IFA, the show floor home of robot vacuum evolution is underway in Berlin and we're getting some interesting, and puzzling evolutions this year. 2024 was all about stair climbing robots, and this year it is also all about stair climbing robots, but in a more convoluted and probably expensive way.
Dreame has come to the table with the Cyber X stair climbing concept design. Unlike other stair climbing robots like the Roborock Qrevo Curv, this one doesn't have little legs, or hydraulics to push it up a small step. Instead it has its own mini elevator system dubbed the QuadTrack system. Yeah, it is ostensibly a wheelchair stair lift for your robovac, but a portable one. It has four grippy arms with rotating tread which it uses to climb the stairs. Slowly, but still, it does it. Not that it matters, it isn't real. Not yet. For now it is just an idea.
It is also trailing a multi level, mop switching robot vacuum called the Matrix10 Ultra. The tall base station has three levels of mop pad tailored for different floor types and purposes, and will automatically switch these out depending on what it is cleaning.
Eufy is out there taking the stair climbing idea giving it its own spin and (as far as I'm concerned) a better name. Instead of a traditional stair lift, Eufy has a system called the MarsWalker, which uses four independently controlled arms to creep the robot vacuum up the stairs. Both the MarsWalker and the robovac are seperate entities, and the vacuum can drive in to the Walker in order to go up and down stairs. When in action the bug like device reminds me of a kid sliding down a water slide. Arms and legs out, just throwing caution to the wind. Unlike Dreame's option, the MarsWalker is allegedly real and is slated to launch in quarter two of 2026. Pricing is still TBD, but it should be compatible with more than one of Eufy's robot vacuums on, and coming to the market.
In less elevating news we've got Ecovacs finally coming to the climbing wall with the X11 series. Both the X11 and the X11 Omni now have a 4 wheel drive climbing system dubbed TruePass Adaptive. It is able to get over thresholds of 2.4cm in height, and 4cm wide, which is a little under what we saw from Dreame and Roborock last year. Ecovacs has instead concentrated more on the fast charging space, now prompting the new family of robots to do mini quick charges while it cleans the mop allowing for an acre of use on a single charge.
Roborock has joined the lawn race introducing its first robot lawn mower, which can also handle incline pretty well. It can deal with slopes of up to 80%, which is around 38.66 degrees for you math nerds out there. the RockMow has independent hub motors on each wheel which helps with grip and durability, and has better suspension for a more even cut.
On the flip side we have Dyson, who has just introduced its second robot vacuum cleaner called the Spot + Scrub AI. Compared to the rest of the excitement, Dyson's product is pretty boring. It is the brands first self-emptying, and mopping robot vacuum, which comes two years after the 360 Vis Nav. Nothing about this one is breaking the mould. It actually has LiDAR, which is a step up from the first model, and a telescopic roller mop ala the Dyson Wash G1. Reviews (including ours) of the 360 Vis Nav were universally poor, so it will be interesting to see what improvements Dyson has made in the past two years, and what the price looks like. Its first robovac was $2,399 at launch, which is about on par with what you'll pay now for more mature robovac that have some basic stair climbing functionality. We expect to see it land in Australia in early 2026.
Across the board robot vacuum companies are getting creative, and weird, and we love to see it. The innovative solutions come out of this space continue to have that wacky, extraterrestrial factor that makes robovacs feel so stupid but fun at the same time. I can't wait to see what else these delightful little idiots can do in our homes soon.
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