DJI’s ROMO 2 robot vacuum borrows drone smarts for the dirty work

DJI is not just a drone company anymore. Its latest move is a robot vacuum and mop called ROMO 2, and the pitch is exactly what you would expect from DJI: take the spatial sensing know-how from flying cameras and drop it into a machine that dodges cables, mops spills and cleans under furniture.

The company announced the global launch in a PR Newswire release dated 3 September 2026. DJI describes ROMO 2 as a premium smart cleaning system with “millimeter-level” obstacle sensing, a radar-adaptive 123-degree ultra-wide swing robotic arm, end-to-end AI cleaning intelligence and an advanced self-cleaning base station.

That is the primary claim from DJI. In plain English, the company says ROMO 2 can read the room, spot what kind of mess it is dealing with, then choose how to clean it.

According to DJI, the robot can distinguish debris from liquid, boost suction on carpets, lift mop pads when needed, re-mop areas and extend its arm to handle spills without spreading them. DJI also says it can avoid floor-level obstacles as thin as 2mm, including cables and pet training pads, and detect transparent obstacles such as glass and mirrors.

The arm is the showy bit. Secondary accounts from Frandroid and BTTR, both published on 3 and 4 September 2026 respectively, report the ROMO 2’s LiDAR-guided arm has a 123-degree swing and adds 7.8cm of reach. BTTR says it can mop 4.5cm deeper under furniture than the previous ROMO.

The cleaning numbers are big too. Frandroid’s review of the ROMO P2 model and BTTR’s report both cite up to 36,000 Pa of suction. Frandroid says DJI is offering ROMO 2 in P2 and A2 versions, with the P2 described as the more complete model. It also reports robotic legs that can cross obstacles up to 8.5cm, matching BTTR’s summary of 4cm single-step and 8.5cm double-step climbing.

The dock is designed to reduce the boring maintenance jobs. BTTR reports the base station uses four high-pressure water jets and a 16mm waste suction port, with DJI claiming up to 365 days without manual cleaning. BTTR also reports 55W fast charging, a full charge in 2.5 hours, and noise as low as 38 dBA while mopping.

Privacy gets a mention as well. BTTR says ROMO 2 will offer a Local Data Mode that cuts the DJI Home app’s internet connection so data does not sync to external servers. It also says users can disable the camera and microphone, and delete shared data. BTTR reports Local Data Mode is due later in the year.

For Australia, the key detail is price and availability. BTTR reports the DJI ROMO 2 is priced from $2899 and will be available from store.dji.com/au and authorised retail partners from September. DJI’s own supplied release is global, so that Australian availability detail comes from the secondary account, not the primary announcement.

Robot vacuums have been getting smarter for years. DJI’s bet is that its drone brain can make the floor cleaner less dumb. The claim is neat. The real test, as always, is whether it can handle real homes without turning every sock, cable and table leg into a drama.