Roborock lands in Australia with the S7 MaxV Ultra robot vac

Roborock, maker of advanced robot vacuum cleaners sold in the US and other countries, is now available in Australia. The brand is known for its high-end tech, with the new S7 MaxV Ultra staying true to form. You can pick one up at retailers including Godfreys, Harvey Norman and Bing Lee today.

Launched at a Hayman Island event, GadgetGuy had an exclusive first look at what the brand has to offer. Described as “the robotic vacuum and mop that cleans itself”, the S7 MaxV Ultra is loaded with cutting-edge features to minimise intervention while maximising cleaning capability.

Auto-emptying, self-cleaning

The Ultra model is really two systems that work together – the first part the vacuum itself, and the other is the “empty, wash, fill” dock. This has three separate chambers, one for dust, one for clean water and the other for dirty water. When the vacuum returns to the base, it automatically empties the onboard dust container, swaps dirty mop water with clean water and even scrubs the mopping brush. The process only takes a couple of minutes and it’s ready to resume duties where it left off.

In terms of self-cleaning, there’s a little brush that extends from the base to clean the mop, and this rotates at 600 rpm. The mechanism is also designed to self-clean the vac’s chassis, and the dustbin only needs emptying once every 7 weeks, according to Roborock.

Mop and vac

As mentioned, the S7 UltraV can vacuum and mop your floors. It can do this at the same time, with the vacuum sucking up dirt at the front and the mop head scrubbing the floor at the rear. However, for most cleaning, it will vacuum your carpeted areas first, and then move to mop hard surfaces. You can also prioritise areas to clean first using the companion app.

For carpets, there’s up to 5100 pa of suction power, which can vary depending on what the S7 decides based on floor type. There are small sweeper brushes too for getting into corners. During the demonstration, the suction was able to pull quite a bit of dirt out of an already clean-looking carpet, so it should be capable of performing a thorough cleaning. More on this when we review the unit.

On the mopping front, the S7 uses “VibraRise” sonic vibration to create a scrubbing action. The mopping head vibrates up to 3000 times a minute as it’s dragged across a surface, and S7 will clean up to 300 sqm of floor space per tank. There’s also automatic carpet detection, so the robot knows when to apply the mop, and the head can be raised up to 5mm to avoid wetting low-pile carpets.

Battery-wise, the S7 can run for about 4 hours per charge cycle, and then it returns to its base for a top up. The Ultra model gets a fast-charge capability, which is 30 percent quicker than the previous model.

Navigating the world

Navigation is a big part of a robot vacuum’s effectiveness, so it’s great to see that the S7 has a turreted LiDAR scanner, front-facing sensors and even an onboard camera. The system can also see at night so it can navigate objects while you sleep, so you can wake up to clean floors.

Using Roborock’s Reactive AI 2.0, the system can detect, identify and avoid objects such as shoes, and marks their location on a virtual floor map. You can view a 2D, 3D or Matrix version of your home’s floor via the companion app.

Smart software

The S7 and app also receive over-the-air updates, meaning that the system can improve over time. Roborock says that the AI can also benefit from data collected from units in use and sent back for analysis.

The app is a handy way to access the S7’s settings, prioritise areas you’d like to clean, check battery charge, cleaning time, floor area and more. You can also tap in to the robot’s camera and see what it sees. There’s a chat mode too, with full duplex support, so you can see, hear and speak to people or pets near the vac from your phone.

To protect your privacy, the system will not retain video, audio files or radar data, and is certified by the TUV.

Models and prices

There are two S7 variants, the S7 MaxV Ultra, which includes the self-emptying dock. The standard S7 Max V comes with a standard charging dock instead.

Also unveiled at the Hamilton Island event was Roborock’s lower cost Q7 Max+ and Q7 Max models. The Q7 Max+ does not have a mopping feature but includes strong 4200 pa suction, PreciSense LiDAR scanner, 3D floor mapping and an auto-emptying dust dock – and is available exclusively at Godfreys. The lower priced Q7 Max model comes with a basic charging dock instead.