Shark's New Robot Vacuum Uses a Blacklight to See How Gross Your Floors Are

Almost every robot vacuum can mop these days, but not all do it equally well. Old, dried-on stains are a challenge even for the robots that use spinning mops or mop rollers with downward pressure. This is something that Shark hopes to tackle with its new PowerDetect UV Reveal. It's a robot vacuum that uses UV light and an RGB camera to detect dried stains and more forceful scrubbing to clean them. 

Yes, that's right. It puts your floors under a blacklight to see how gross they are. 

"We heard from consumers with robot vacuums that they were never sure if the job was done or what had been cleaned," said Andy Sundberg, VP of marketing at SharkNinja. "That's why we created PowerDetect UV Reveal. By uncovering hidden messes and  showing exactly how they're cleaned, it gives customers the visibility and assurance that their floors don't just look clean -- they are clean." 

Better detection and more forceful scrubbing

Your floors may look clean in regular light, but Shark's UV Reveal will show you the truth and spend extra time cleaning the gross spots. 

Shark

The UV light is visible as the robot cleans and seeks stains and should light up the mess. The UV Reveal can detect and clean spills, juices, sweat and pet accidents. Shark says the robot uses a more deliberate scrubbing motion, which it calls Hypersonic Mopping, to focus on that spot, with seven times the scrubbing motion of the Shark RV2820WD and twice improved stain removal compared with the Dreame X40 Ultra. 

Interestingly, the UV Reveal uses a traditional flat mopping pad rather than a spinning mop or track roller, as we've seen on newer robot vacuums. During CES 2026, I spoke with the Shark team about the UV Reveal and why they chose a flat mopping pad over another design. 

"We've tested roller mops, spinning mops, all of it," said Ryan Hruska, SVP of product development, robotics, SharkNinja. "We chose this flat pad because it delivers the best on our cleaning protocol due to constant contact and scrubbing. It delivers that best-in-class performance we're looking for." 

Sunberg pointed out to me that the reason Shark uses rollers in wet and dry vacuums is that their purpose is to clean hard floors and larger messes, while the UV Reveal is focused on stain cleaning, dry cleaning and wet mopping of hard floors. 

The UV Reveal has all the key navigation and object avoidance features you expect, while still detecting messes.

Shark

"There's a time and place for track rollers, especially for self-cleaning," Sundberg said. "But for this application--soaking and scrubbing hidden stains -- the static pad with hypersonic motion is the best technology to solve this specific problem. We want to be the 'decoder' for our customers so they buy the right product for their needs." 

The UV Reveal will only move on to the next cleaning task after confirming that the mess it detected has been removed, which makes it different from other robot vacuums we've tested, which usually complete a set number of passes before moving on.

Hruska also pointed out that the UV light is visible to users as the Reveal cleans. "During testing in 500-plus homes, we originally thought battery life or being 'out of sight, out of mind' was key. But consumers actually wanted to see the robot working. They'd ask, 'What's it doing over there?' So we doubled down on the lights so they could see it fulfilling its promise."

It's worth noting, however, that the UV light itself doesn't clean because UV for sanitization requires a long dwell time. "A quick pass-over wouldn't work," Sundberg told me. "We call it 'tech for clean's sake.' If it's not adding value to the performance, we won't add it."

Specs and features

The Shark UV Reveal also has a system to get it over obstacles and thresholds. 

Shark

The robot has the NeuroNav AI with its own on-device sensors and cameras, as well as the company's NeverStuck tech that helps it cross thresholds and obstacles. This is a lift system we've seen on other robot vacuums we've tested, including the Dreame X50 Ultra and the Roborock Saros 10R. 

In terms of other specs, the UV Reveal has edge sensing and can detect floor types, objects and environmental changes. It comes with the ThermaCharged NeverTouch Pro base, with a bagless self-emptying base station that cleans the mopping pads after every use. Shark says the base station has an anti-allergen seal for allergens up to 0.3 microns or larger. The UV Reveal should support three hours of cleaning time on a single charge. 

Price and availability

The UV Reveal has a bagless self-emptying base station that also sanitizes the mop.

Shark

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal is available starting now for $1,300 at Shark, Amazon, Best Buy and Costco. The price puts it on par with other top-tier robot vacuum models like the. We're currently testing the UV Reveal at CNET Labs and will have test results for it soon.