The base station determines how independent your iRobot robot vacuum cleans. All robots charge automatically when they're empty. You can choose whether you want an automatic emptying station for your robot. If the dust cup of the robot is full, it'll drive itself back to the base station. It ends up in a closed vacuum cleaner bag here. The j9+ has the most extensive base station. This charges, empties the dust cup, and fills the water tank and cleaner. That way, you have to do the least amount of work.

iRobot robot vacuums can remove fine dust and stains from your floor with various mopping functions. The i5 and j5 robots have a interchangeable mop attachment. You can place this on the robot if you want the robot to wipe a wet cloth over your floor. The mop arm of the j7 and j9 robots move automatically. The mop is lifted up over carpet, so you don't have to set up separate cleaning routines for vacuuming and mopping. Because the mop moves back and forth, it removes dirt from your floor better.

Thanks to smart functions, iRobot robot vacuums clean better. These functions differ per product series. For example, the i5 robots don't have object detection. This means you first have to clear the floor before the robot can start driving around. You can set up the j5 and j7 models more precisely because you can choose cleaning zones and no-mopping zones, for example. A j9 has the most smart functions. For instance, it cleans more often if a room gets dirty faster.