DJI Romo P Review: Drone Tech Meets Robot Vacuum (Worth Buying?)
DJI's Romo P brings drone tech to the floor, but is it ready for your home? Read our review on its hardware pros, software bugs, and best alternatives.
By Team Gimmie
Updated August 27, 2026
FROM THE SKIES TO THE LIVING ROOM: IS DJI’S ROMO P READY FOR PRIME TIME?
DJI is the undisputed king of the air. If you see a drone capturing a cinematic sweep of a mountain range or a high-speed chase, there is a very high probability it has DJI’s hardware and flight-stabilization software inside it. So, when the company announced it was bringing its obstacle-avoidance expertise down to earth with its first robot vacuum, the Romo P, the tech world leaned in. We expected a device that could navigate a cluttered living room with the same grace a Mavic Pro navigates a forest.
Instead, early testing suggests DJI might be experiencing some turbulence on the ground. While the Romo P is packed with the kind of high-end specs that make a tech enthusiast’s heart race, it currently suffers from a fundamental flaw: you simply cannot trust it to do its job while you are out of the room. For a device whose entire value proposition is autonomy, that is a significant hurdle to clear.
THE BRAINS BEHIND THE BRUSHES: WHY THE TRUST IS MISSING
On paper, the DJI Romo P is a beast. It features a self-cleaning base station that empties dust and washes mop pads, high-performance suction, and the kind of LiDAR navigation you would expect from a company that mastered spatial awareness in three dimensions. However, as robot vacuum expert Jen Tuohy and other early reviewers have noted, the translation from air to floor has been rocky.
The "trust issue" isn't about the hardware—the Romo P is built like a tank and cleans effectively when it’s actually moving. The problem lies in the software. Early units have been plagued by navigation "hallucinations." We are seeing reports of the vacuum getting trapped in wide-open spaces, failing to recognize transitions between hard floors and carpets, and occasionally losing its map entirely.
In the drone world, a software glitch means a crash. In the vacuum world, it means you come home to find the robot spinning in a dark corner of the dining room while your kitchen floor remains covered in crumbs. For a premium product, this level of babysitting is a dealbreaker. DJI has built its reputation on reliability in high-stakes environments; seeing them struggle with the 2D layout of a standard apartment is a surprising twist.
