallway and home office, assessing how effectively it cleaned, how easy it was to use, and how it coped with obstacles such as furniture and wires. Keep reading for my full, in-depth testing criteria.
Cleaning Performance
If I'm honest, I was sceptical that such a small robot vacuum would have the cleaning power to tackle the dirt and dust in the busiest areas of my four-person household. However, when I put it to the test, I was genuinely impressed at its ability to suck up fine and large debris with little issue. When I sent it to clean flour that had fallen on my kitchen floor after making bread, it picked it up with ease. Some robot vacuum brushes have a tendency to just fling fine dirt away, but the brush on the Roomba mini mostly guided the fine dirt into the path of the robot, and before I knew it, my tiled kitchen floor was left sparkling again.
Robot vacuums can often struggle on carpet, but the Roomba mini was as effective on the one carpeted area of my house. However, it was noticeably louder when going across carpets and rugs. A word of caution – keep the Roomba mini off thick pile rugs. When it went over one in my living room, the brush got tangled in the rug pile. When I tried to free it, the silicone arm of the brush broke off. With this in mind, I would have appreciated an extra brush in the box or one that's more durable.
Navigation and Obstacles
The floor coverage of the Roomba mini is excellent. It starts by cleaning the edges of the room and then goes in for a second clean to cover the centre, rarely missing any spots as it goes. As with most circular robot vacuums, it's not as effective at reaching dirt that's really embedded into the edges of a room. However, its brush did a good job at sweeping large bits of dirt out of the edges and putting it in the path of the vacuum.
It avoids most obstacles and manages to clean around furniture with ease. The benefit of its compact size is that it can manoeuvre into tight spaces, where most standard robot vacuums would struggle to fit. It even managed to vacuum between the legs of my office chair without getting itself into a jam. On the odd occasion where it did get stuck, for example on the base of a kitchen stool, it pushed itself off without me having to intervene. There was also only one instance during testing where it failed to return back to the docking station, and I had to step in.
The only object the Roomba mini is not so good at avoiding is wires, which I learnt the hard way when it got caught in a tangle of cables under my desk. Fortunately, exclusion zones are easy to precisely set, and the Roomba mini abides by them.
Mopping Feature
The mopping feature on the Roomba mini works with mop pads, unlike some robot vacuums that have an on-board container that holds a mopping solution. The mop pad is easy to attach by following the picture instructions, and it picked up a fair bit of dust and dirt when I tried it out. However, compared to my trusty, budget-friendly Flash mop, the Roomba mini left noticeable streaks on my tiled floor. It's also a bit more hands-on than pricier robot vacuums where the mop pad is always attached and the pads are dried.
It's also important to note that, once you attach the mop pad, this disables the vacuuming mode. If you're looking for a decent robot vacuum and mop hybrid, I'd go for our best two-in-one robot vacuum instead, the Roborock saros 10.
Battery Life and Noise
As the Roomba mini is smaller than most robot vacuums, the battery does drain quite quickly. When I set it to clean all five rooms on the ground floor of my house, it managed to clean three of these rooms before the battery depleted to 21 per cent. When the battery reaches this point, it automatically returns to the docking station and then resumes cleaning once it has sufficiently charged, which took a couple of hours.
Keep in mind that every time the Roomba mini docks, it empties any dirt that it collected into the docking station. While this is handy, it's incredibly loud when it does so, almost akin to a plane taking off inside your house. It would almost certainly disturb anyone that's asleep or on a work call.
Is the iRobot Roomba Mini Worth It?
If you're short on space, then the Roomba mini is a reliable, easy-to-use option that won't set you back a fortune. Whether you've got hard floors or carpet, it tackles different types of dirt with ease, has excellent floor coverage, and hard-to-fault obstacle detection. It does have its limitations, for example, it struggles with wires, thick pile rugs, and the mop function is pretty mediocre, so I won't be getting rid of my cordless vacuum and mop just yet.
However, it's certainly made those mid-week quick cleans a lot easier, especially thanks to the simple and intuitive Roomba Home app that lets you tailor your cleaning schedules and zones.
Why You Can Trust IndyBest Reviews
Sabrina Sahota is IndyBest's deputy editor and has more than five years of experience testing home appliances, from hot chocolate makers and stand mixers to robot vacuums and air fryers, so she knows when premium gadgets are truly worth their price tag. She's tested a wide range of budget and premium robot vacuums over the years, so is well placed to tell you if iRobot's Roomba mini is worth a look. The wider IndyBest team has also tested a huge array of vacuum cleaners from corded models to the best pet vacuums, so we are experts in finding the best tools to keep your home spick-and-span.
