When I bought my first robot vacuum five years ago, I was deeply disappointed by how much work the damn thing still required. Even with a self-emptying tower, the vacuum required constant care—emptying, rescuing, freeing rollers of obstructions. The accompanying mop-bot was so worthless I left it stranded under a couch for a year. But today’s floorbots don’t just vacuum and mop—they are becoming more fully autonomous creatures. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra ($1,199.99) is a stunningly useful vacuum and mop that requires almost no upkeep. I will never, ever go back to the bots of the past.
This generation of robot vacuums is far more autonomous
Robot vacuums have come down in price substantially in recent years, and many now come with self-emptying towers. Separately, there have been robot mops that require you to strip the mop pad, wash it, replace it, and then they push that pad (and all the germs and dirt it picks up) around your floor. Sometimes, like the Roomba i7 and Braava, they’re supposed to work with each other (spoiler: They don’t even seem to like each other). The S8 is part of a new generation of floorbots that vacuum and mop. More importantly, they fill themselves, empty themselves, wash and dry themselves, and only put clean water on your floor. You refill the clean-water station and empty the dirty-water station once every few weeks, and replace a vacuum-cleaner bag once a month or so.
These bots demand more floorspace
To do all that, you need a slightly more substantial tower: The newest robot-vacuum stations are roughly the size of a toilet. While the S8 is larger than the Switchbot K10+, it was still compact enough to fit into a small space. I didn’t have to rearrange furniture for it. The bot itself isn’t imposing, either; I’ve learned that that, too, is important when gauging how effective it will be—the smaller the bot, the closer it gets to a wall, under a toe kick, and between chair legs. It makes more passes over a space, and that means the brushes will make more passes as well. The Roborock is a good mid-sized bot with a low profile. The Pro Ultra comes in black or white, and I liked the simplicity of the bot—a few simple buttons appear on top, with the rest hidden under the lid. The base is made of a matte molded plastic that you are definitely going to see, but won't be embarrassed by. It could probably hide under a side table.
This robot uses lasers
Like most newer bots I’m trying, Roborock uses Lidar, which means no bumping into objects to discover them—it uses light detection and ranging (lasers!) to suss out the space. Within moments of departing the base for the first time, a near-perfect outline of the room popped up on the map. I’ve come to realize that the only downside of Lidar over bump and turn is that newer robots won’t try to get into spaces if they perceive a blockade; they’ll avoid it. So, while my Roomba i7 would just plow through a curtain I have between two rooms, the newer bots will interpret it as a wall. On the other hand, the Roborock gets closer to walls than any other new robot I’ve tried.
The S8 mop can even clean up heavy-duty mop jobs
The Roborock mops and vacuums at the same time, and has, to date, never once accidentally put the mop down on my rugs. You can set the intensity of the vac and the mop, or ask the bot to do one or the other instead of both. Through the month I trialed this bot, I had a dog tracking the worst mud you can imagine through a doggie door onto white tile. Thirty times a day, a new track of muddy paw prints would get laid down. The Roborock would quietly and quickly go over and mop the area, and by the time it was done, the mud would be completely gone. It did not matter if the mud was wet or dried on, which means that it did a better job than even the latest Dyson mop I’ve been testing. Moreover, it did not track the mud to any other spaces. The entire floor would be left pristine; the mop pad was rinsed to a fluffy white after the mud path (I checked!) and I was able to send the Roborock over every 30 minutes or so without the battery ever needing more time to recharge.
Getting stuck is a lot less likely with the Roborock
The vacuum impressed just as much—while it features the same rollers as every other floorbot, the Roborock was less bothered by larger pieces of detritus on the floor. Labels, toy floof and the occasional dog treat seemed of no consequence, either while the vacuum patrolled the floor or when the vacuum emptied itself at the base. The wheels of the bot only got stuck once or twice on some cords under the couch. The normal obstacles that bothered other bots, like rug transitions or thresholds, didn’t bother the Roborock much. While I had the occasional yarn-related incident I had to unwind from the bot sweeper, it, too, didn’t seem to be a big deal. I simply placed the bot back on the floor after; it would orient itself quickly, and go back to work.
The S8 integrates in your home and workflow
The Roborock integrates with Google Home, Alexa and Homekit, which made asking the Roborock to attend the mud path much easier. This also allows for automations, which means you can use presence sensors to tell a robot to return to the base when someone is in the space or use a water sensor to send it to mop when there’s a leak, or (my favorite) add a vibration sensor to your high chair, and send the vacuum out once your kid starts eating (and dropping) food.
The S8 comes with the latest features, like joystick control
The S8 has a few other new features I find essential in a robot vacuum—like a joystick feature, so you’re less likely to have to rescue your bot. You can simply direct it out with the joystick, using the map, which shows you with a high level of precision where the bot is at any moment in the space. You can also set zones for more cleaning of a specific space (like under a high chair or in front of a doggie door) and in particular, set a pin on the map, and the bot will go right to it. There’s a really nice 3D version of the map available, and it visualizes furniture in the space, but aside from the delight it gave me on first glance, I preferred the 2D version for functionality. I love that the Roborock tells you precisely how much life is left on every single part that needs to be replaced, from sensors to brushes to filters and dust bags.
Gets the job done quickly and quietly, as it should
I'm extremely impressed by the speed with which the S8 completes tasks, and the low-enough noise level; you can be on a call while it's running. It takes a few minutes for the Roborock to leave the dock when you call it (it’s prepping the mop), but once it does, it does not lollygag. It follows a sensible path across the floor (and you can actually affect this pattern for more or less cleaning efficacy, if you get a sick satisfaction from watching the bot hit every single inch of floor in back and forth rows).
It's still a robot
The S8 cannot pick up a cord or a toy and go under it. To exist with a robot means you are going to be always looking for ways to move things up and off the floor, particularly cords. I tend to toss laundry in the direction of the washer and dryer, letting it pool at the base of the machines, and the Roborock twice got caught up on a towel left there. My bad.
Like most floorbots, there are a lot of settings you can fine tune, from those that control how the S8 works with carpets to how it reacts to objects in its path, and even whether to expect a pet. A hot tip: If your pet will largely avoid the bot, turn this feature off, since it can affect how well the bot cleans. That turns out to be the rub of most floorbots—the more settings you affect thinking they’ll improve the bot, the less they seem to do so. The best course is usually just letting the floorbot do its thing, unimpeded by app settings or floor laundry.
An expensive bot, but worth every cent
The S8 is, pardon me, a fucking delight. It is effective enough I am reluctant to move it out to test another floorbot. While in action, I suffer from none of the bot-related anxiety I’ve had in the past, having to monitor where the floorbot was, and if it was stranded or stuck or tangled or if it would complete the task on the first go. This is my first try with a Roborock product, and it’s over $1000. But if you’ve been spending less for a bot that requires a lot of handholding and have been disappointed, the S8 is going to restore your faith.