Vacuum bot Roborock Saros Rover climbs stairs with chicken legs instead of ferry
At CES, Roborock is showcasing the Saros Rover, a prototype vacuum robot that overcomes stairs under its own power without external climbing assistance.
Thanks to two articulated "chicken legs," the Roborock Saros Rover vacuum bot can move over stairs without transport aids like a ferry.
(Image: Roborock)
Vacuum robot manufacturer Roborock has unveiled a vacuum robot at the CES tech show that can overcome stairs using multi-jointed legs. The Roborock Saros Rover features a two-wheel-leg architecture. It can lift and lower each of its wheel legs independently. This allows for small jumps, agile turns, sudden stops, and changes in direction. This is intended to make the Saros Rover suitable for complex stair terrain, such as narrow, curved spiral staircases. When the legs are folded in, the robot moves flat across the floor like other cleaning bots and cleans it.
The approach appears much more practical and less complex than the technological paths that other manufacturers have pursued so far. Without human assistance, vacuum and mopping robots have not been able to clean multiple floors until now. You have to carry them up and down the stairs so they can perform their duties on another level. At IFA 2025, Dreame and Eufy presented cleaning robots that moved in a kind of ferry and were lifted over the steps by it. The transport aid requires a lot of space, which is why it is not an option for narrow stairwells. Mova's stair climber uses a built-in lift, whose runners in turn require very deep steps.
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In contrast to the brand trio, the Saros Rover is also supposed to be able to clean the individual steps during its stair trip. Whether the steps are hard or partially carpeted should make no difference.
Roborock has not yet disclosed when the Saros Rover will be market-ready or how much it will cost then.
Note: heise online is a media partner of CES 2026.
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