Corners and straight lines represent the main difficulties for robot vacuum cleaners. Roborock may have found the solution with its new S8 Max Ultra models presented at CES.
What we expect from a vacuum-mopping robot is that it cleans the floors properly for us. A seemingly simple task, but not always obvious for these small, round devices, which in most cases have difficulty standing next to furniture and getting through corners. There is no shortage of ideas to overcome this difficulty. Dreame uses an extendable arm to mop its L20 Ultra (read our review) and Ecovacs tried, with more or less success, to adopt a square shape for its robot (read our review). Roborock, one of the major players in the market, is trying a new approach with its S8 Max Ultra models unveiled today at CES in Las Vegas. This new, still round robot is available in two versions and features two innovations. The first is based on a side brush head mounted on a telescopic arm called FlexiArm Design. Not stupid, because it allows you to sweep into corners and send dust and waste into the belly of the device, where they are shamelessly sucked up thanks to the most powerful motor yet, which develops a suction power of 10,000 Pa on the MaxV model (8,000 Pa) on the Max -Model). According to Roborock, this system would provide up to 99% corner coverage. We can bet that this brush head will not behave like the one on the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni and will disperse almost anything that comes its way.
© Roborock
Even when washing, the edges of furniture and bases are not forgotten with a small rotating side wiper called Extra Edge. Unlike Dreame's L20 Ultra model, this one is not mounted on a mechanical arm but remains stationary. All that remains is to wait for the tests to assess the effectiveness of this duo.
© Roborock
Finally, the S8 MaxV Ultra model differs from its little brother by the presence of a camera on the front that allows video surveillance, detects objects but also detects the condition of the floors, for example the unexpected presence of liquid during a cleaning phase B. to be Adapt behavior automatically. This model also has a voice assistant (soberly called “HelloRocky”) and supports the Matter protocol.
© Roborock
The device's docking station also benefits from an innovation. It also comes in two versions. The first carries the fresh water and waste water tanks as usual. The second connects directly to a water inlet and outlet and is therefore more compact. However, availability in France has not yet been announced.
© Roborock
The S8 Max Ultra is at the top of the robot vacuum cleaner range. The S8 MaxV Ultra model will be the first to be marketed in France from April at a price of 1,499 euros. The price of the S8 Max Ultra is not yet known.