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Eileen Brown is a social business consultant who has been working with collaborative technologies for 20 years. Eileen creates the social business, energises communities and ignites social commerce and social CRM.

Ecovacs continues to innovate with its range of robot vacuums and its latest offering is no exception.

It has recently launched its Deebot Ozmo T8 robot vacuum – a multi-function mopping and sweeping robot. But this robot comes with some very useful accessories to elevate this robot into a very versatile home cleaning machine.

The Ozmo T8 itself is a nice robot vacuum. Similar in size to the Ozmo T8 AIVI I looked at earlier this year, this robot uses TrueDetect 3D sensor for obstacle avoidance.

It and will clean around items like a pair of shoes and does not push them into the side of the room. There are two side brushes which sweeps everything in its path into the main brush area.

The mopping module water reservoir is situated at the rear of the Ozmo T8. To use the mopping feature, attach the mopping cloth to the bottom of the reservoir and set the water levels to the bottom of the unit.

You can set the water flow level to one of four settings in the app. Usefully, when in mopping mode, the robot will skirt around rugs and carpeted area so that only hard floors are mopped. The 240mL water tank will mop over 2,000 square feet on the lowest water setting in the app.

The Ozmo T8 is positioned for the consumers that do not need the camera monitoring function of the T8 AIVI but who want similar cleaning functionality.

Like the Roborock range of robot vacuums, the mapping functionality is excellent with a really detailed map in its easy-to-connect-to app.

You can specify different areas as no-go zones for the mopping, or sweeping, and specify custom areas or rooms for cleaning. The T8 will remember multiple floor maps it you move the robot to a different floor in the office.

The 5200mAh lithium ion battery covers up to 3,200 square feet of continuous cleaning on a single charge. If the battery gets low, the T8 will return to its charging dock, recharge, and return to its last point to finish cleaning when its battery is fully charged.

Ecovacs have launched two accessories for the Deebot T8 which are also suitable for the T8 AIVI.

The Ozmo Pro mopping system uses high-frequency vibration that oscillates 480 times-per-minute minute and has two mopping patterns (quick scrubbing and deep scrubbing) to clean more stubborn stains from floors.

To use the oscillating mopping system, remove the existing reservoir and fit the mopping module. Attach a disposable mopping cloth to the bottom plate and configure the app for deep or quick scrubbing.

In use, the Deebot wiggles a little as the pad oscillates backwards and forwards. You can control the amount of water dispensed from the reservoir from the app.

The Ozmo Pro automatically turns the mopping mode on and off to avoid over-dampening or under-wetting floors.

The oscillatiing mopping system comes with a packet of 26 disposable mopping cloths, so you do not need to wash cloths repeatedly. The Ozmo Pro is available for $99.99 on Ecovacs' web site and will soon be available at other retailers.

Ecovacs have also created an auto-empty station for the T8 and the T8 AIVI. This replaces the docking station with a dock and hopper which contains a larger dust collection bag.

To use the auto-empty station you need to do a small modification to the Deebot main robot unit. Remove the dustbin, and find the two outlet covers situated under the dustbin.

Use the supplied key from the auto-empty station to remove the covers and place the new dustbin into the unit. The replacement dustbin has two holes for dust extraction.

Unlike the Neabot robot vacuum, the Ozmo T8 does not rotate in its docking station to empty its dustbin. The holes inside the dustbin empty the T8's on-board dustbin into the hopper bag. Dustbin emptying takes about three seconds, with a loud suction fan that completely empties its bin.

Ecovacs say that it will hold up to one month's worth of dirt – and I can certainly believe this – as during my trial of the unit, the auto-empty station dust bag coped with both carpet fluff and hard floor dust easily and did not need emptying.

When the dust bag is full, you will be alerted via the app and also by voice alert. The auto-empty station is available for $249.99 on Ecovacs' website

All in all at $649 for the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 plus the cost of the accessories, the combined functionality of the mopping and auto-empty accessories gives you a complete sweeping and mopping system without the hassle of emptying your on-board dustbin.

This is a top-end price for a sophisticated mopping and sweeping system - especially if you also buy both accessories, but I think it is well worth the investment.

Eileen Brown is a social business consultant who has been working with collaborative technologies for 20 years. Eileen creates the social business, energises communities and ignites social commerce and social CRM.

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