New Matter Robot Vacs Coming from Roborock

I’ll start off with stating that yes, we’re still waiting for Robot vacuums to actually be of much use in Apple Home beyond the current on/off option. That doesn’t seem to stop Roborock, however, who are preparing to release two new models that made their debuts at CES in January of this year.

The first of these is the Saros 10, that like the S8 MaxV Ultra we recently reviewed (video HERE, review HERE) offers options for both removable clean and dirty water tanks, but also a model that connects to your plumbing for the ultimate hands-off experience.

This model ups the the ante with a ton of extras, that include the ability to have the LiDAR sensor hide inside the body of the vac, thus allowing it to get under even lower spaces than before. A new version of the company’s patented VibraRise mopping system, now in its 4th iteration. The Saros 10 can now unclip its mopping pad, leaving it in the dock when it knows it’s only set to perform vacuuming alone. The included mop is now denser, allowing more moisture to be retained for a deeper clean, that includes a 26% increase in the vibration area.

What’s probably the most insane part of the mopping system is that it can lift its front wheel to apply extra pressure on the mopping pad, for more stubborn stains. Whilst previous models could lift the mop when not in use, they can’t lift the sweeping side brush too. That has now been addressed, ensuring that the bristles don’t end up swiping through liquid spills.

Other features include faster charging in the dock, a massive upgrade in suction power, at 22,000Pa, a built-in RGB camera, and really good, AI-based obstacle avoidance, which really impressed me with the S8 MaxV Ultra, when I first tested it out.

The second vacuum coming soon is the Saros 10R, which is a different kind of beast in some ways. Like the Saros 10, it comes in two formats, with one connecting to your plumbing. Like the Saros 10, it’s also slim enough to get under spaces as low as 7.98cm in height, but in the case of the 10R, it has entirely done away with the ‘turret’ that we’ve come to know with robot vacuums. This is achieved with a feature called the StarSight Autonomous System 2.0 which features LiDAR capabilities housed at the front and sides of the unit, not on top.

The docking station slightly differs from that of the Saros 10, but seemingly only visually, so it offers the same set of features, including auto emptying, for both dust and dirty water, as well as auto dispensing for floor cleaning detergents. Both docks clean the brushes and mops too, using hot water (80ºC/176ºF) to remove virtually all traces of debris or bacteria.

Unlike the Saros 10, the 10R uses dual circular mops to provide a different type of mopping experience. These mops can also be left behind in the dock, if a vacuum-only routine or schedule is set up.

Both models feature the built-in voice assistant, unsurprisingly named Rocky, which works well despite its preset list of commands, that in some instances works better than Siri. Talking of Siri, both vacuums can utilise Siri Shortcuts to perform quite a few different tasks, which you can set up in the Roborock app, although at some point soon, when HomeKit gets to add robot vacuums to its repertoire of compatible devices (via Matter), we’ll be seeing both the 10 and 10R (and other previously released models) get a much anticipated firmware update to add the support many are desperately waiting for.

That said, the Roborock app is pretty impressive, so it remains to be seen if the update we’re looking forward to will make a massive difference or not. You can order the Roborock Saros 10 or Saros 10R with US$200 off (US$1599.99 to US$1399.99) for a limited time, but you can also get an additional 4% off using the promo code – RRSAPIMPACT4.