Last year, during CES, I chuckled at Roborock's Saros Z70 robotic vacuum and its robot arm that would grab things out of the way. It seemed slightly comical, and the results when it finally shipped didn't quite live up to its ambitions.
This year, Roborock introduced another robotic vacuum variation, the Dreame X50 Ultra, which features legs that enable it to move up and down stairs. Now we're talking.
The fact that it navigates stairs is cool, for sure, but what tipped me toward being a believer is that it also cleans the stairs as it goes, turning 90 degrees with one leg on the lower stair to keep its stability while vacuuming the stairs.
Have you had to vacuum stairs? It's a pain, and even though I have a robot vacuum on the main floor of my house and an older model taking care of the downstairs, I'm the one who has to haul the wand vacuum up and down the stairs, cleaning each one. The Saros Rover is a robot vacuum I can get behind… or better yet, I can sit on the couch while it does all the work.