RoboRock S8 Max Series to Get Matter Compatibility

Smart vacuum manufacturer Roborock has introduced six new cleaning solutions at CES this year: the S8 MaxV Ultra, S8 Max Ultra, Q Revo MaxV, Q Revo Pro, Flexi Pro, and Flexi Lite. Of these models, the only ones of relevance to us at HomeKit News are the S8 Series, as these will get the all important Matter update, providing an avenue for HomeKit fans to get robovacs into their smart home setup.

The Roborock S8 Max Series, including the S8 MaxV Ultra and S8 Max Ultra robot vacuum and mop, represents the company’s advanced cleaning solution. It features a robotic arm for corner and edge cleaning and the RockDock® Ultra for maintaining the robot cleaner using hot water and heated air with intelligent mop re-washing and re-mopping capability.

Key features of the S8 Max Series include:

• FlexiArm Design™ Side Brush with a robotic arm and Extra Edge Spinning Mop System for 100% corner coverage.
• RockDock® Ultra, which automatically empties, refills, and dispenses detergent; washes the mop with 60°C hot water and dries with 60°C heated air to prevent odour and mildew.
• VibraRise® 3.0 Mopping System with two vibration modules, 20mm Mop Module Lifting, and 4000 times/min high-speed sonic mopping.
• 10,000Pa suction power on the S8 MaxV Ultra and 8,000Pa on the S8 Max Ultra.
• Additional features on the S8 MaxV Ultra, include the ‘Hello Rocky’ Built-in Voice Assistant, video calling, Matter support, DirTect™ mess recognition, Reactive AI 2.0 obstacle recognition & avoidance, and more.
• Both S8 Max Series models offer a refill and drainage dock variant connecting to home drainage systems for automatic refilling and emptying, eliminating manual intervention.

The suggested retail prices are US$1799.99 for the S8 MaxV Ultra, and US$1599.99 for the S8 Max Ultra, both of which will be available on Amazon from April 2024. Whether these will ship with Matter out of the box is not clear, so if you are planning to invest in one of these rather expensive devices, it’s best to check first to avoid potential disappointment.