Roomba, and most robot vacuums, are NOT smart enough to avoid dog pee or most wet messes.
This means that if Sparky urinates on the floor and your bot runs over it, the urine will likely be spread around and could hurt your robot vacuum.
If you have a pet that is prone to accidents, we recommend using pee pads (Amazon Link Ad) blocked off, so the robot vacuum can’t reach them.
Some robot vacuums with LiDAR and camera navigation can be told to go around certain areas, like the pee pads in a corner.
Another option is to put things up that block the robot vacuum from going near the pads, box it in with shipping boxes or any hard surfaces that the robot vacuum will not go past.
Roomba & Other Pet Waste
Detecting urine and other wet messes is hard for robot vacuums, but there are some models that can detect and avoid poop.
The j7+ (Amazon Link Ad) can detect and step around poop, so if this is a concern for you, then it’s the model you should buy.
If your robot vacuum did run over poop, we have a post here that can help you clean it up.
Will Urine Damage Your Little Bot?
Honestly, from my experiences, robot vacuums just don’t seem designed to handle messes like pee, pet waste, or other wet substances.
It’s particularly concerning with dog pee; that stuff is deceptively destructive due to its acidity, which can corrode crucial parts of the vacuum’s main board.
It’s a bit baffling to me that waterproofing isn’t a higher priority for these devices, given how easily those spinning brushes can inadvertently spread wet messes. If you’ve ever tried cleaning one of these after such an incident, you’ll know it’s almost a complete disassembly job, targeting every nook and cranny that isn’t tightly sealed.
Avoiding Pet Waste
The best way to not hit pet waste when it comes to your robot vacuum is to only run them when you’re home.
Do a quick check of your home before running the robot vacuum, and let your pet outside to go to the restroom before you clean.
But overall, don’t run your robot vacuum unless you’re home if you have a doggy. Cats tend to do better as they use the litter box, but older cats and kitten still make mistakes.
Other Pet Messes
A few models are good at avoiding SOLID PET WASTE, but that’s about it.
Most robot vacuums cannot miss diarrhea, vomit, urine and the dead animals your pet may drag in.
It’s best you don’t rely on your robot vacuum to clean these things up or go around them, as they’re not smart enough yet to understand them.
What Does The Warranty Cover?
Most robot vacuums manufacturers don’t cover running over pet waste, though it won’t hurt to ask.
I wouldn’t get my hopes up, but you never know?
I find it a 50/50 shot when someone brings me a robot vacuum that ran over pet waste. The main board usually has corrosion on it from the waste, and cleaning it up carefully tends to fix a good bit of them.