Vacuum bot trends at the IFA: Cleaning flounders on a climbing tour

Contents

High-quality vacuum and mopping robots already clean flat surfaces very well. However, they have yet to be able to cope with anything a little higher. This includes areas that are separated by a threshold. Furniture surfaces are also out of the question for robots that move along the floor. And they prefer to avoid very high carpets so as not to inadvertently soak the decorative shags with dirty water.

At IFA, manufacturers will be showing new tricks to help clean even these problem areas. Roborock and Dreame have designed trolleys with a lift function that can at least overcome the height centimetres of a small step. This is the first step towards climbing stairs. Instead of the next floor, SwitchBot has an eye on upholstered surfaces and other hard-to-reach areas. The brand combines a suction bot with a detachable stick vacuum cleaner. Ecovacs already has such a combination and is leaving it at that for the time being. Instead, the manufacturer is equipping a bot with a mopping module that cleans itself on the move so that only cleanly rinsed cleaning fibers, if any, touch a sensitive carpet.

Roborock Qrevo Curv: The first cleaning robot rises up

Roborock's new top-of-the-range Qrevo Curv model runs on three wheels that raise the cleaning robot's housing by up to ten millimetres. The robot then springs up into the air and, according to Roborock, can overcome an obstacle up to three centimetres high, or up to four centimetres with a little run-up. Previously, the brand's models were specified for a height of two centimetres. The improved climbing function worked as expected at the prepared demo stations. Roborock used a narrow double step for this. In practice, this most closely resembles a doorstep with a decorative strip in front of it.

In practice, the technology called "AdaptLift Chassis" should help to clean areas that are separated by higher door sills. The mechanism could also offer a way out for the horizontal tubular frame of chairs, tables or laundry racks. Up to now, such obstacles have often been the final boss. When crossing them, some robotic vacuum cleaners lift off with their chassis so that the wheels lose contact with the floor and escape is no longer possible.

The Qrevo Curv's chances are better thanks to an additional talent. The trio of wheels can be extended independently of each other. This allows the robot to extend the wheels that are dangling in the air in order to hoist itself off the obstacle.

And another area of application: if the Qrevo Curv detects higher carpets, it raises itself up when vacuuming to prevent the rotating roller brush from becoming entangled in the long fibers. In this case, the suction power is automatically turned up to compensate for the greater distance to the carpet.

The Qrevo Curv also includes all the general trend features of high-quality robot hoovers and mopping robots. The side brush and one of the mops extend sideways to reach into corners that the round bot would otherwise not cover. The associated base station empties the dust container and rinses and blows-dries the mops. There are two station variants. One contains water tanks, the other is connected to the domestic power supply. The Matter smart home standard is a new feature. The cleaning robot, which is available immediately, costs 1500 euros at market launch.

Dreame's prototype climbs using a support wheel

Dreame is not yet as advanced as Roborock. The manufacturer brought a product study with a liftable chassis to IFA that is not yet ready for the market. The design differs from that of Roborock. In Dreame's version, only the side wheels, not the front one, have a motorized lift. In addition, the wheels do not extend themselves. Instead, they are lifted into the air by a smaller support wheel via a connected swivel arm. When switching to normal driving, the swivel arm of the support wheel folds in by means of a joint and does not interfere any further.

The advantage of this design: It goes higher. Dreame robots are designed to overcome obstacles up to four centimetres high, even without a run-up. Roborock's model can only do this with a double step.

Dreame's "ProLeap" technology has already worked well in a prototype demo. Within a maximum of six months, it should find its way into a market-ready cleaning robot.

Dreame will presumably also include another feature that the manufacturer showed at IFA: a retractable laser tower. When extended, it provides all-round visibility for navigation. When the robot approaches a flat piece of furniture, it lowers the tower so that the device can clean under furniture that other robots are too bulky for. The fact that the navigation tower is then blind should be manageable because an additional laser and camera navigation system installed on the front is sufficient to maneuver the robot carefully enough in a limited area for a short time.

Dreame's finished products were spectacularly unspectacular. The L40 Ultra, which is now available, is an upper-class cleaning robot for 1,200 euros that basically offers almost everything that is usual at this luxury price and that the Qrevo Curv also offers. This includes Vacuuming and cleaning with extendable arms as well as complete self-cleaning in the base station. The L40 is only unable to perform a lifting maneuver.

Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt

Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.

Preisvergleiche immer laden Preisvergleich jetzt laden

Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.