Roborock was created in 2014 and specializes in the manufacture of items that make people’s life easier. They specifically create a variety of robot vacuum cleaners. Are these Roborock robotic vacuum cleaners a good fit for your house? In this review, I’ll give you a short rundown of the most prominent Roborock robot vacuums that have hit the market.
What are the advantages of Roborock robot vacuum cleaners?
The Roborock E-series uses a motion tracking navigation system. The Roborock S-series uses LiDAR. It cleans methodically instead of just randomly like older robots.
Roborock robot vacuum cleaners can be controlled remotely with a smartphone and the appropriate app. You can control things such as cleaning modes and schedules. Set up no-go zones or check the battery level. Integration with Alexa voice control is also possible.
Cleaning your apartment or home could be as simple as pushing a button on the robot or on your smartphone. The robot vacuum has a filter that removes allergens from floors and carpets. The Roborock is also a good robot vacuum for pet hair.
There are a few Roborock vacuum robot models, and I am going to provide an overview of each model.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra
The suction power of the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra robot vacuum is greater than that of the S6 MaxV robot vacuum. It has a maximum pressure of 5100 Pa, making it more powerful than any previous Roborock robotic vacuum cleaner.
Because of its self-refilling and self-emptying base dock, this device is supposed to provide a comfortable, hands-free cleaning experience. You receive automated dust emptying, mop cleaning, and robot water tank replenishing thanks to the self-empty, self-wash, self-fill dock. The dock empties the robot vacuum and may store dust for up to 7 weeks without being emptied. When docked, the dock automatically refills the S7 MaxV Ultra’s water tank, in order to expand its mopping range.
The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra can navigate past typical home obstacles thanks to a new generation of obstacle avoidance technology, which includes an RGB camera and a new neural processing unit. The S7 MaxV’s camera can now distinguish furniture in your house and automatically place it on a map. Nonetheless, you must remove any potential barriers from the floor before the robot begins cleaning so that it does not become trapped on anything. It swiftly removes dirt, hair, dust, and other contaminants from hard surfaces and carpets. However, the automatic mop lifting feature is only appropriate for low-pile carpets with a pile height of no more than 4 mm.
Combining the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra with an Alexa device enables voice control. Smartphones, Amazon Echo, and Google Home are all compatible with this Roborock vacuum cleaner. The app, your touch, or your voice may all be used to operate the robot.
The robot vacuum comes with a lithium-ion battery that delivers up to 180 minutes of power life. It charges quickly from empty to full in under 4 hours. As a result, a single clean may provide up to 180 minutes of runtime, which is plenty for most homes.
In summary, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is a decent pick for automatic floor cleaning. It has a self-emptying dustbin and trash disposal dock, as well as a mopping feature. It is quite effective at emptying the vacuum dirt bin. An automated washing system washes the robot’s mop between moppings and after the cleaning program is finished. Automatic self-emptying eliminates the need to manually empty the robot’s trash. However, you should probably take a look at its price on Amazon before you get too excited. It ain’t cheap.
Roborock S6 MaxV
The Roborock S6 MaxV is said to be on another level of intelligence due to its reactive obstacle avoidance AI, dual cameras, 2500Pa suction and electronic water tank.
Furthermore, the S6 MaxV has infra-red imaging so that it can see in the dark. The robot vacuum also uses LiDAR navigation. This robot can clean whether it is light or dark, day or night.
The S6 MaxV does have a unique look due to its dual cameras. This seems to provide the robot with stereoscopic vision so that it not only sees an obstacle, but also estimates its size and location due to depth perception. It can avoid objects such as discarded toys and pet bowls.
Having eyes to see is visionary, but not worth much without a way to process and apply the collected information. Don’t worry, the S6 MaxV has the processing power to use the gathered information to react in a fast and efficient manner. This robot vacuum has a processor chip that gives processing power to its AI neural network.
The idea of having a robot vacuum with a camera rolling around your house brings up the issue of privacy. What happens to the images that the robot vacuum sees? It appears that all the images that the robot vacuum captures are used and then deleted. These images are never duplicated, stored or uploaded to a cloud.
It is able to recognize and work around common obstacles in a household environment such as funky footwear, stinky socks, power strips, pesky pedestals and pet waste. That last one might be the most hazardous of all. Of course, these results are based on the manufacturer’s own tests under optimal lighting conditions with highly visible objects. Individual household results may vary.
The app creates a map of the floor it has cleaned. If it recognized an object in its cleaning path, such as a pair of shoes, it might actually add a small icon to the map that shows where the object was encountered. It seems like it even has an icon for pet poo, which for some unknown reason has a smiley face.
Anyway, this just makes the app’s map more informative and iconic. The engineers at Roborock might add extra common household items that the robot might be able to recognize. These iconic household items can be downloaded wirelessly.
The Roborock S6 MaxV can clean more than one floor of the house as a result of its multi-level mapping. It uses data from both its visual navigation and LiDAR system to automatically recognize different floor levels of the house. Each of these floors can have invisible walls and no-go, no-mop zones.
Do you want the robot vacuum to clean specific rooms at specific times of the day, such as in the morning or at night? You can customize the sequence in which the robot vacuum cleans the rooms of the house. You do not want the robot to clean the bathroom while you are taking a shower or the bedroom when you have just dropped off to sleep.
The S6 MaxV lives up to its name “MaxV” due to its 2500Pa maximum suction power. It is said to be 25% more powerful when compared to the Roborock S6 robot vacuum. The maximum runtime is up to 180 minutes.
This Roborock can also mop! It has a mopping system with a 297ml capacity. Use the app to adjust mopping settings and schedules for specific rooms of the house. Create no-mop zones so that the robot does not mop a carpet by accident.
The S6 MaxV appears to be one of the most advanced robot vacuum cleaners on the market due to its artificial intelligence. However, its dust bin seems a bit small. If you have a large house with pets, then you might need to empty out the dust bin frequently. It does not have an automatic dirt disposal system like the iRobot Roomba i7+.
Overall, most owners have a high opinion of the Roborock S6 MaxV even though it is an expensive purchase. Owners are mostly impressed by its ability to avoid obstacles, in addition to avoiding the no-go zones that you may create in the app. It will see and avoid most obstacles in its path, like shoes and toys. Nevertheless, when it comes to avoiding dog poop, it is still a 50/50 scenario. It might recognize poop and avoid it, or it might not.
In brief, the best features of the Roborock S6 MaxV robot vacuum are its automatic room recognition, multi-floor mapping, 5200mAh battery, 180-minute runtime, washable filter, dual camera vision and LiDAR sensors (check price on Amazon).
S6 and S6 Pure
I discussed the S6 MaxV above, so now we continue with the rest of the S6 series robot vacuum cleaners. This includes the original S6 and the S6 Pure.
The main difference between these two robots is that the S6 Pure has a slightly smaller dust bin volume and a little more water tank capacity. Otherwise, these robots are basically the same.
The S6 series has laser navigation combined with the 32-bit quad-core processing power for mapping and cleaning your whole house. If the map saving feature is turned on, then the robot vacuum will remember the rooms of the house. Combine this with multi-level mapping support, and you can use the app to create customized schedules for different rooms and floor levels. Room cleaning can also be sequenced into any order you like.
A house with more than one floor is not a problem for the S6 series robot vacuum cleaner. Its multi-level mapping system scans each floor with LiDAR. Each floor can have its own zones and virtual invisible walls. These no-go zones and virtual barriers can be set up with the app if the map saving feature has been switched on.
The S6 series robot vacuum can sense trouble before it gets into trouble. Its array of sensors include an accelerometer, compass, infra-red cliff sensor and odometer.
Got kids and pets? No problem, the Roborock S6 series robot vacuum cleaners have powerful suction to remove pet hair, allergens and dust from hard floors and carpets. It has a washable filter that captures common allergens such as pollen and mold.
The S6 can also be used for mopping duty when you attach the mopping unit and the disposable mopping pads. It seems like the S6 model can accommodate a 140ml water tank, while the S6 Pure can hold a 180ml tank.
If you like giving voice commands instead of thumbing a virtual button on the smartphone app, then the S6 does not disappoint. It supports Amazon Alexa integration. Alexa, ask Roborock to clean!
The Roborock S6 is a powerhouse when it comes to battery life. It uses a 5200mAh lithium-ion battery. It has a maximum runtime of up to 180 minutes, although that is when running in quiet mode without the mopping system attached with a fully charged battery. Real world results might be less than 3 hours, yet it is still an impressive runtime.
The Roborock S6 gets a good score with regard to suction power, cleaning performance and quiet operation. It is easy to use and supports remote control by app or Alexa integration. Overall, the S6 is good value for money (shop now on Amazon).
S5 and S5 Max
The Roborock S5 and S5 Max provides both sweeping, vacuuming and mopping in a single package. Its water tank and microfiber mopping cloth make sure that this robotic cleaner is not just a wet rag.
The mopping system incorporates a botanical bio-mimetic design that mimics the capillary process of roots and leaves. This ensures uniform water seepage while mopping, yet no water seepage when standing still. You might expect the S5 robot vacuum to mop for about 45 minutes, maybe an hour, depending on the floor type. It is fairly easy to add or remove the water tank because it simply inserts like a drawer. No need to flip over the robot.
The Roborock S5 robot vacuum uses laser scanning to gather information, which is then used to create a real-time map for the smartphone app. Use the app to tell the robot vacuum to clean a specific room or a customized area drawn on the map.
The S5 has a side brush, center rolling brush and 2000Pa suction power to remove dirt and granules from the floor. If you enable carpet pressurization mode inside the app, then the robot vacuum turns suction power up to the maximum when encountering a carpet. It automatically goes back to normal mode when it leaves the carpet.
The S5 has a washable filter. It is coated with waterproof Teflon and should still provide good filtering performance even after multiple washes. You should probably wash the filter and dust bin once per week, but be careful not to scrub it.
The brushes and wheels have a tangle-free design to decrease hairy problems that might entangle or clog the moving parts. Moreover, a hair removal tool is included to remove any trapped hair.
The Roborock S5 is anything but senseless when it comes to sensors. The various sensors help the robot vacuum to navigate safely around the house without falling down the stairs or getting stuck under the bed.
The smartphone app allows you to check its cleaning progress in real time. Use the app to take control of your robot vacuum or to set a cleaning timer.
The S5 comes with an infrared dock charger that enables the vacuum robot to find its charging dock with higher precision. Instead of just searching along the walls, the robot vacuum actually uses the LDS laser sensor to scan and find the dock. The robot vacuum automatically returns to its charging dock after finishing its cleaning routine. However, if it needs more battery power to complete its schedule, then it will recharge and resume cleaning until it has finished.
The Roborock S5 has great features, mobility and suction power. Not surprisingly, the dust bin fills up too quickly if you have a large house and will need regular emptying. Overall, it seems like a great robotic vacuum cleaner.
E4 Robot Vacuum
The Roborock E4 cleans according to a plan instead of just randomly. Its various sensors and internal mapping means that it cleans methodically. The cleaning can be augmented with the mopping attachment to really get all the dust and dirt.
The E4 uses motion tracking and gyroscopes to keep it on the straight and narrow. It creates a map of the floor plan and uses it to clean logically.
The E4 has strong suction power at 2000Pa. Good for getting dirt off the floor and dust out of the carpet. The E4 can climb thresholds and carpet edges up to 0.8 inches high (2 cm). Got pets? No problem, the anti-tangle main brush and side brush will brush those hairs away without choking on a hairball.
The 5200mAh battery gives Roborock E4 the endurance to clean large homes. In addition, it will recharge and resume cleaning if it thinks that it has not finished cleaning the whole floor according to its internal map.
Speaking of maps, you can view the cleaning map in the smartphone app. You can also do the usual stuff like start it, view cleaning progress, set schedules and choose cleanup modes.
I am not going to waste time on reviewing the older Xiaowa E2 and Xiaowa E3 models since they are mostly similar to the E4, except for a small detail here and there that are not worth exploring.
To sum up, the Roborock E4 has essential features such as a washable air filter, obstacle detection, automatic carpet cleaning boost, optimized edge cleaning, app and voice control.
Roborock Robot Vacuum Comparison
I am not going to do an in-depth comparison. You can compare those robots on the Roborock website. I am just going to mention a few things.
As indicated, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra has more suction power than the previous Roborock robotic vacuum cleaners. In addition, it also has the self-emptying and self-refilling dock.
The S6 MaxV and the S5 Max appears to have almost similar specifications. However, the S6 MaxV is more powerful with a maximum suction power of 2500Pa compared to the 2000Pa of the S5 Max.
The significant difference between the S6 and S5 are the increased runtime of the S6: 180 minutes versus 150 minutes. How that is achieved I do not know since both robots have a 5200mAh battery capacity.
The S5 Max has a similar dust bin size but double the water tank capacity when compared to the S5.
The S5 and S4 has the same battery capacity and suction power, but the S4 lacks a mopping system and top-up charging. Its dust bin is also 60ml smaller.
There are a few key differences between the S4 and E4 when it comes to the advanced features. They both support app control and voice commands, but the E4 does not have an adaptive route algorithm, LDS laser navigation or a mapping function. On the other hand, the S4 does not have a mopping function, but the E4 does support damp mopping.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the best Roborock robotic vacuum cleaner is probably the newest model with all the advanced features. However, it also has the highest price. Thus, you should probably decide which features are essential for you and your household, and then decide which Roborock robot vacuum will satisfy those cleaning needs. Purchase the robotic vacuum cleaner that you can afford, not just the latest and most expensive one.