Traditionally, robot vacuums (and manual vacuums, for that matter) tend to struggle to clean thick rugs and carpets. High fibers, combined with an upward draw, are a recipe for getting stuck. It’s a bit ironic, because this is exactly the kind of flooring that would really benefit from a thorough vacuuming.
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In two of its new launches – the Saros 20 and the Saros 20 Sonic – Roborock has found a solution. And ingeniously, it uses a feature originally designed to solve a completely different type of problem.
Let me back up a bit. Like a number of last year’s best robot vacuums, the new Saros 20 robots have small feet that extend to help them negotiate small steps or high room thresholds. They’re a little less flashy than the Roborock Rover’s long stilts, but they serve a useful function.
On this version 3.0 of the “AdaptiLift” feature, it can boost the Saros 20 on single steps up to 1.77 inches/4.5 cm in height, or a double step totaling 3.34 inches/8.5 cm.
The new Saros 20 robots are equipped with version 3.0 of the AdaptiLift chassis, and this iteration has an extra trick up its sleeve. It can also lift the robot vacuum to one of eight different preset heights and keep it level while it cleans. This means that if it encounters your extra thick carpet, it can hang at the right height to clean it, without getting bogged down in the fibers.
In the demo area, I saw the Saros 20 Sonic stop in front of a thick edge of carpet, then meticulously lift itself to the right height to cross it. When the flooring was replaced with a deeper pile, it banged around a bit in response. The movements were smooth and precise, and the robot remained level throughout the cleaning portion of the process. Impressive stuff.
A little less impressive, in my opinion, was the climb up the stairs part. Roborock claims that Adaptilift version 3.0 added stability, to raise and lower the robot gently rather so as not to risk damaging it, but in the demo space it rose and fell with a loud crash.
In the robot’s defense, the steps were at the maximum height it can manage, and on the taller side compared to what one might typically find in someone’s home.
I can’t wait to see how they perform in practice – a full review will follow when I get my hands on one to properly test it.
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