If you already own a robot vacuum or robot mop, you know the deal: it’s great for daily upkeep, but it’s not always the fastest fix for the “I need this gone now” mess, like spilled coffee, sticky juice, or cat litter tracked across the floor. That’s why many homes wind up with two tools: a robot for maintenance and a wet-dry cleaner or handheld for spot jobs. At CES 2026, xLean Robotics is making the case that you only need one – the xLean TR1.
We first saw the xLean TR1 at IFA 2025 in Berlin, where the company introduced it as what it calls the world’s first dual-form, transformable floor-washing robot vacuum. The software has been updated since then, but the hardware remains the same practical idea. The TR1 switches between a full robot and a handheld cleaner in about a second, so it can handle everyday floor cleaning and those sudden, messy spills that usually send you reaching for a second device.
The pitch is refreshingly simple. Let the robot handle routine cleaning on its own, then grab the same device when something spills and deal with it immediately, without pulling out another appliance. You simply attach the handle to the top of the robot, and it instantly becomes a handheld floor cleaner.
Here at CES, xLean is showing off new performance claims, including the ability to clean heavy wet messes like cat litter mixed with soda in about 15 seconds, with up to 17,000Pa of suction and a claimed 99.99% pickup rate for liquid and mixed debris.
The company is also making a stronger case for its “self-evolving” intelligence. Instead of relying only on fixed cleaning routines, like most robot floor cleaners, the company says the TR1 learns over time using Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback. When you use it in handheld mode, it observes how you clean, where you focus, how many passes you make, and how you deal with obstacles. That information is then fed back into robot mode, with the goal of improving smoother obstacle avoidance, better stuck recovery, and smarter decisions about when and how to clean, rather than just following a preset map.
xLean is also showing off a more human-style approach to autonomous cleaning. The TR1 uses a built-in dirt sensor and an adaptive algorithm to adjust cleaning behavior in real time. Heavier messes trigger slower, deeper passes, while lighter dirt gets quicker coverage, more like how most people clean without thinking about it. xLean says this approach helps the robot clean more thoroughly while improving overall efficiency by about 50 percent, since it doesn't waste time scrubbing areas that are already clean.
All of that feeds into what xLean calls Robotic Hunting Mode. In this mode, the TR1 actively scans floors, identifies dirty areas like scattered pet debris or hidden messes, and targets those spots directly instead of treating the entire floor the same way. The goal is higher efficiency with less wasted movement and energy, and a robot that can clean effectively without being micromanaged.
What I like about the TR1 is that it goes after a problem robot vacuums still haven’t fully solved: convenience versus immediacy. Robots are great for routine cleaning or when you plan ahead, but real life doesn’t always wait for a scheduled cleaning. The detachable handheld design feels like a practical way to bridge that gap, especially for homes with pets, kids, or frequent kitchen spills. It’s easy to imagine this being the one cleaner you actually reach for when someone makes a mess.
As shown, the xLean could genuinely replace two tools: a robot mop for everyday floors and a separate cleaner for spot messes. That’s a compelling promise, and it’s exactly the kind of everyday problem I’d love to see a robot finally solve.
xLean lists an MSRP of $1,699 and is promoting early pricing as low as $949, with the shipping date to be set later. Learn more at xlean.ai.
[Image credit: Techlicious]
