By India Lopez
Editorial & Production Manager | Pou Whakahaere Pānui Ētita, Whakaputa Hautaonga
Sometime around 2010, my friend went to stay with her older brother – still the fanciest person we know – and reported back that he had a Roomba. Like some kind of American. How we marvelled!
Years later, while housesitting for my boyfriend’s boss, I saw a robot vac in the flesh for the first time. I tried to take it for a spin but panicked when it stopped abruptly and powered down in the middle of the lounge. Hyperventilating, I carried it back to its dock, praying I hadn’t just broken what I assumed was a million-dollar gadget.
Oh, how times have changed. These days, I’m averaging 10 conversations a week about robot vacs. Since Consumer NZ started testing them in 2018, they’ve become increasingly commonplace in New Zealand households – and manufacturers have been trying to outdo each other with ever-more-outlandish features.
Have I welcomed one into my own home yet? No, mainly because my carpets are always covered in Pokémon cards, Lego and, inexplicably, rubber bands. But I know they’ll get me in the end.
In the meantime, here are five of the coolest and craziest innovations I’ve spotted.
1. Mopping is becoming proper floor-washing
All the robot vacs in our current test have a mopping function. Some of them are basic –dragging a damp cloth around, essentially – but others, including models from Roborock, Dreame, Ecovacs, Eufy and Dyson, use advanced scrubbing systems that continuously clean the mop while mopping, some using hot water.
What next? Overseas, Mova (a sub-brand of Dreame) has upped the ante with the Mobius 60, which automatically swaps between three different mop types, depending on the room and type of flooring. If it eventually motors its way to New Zealand, you can expect to pay well over $3,000 for it.
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2. They’re reaching places they used to miss
I understand why almost every robot vacuum is circular (because I just googled it – it’s so they can navigate around furniture easily, duh). But unless you live in a yurt, that shape probably doesn’t lend itself to a thorough clean of your floors.
The solution? Extendable brushes and mops, of course. We’ve reviewed models with one or both features and found one in particular that nailed both the corner-and-edge and mopping parts of our test. That same model earned our Recommended tick and People’s Choice endorsement for robot vacuums. Consumer members can see it below.
Speaking of hard-to-reach places, shout-out to these limbo champs: the Kogan Smarterhome LX16 stands just 92mm high and can glide under most low furniture, while the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Track S retracts its navigation hardware when it needs to wriggle into a tight space.
3. They’re learning to climb
Proper stairs are still kryptonite to most robot vacs, but it’s clear the technology is catching up. Already taking baby steps are the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Track S and Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone, which can climb over small obstacles like door thresholds.
This year, Roborock brought the industry to its tiny mechanical knees when it unveiled its Saros Rover prototype. The captivating promo video shows it standing up on two legs, leaping over obstacles, being bombarded with tennis balls (why?) and easily scaling – while cleaning – a staircase.
Other manufacturers have scrambled to create their own solutions to the stair problem, but none have hit the market yet, as far as I can see. The wackiest? MOVA’s Pilot70, a drone that picks up your vacuum and carries it up or down the stairs. Almost like – dare I say it – a pair of human arms could easily do.
4. They’re looking after themselves
Self-care is so important. For me, it’s going to the sauna or getting my nails done; if you’re a modern robot vac, it’s emptying your own dustbin, giving your mop a good wash and refilling your water tank.
In the future, it seems robot vacs will require almost no human intervention. Take the water supply, for example. Several of the models we’ve reviewed will already mop your floors then return to their docks to get their tanks refilled. You, the human overlord, still have to replenish the water in the dock … but not for much longer.
Roborock’s Saros 10R with Refill & Drainage System is plumbed into your house, so the dock automatically refills with fresh water and drains wastewater. The 3i S10 Ultra purifies and reuses the dirty mop water and draws moisture from the air to top up the water supply. Both models are already available overseas but haven’t yet made it to New Zealand.
5. They’re starting to do other chores
How many years, I wonder, before we at Consumer rename our “robot vacuums” category “robot housekeepers” or “robot butlers”? Plenty of our tested models already do more than just vacuum and mop: the Eufy Omni E28 comes with a detachable deep cleaner for upholstery and carpets, and models from Dreame, Ecovacs and Roborock double as home-monitoring systems, thanks to their built-in cameras. The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow is also a pet sitter – it can search for your pet, show you its location, take photos and facilitate a two-way video call.
The feature I’m most interested in, though, is the ability to tidy up. Roborock’s Saros Z70 has an extendable arm that can pick up and move small objects.
It’s available for pre-order in New Zealand, but its $4,299 price tag is a slap in the face – with a hard mechanical hand, no less.
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