(CNN) — In November 2014, Chantelle Darby awoke to an excrement-fueled nightmare. Her Roomba robot vacuum was set to run in the middle of the night, while she, her husband, and their dogs were asleep.

I’m all for encouraging more young people to enter STEM, to explore engineering and perhaps ultimately pursue a career in robotics. It’s a field whose importance will only grow with time, as more of ...

Many robot floor cleaners can vacuum and mop, some better than others. In my testing, I always had issues keeping my carpets from getting wet and swapping out the internal dirt bin for a water tank.

Back when iRobot released its Roomba Combo J7+, it introduced a retractable mopping arm that’s become a staple of its 2-in-1 robot vacuums. By automatically retracting to its resting position on top ...