I'm pretty sure she talks to Alexa and the two of then are plotting to take over the world and enslave humanity. Good thing a good USB cable can easily put a stop to their plans...
Seriously I was AMAZED how good this cleaning robot was. I've always been skeptical about cleaning robots aimlessly bumping about the house all day "cleaning." However there is a HUGE difference between a robot that cleans aimlessly and one that cleans methodically. This robot is the later. Even when I heard that it is a methodical cleaning, I was highly skeptical about its capabilities. I figured it'd get lost, get stuck, become trapped and die not being able to go back to its charger, etc. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
The robot works by spinning a laser on its head that maps out its surroundings and crates a map of your home. The laser is surprisingly accurate, I can see individual chair legs and sofa legs of my furniture on the map. It then rolls around your home creating a physical border that defines the rooms. It then "fills in" the map area in sections with consistent back and forth runs.
The best feature of the robot is that it's surprisingly smart in its path-finding. It doesn't just reject an area as soon as it bumps into something like chair leg or even a wayward movable object. It tries to CIRCLE around the obstruction. The difference is that it squeezes itself into the nooks and crannies of hard to reach objects to clean them instead of just leaving them blank. The first time my robot bumped into my chair leg, I thought "Oh great" it'll think that it's a wall and nothing under the chair will be cleaned." Instead it kept probing itself around the leg and eventually squeezed itself between the chair legs and cleaned underneath the seat. Furthermore, the chair was next to a row of other bar stools creating a tunnel of legs and the robot squeezed itself between all the legs and cleaned underneath them. It astonished me even more that it found its way back out of the tunnel of legs and back onto its route!!!
I'm constantly expecting it to get stuck somewhere and get lost leaving entire areas of my home uncleaned but so far it has not happened. It even works on my rugs (low to medium pile carpets) quite well - going from carpet to hardwood floor with ease. Others have complained about carpet use but so far it's not been a problem for me. The only problem I've had so far was that it can't cross the bit of marble floor stop that separates my living room from the bathroom. The floor stop seems to be too high for it to climb over. Finally it does not do well with cables and wires. Loose charging USB phone cables and extension chords get tangled in its rollers and once I found it back at its charging station with an iPhone USB charger stuck inside. It dragged the cable around the entire apartment. I've learned to secure loose cables so they don't get in the way. It is a vacuum after all and all vacuums' weaknesses are loose cables. Additionally I've noticed since it maps with a laser, I have a floor mirror that reflects the light. My robot thinks my floor mirror is a magical portal to a new dimension.
Noise is surprisingly quiet. I was expecting a hive of angry bees but it's a dim hum. There's not even a huge difference between the "balanced" and "max" speeds. I actually fell asleep once while it was cleaning. In terms of suction, it's not as good as a dedicated vacuum like a Dyson. I've tested by throwing a few torn pieces of tissue paper next to it while it was running. The tissue paper didn't get sucked up. It only sucks up items right underneath it, which is find considering it runs in tight parallel lines around your home for max coverage.
The app and Alexa integration is also great. I set biweekly cleaning schedules when I'm not home to maintain a high level of cleanliness. It's so smart and dependable that I feel comfortable with it running without any monitoring. I can be at work and track its progress on my phone. I can also tell it to clean a specific area on the phone app, draw a do not enter area, or divide the apartment by rooms to clean a specific room. Finally the Alexa integration is also great, I can easily tell Alexa to clean the apartment. It also has a great spot cleaning feature where you pick up the robot, and clean the spot-cleaning button and it will clean a small area where it was placed.
I have not tried the mopping feature yet. By most review accounts it's not great as it just drags a wet rag around the room. It also doesn't stop on carpets so you'll get a wet carpet from using it. I'm not expecting much but I primarily use it for vacuuming anyways.
If you're looking for a robot vacuum, I wholeheartedly recommend this! This is so much better than "dumb" robots that bump around randomly. Cleaning my 780 square foot apartment takes approximately 45-50 minutes which is surprisingly fast and took only 35-40% of my battery. Every time it runs, I'm constantly surprised by how effortless and smart the path-finding is. Until now I was never a believer of artificial intelligence but I am now!
All hail our new mechanical overlords!
(Please leave an upvote, thanks)
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This Item  roborock Roborock S6Pure Robot Vacuum, Robotic Vacuum Cleaner and Mop with Adaptive Routing, Multi-Floor Mapping, Selective Room Cleaning, Super Strong Suction, Extra Long Battery Life, Works with Alexa(White) |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | Currently unavailable. | -49% $219.99 List: $429.99 | -38% $999.99 List: $1,599.99 | $1,299.99 | $429.99 | -33% $399.99 List: $599.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 3 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 1 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Suction power | ||||||
| For deep cleaning | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Remote Control | ||||||
| Battery life | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd |
| surface suggestion | Carpet | Hard Floor, wood, carpet | Carpet, Marble, Wood, Tile | Carpet, Marble, Wood, Tile, Upholstery | Hard Floor | Hard Floor |
| runtime | — | — | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 240 minutes | 240 minutes |
| batteries included | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| battery average life | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 240 minutes | 180 minutes |
| compatible devices | Amazon Echo | Amazon Echo, Google Home, Smartphones | Amazon Echo, Google Home, Smartphones, Siri | Amazon Echo, Google Home, Smartphones | Amazon Echo, Google Home | Smartphones, Google Home |
| weight | — | 7 pounds | 31.1 pounds | 28.4 pounds | 7.5 pounds | 8.8 pounds |
Reviews with images
The smartest vacuum ever!
My wife and I are in the process of 'smart-tizing' our new home; so, of course, we needed to invest in a robot vacuum. After 'some' research, we initially bought the Shark IQ (more like low-IQ) - disastrous...didn't function as a vacuum or a robot; didn't vacuum anything (lint, hair, dust), and couldn't map the room or find its station...it was like a lost dog roaming around in circles, bumping into walls. Needless to say, we returned it. Subsequently, my wife and I did A LOT more research - Reddit posts, endless YouTube videos, tech reviews, etc...stumbling upon this lesser-known robot - Roborock S6. In that it was only offered for sale via Amazon or eBay, we were a bit skeptical, but the reviews were unanimous...excellent performance.Enter the S6. Due to our previous experience, I was leery out of the box, nervously syncing the bot to app and network. I have to say, despite a recurring error (5) within the first few days (resolved, see below) and a less-polished app, the robot is amazing. It mapped our entire upstairs (600 sq ft) in 1 run, and vacuumed the carpet (all carpeted floors) impressively. It runs in complete darkness due to its laser optics which is one of the lesser-known perks; should be one of the more marketed features, as a robot is supposed to function unattended - often times when home is vacant and dark! Absolutely love it! For the price and the performance, this is a must-buy for robot vacuum shoppers!Now, I need to mention several of out-fo-the-box cons; one of which has been resolved, the other, from what I hear, will be resolved, the last of which may be resolved with help of Amazon (Alexa) and app dev:1. Error 5...error 5...error 5. This was a recurring theme within the first few days. The robot would stop completely, notify via audible voice from robot itself and app. Error 5 occurs when the main brush becomes jammed, prompting the user to 'un-jam'...which is actually quite easy; but, this required constant attention. Now, you could override this by simply resuming remotely, but the user wouldn't know if the brush was truly jammed. Most of the times, the brush was indeed jammed with hair that had gotten tangled mostly in the space between the axle and rotor fittings. It occurred so regularly that my heart began to sink because I feared I'd need to return a robot that I loved for all other reasons. I did try to rectify initially with vinyl electrical tape to better seal said gap to prevent entanglement; but, that only delayed the inevitable error 5. But, wait! After researching online, I learned there is a 'Carpet Mode' in the app’s peripheral vacuum settings that, when activated, supposedly enables maximum suction and main brush roller agitation upon sensing carpeting. After activating, I was a bit nervous; but, lo and behold, the darned function worked...and resolved the issue...no more error 5...and no more tangles! Amazing! I understand why this carpet mode is a selection and not a default mode…higher suction and more vigorous brush action requires more battery which is less economical; however, in that the robot has an automatic recharge and resume function that resumes right where it left off after charging in addition to the battery life being one of the largest of the robots we’d researched (5200mAh), I’d suggest having this carpet mode engaged by default.2. The less-refined Roborock app. Now, I know there is an alternative Mi-home app that's a universal smart app for multiple devices from a third party that has more features; but, I wanted to stick with the manufacturer-sponsored app. This is a Chinese product; so, there are a few English-based grammatical errors you'd expect from non-native speakers...those are trivial. My biggest gripes are the layout itself, the clunkiness of the mapping, and lack of storing multiple floor maps. First, the layout, some menu items (like the schedule /timer or the aforementioned carpet mode) that are buried in places that should be more prominent as they're features that are more routinely used. Second, the mapping system. Again, part of this is the function that actually enables map memory is a toggle that actively needs to be selected by the user, and is located in a peripheral menu. Why is this not just natively enabled by default? It does, in its current state, save multiple back-up versions of the map in case the user accidentally deletes or needs to redo an edit. Speaking of the edit, the editing needs to be refined. Currently, the edit modes are partitioned into ‘room’, ‘no-go’ and ‘entire map’ - this could easily be integrated into one edit menu. Also, even though the map can be partitioned into sections, there is no way to label/name each section which may be nice with things like Alexa. Speaking of partitions...when the original run that maps is complete, the robot’s algorithm tries its hardest to define sections; but, we needed to refine it. The split function to manually separate sections is a bit wonky…it ultimately worked; but, took several edit retries. Now, all these things re. app being said, I’ve read from 2020 CES reports, Roborock is working to polish and improve their app, specifically enabling the ability to map and memorize multiple floors. This would be great, as we would love to be able to have our robot vacuum and mop (yes, there is a mop function) both floors.3. This is the least important; even though Alexa is a big part of the routines governing other sections of the house. Alexa seems to have limited functionality with the Roborock app skill enabled…allowing simple vocal commands like clean (entire house), stop, return to station. I have yet to be able to have Alexa recognize the device so that routines can be enabled. I’ve had no trouble finding my other 20+ devices. This has been reported to be an app issue. It would also be nice, as stated earlier, to be able to label the rooms by name, and then be able to vocally request Alexa to have the robot to clean certain rooms / sections.Anyway, overall, this is an exceptional robot that does everything it advertises. We love it, and highly recommend it!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019
Seriously I was AMAZED how good this cleaning robot was. I've always been skeptical about cleaning robots aimlessly bumping about the house all day "cleaning." However there is a HUGE difference between a robot that cleans aimlessly and one that cleans methodically. This robot is the later. Even when I heard that it is a methodical cleaning, I was highly skeptical about its capabilities. I figured it'd get lost, get stuck, become trapped and die not being able to go back to its charger, etc. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
The robot works by spinning a laser on its head that maps out its surroundings and crates a map of your home. The laser is surprisingly accurate, I can see individual chair legs and sofa legs of my furniture on the map. It then rolls around your home creating a physical border that defines the rooms. It then "fills in" the map area in sections with consistent back and forth runs.
The best feature of the robot is that it's surprisingly smart in its path-finding. It doesn't just reject an area as soon as it bumps into something like chair leg or even a wayward movable object. It tries to CIRCLE around the obstruction. The difference is that it squeezes itself into the nooks and crannies of hard to reach objects to clean them instead of just leaving them blank. The first time my robot bumped into my chair leg, I thought "Oh great" it'll think that it's a wall and nothing under the chair will be cleaned." Instead it kept probing itself around the leg and eventually squeezed itself between the chair legs and cleaned underneath the seat. Furthermore, the chair was next to a row of other bar stools creating a tunnel of legs and the robot squeezed itself between all the legs and cleaned underneath them. It astonished me even more that it found its way back out of the tunnel of legs and back onto its route!!!
I'm constantly expecting it to get stuck somewhere and get lost leaving entire areas of my home uncleaned but so far it has not happened. It even works on my rugs (low to medium pile carpets) quite well - going from carpet to hardwood floor with ease. Others have complained about carpet use but so far it's not been a problem for me. The only problem I've had so far was that it can't cross the bit of marble floor stop that separates my living room from the bathroom. The floor stop seems to be too high for it to climb over. Finally it does not do well with cables and wires. Loose charging USB phone cables and extension chords get tangled in its rollers and once I found it back at its charging station with an iPhone USB charger stuck inside. It dragged the cable around the entire apartment. I've learned to secure loose cables so they don't get in the way. It is a vacuum after all and all vacuums' weaknesses are loose cables. Additionally I've noticed since it maps with a laser, I have a floor mirror that reflects the light. My robot thinks my floor mirror is a magical portal to a new dimension.
Noise is surprisingly quiet. I was expecting a hive of angry bees but it's a dim hum. There's not even a huge difference between the "balanced" and "max" speeds. I actually fell asleep once while it was cleaning. In terms of suction, it's not as good as a dedicated vacuum like a Dyson. I've tested by throwing a few torn pieces of tissue paper next to it while it was running. The tissue paper didn't get sucked up. It only sucks up items right underneath it, which is find considering it runs in tight parallel lines around your home for max coverage.
The app and Alexa integration is also great. I set biweekly cleaning schedules when I'm not home to maintain a high level of cleanliness. It's so smart and dependable that I feel comfortable with it running without any monitoring. I can be at work and track its progress on my phone. I can also tell it to clean a specific area on the phone app, draw a do not enter area, or divide the apartment by rooms to clean a specific room. Finally the Alexa integration is also great, I can easily tell Alexa to clean the apartment. It also has a great spot cleaning feature where you pick up the robot, and clean the spot-cleaning button and it will clean a small area where it was placed.
I have not tried the mopping feature yet. By most review accounts it's not great as it just drags a wet rag around the room. It also doesn't stop on carpets so you'll get a wet carpet from using it. I'm not expecting much but I primarily use it for vacuuming anyways.
If you're looking for a robot vacuum, I wholeheartedly recommend this! This is so much better than "dumb" robots that bump around randomly. Cleaning my 780 square foot apartment takes approximately 45-50 minutes which is surprisingly fast and took only 35-40% of my battery. Every time it runs, I'm constantly surprised by how effortless and smart the path-finding is. Until now I was never a believer of artificial intelligence but I am now!
All hail our new mechanical overlords!
(Please leave an upvote, thanks)
We named her GlaDos, she talks with her friend Alexa and they both LOOOVE humans!
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019
I'm pretty sure she talks to Alexa and the two of then are plotting to take over the world and enslave humanity. Good thing a good USB cable can easily put a stop to their plans...Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2019
Seriously I was AMAZED how good this cleaning robot was. I've always been skeptical about cleaning robots aimlessly bumping about the house all day "cleaning." However there is a HUGE difference between a robot that cleans aimlessly and one that cleans methodically. This robot is the later. Even when I heard that it is a methodical cleaning, I was highly skeptical about its capabilities. I figured it'd get lost, get stuck, become trapped and die not being able to go back to its charger, etc. BOY WAS I WRONG!!!
The robot works by spinning a laser on its head that maps out its surroundings and crates a map of your home. The laser is surprisingly accurate, I can see individual chair legs and sofa legs of my furniture on the map. It then rolls around your home creating a physical border that defines the rooms. It then "fills in" the map area in sections with consistent back and forth runs.
The best feature of the robot is that it's surprisingly smart in its path-finding. It doesn't just reject an area as soon as it bumps into something like chair leg or even a wayward movable object. It tries to CIRCLE around the obstruction. The difference is that it squeezes itself into the nooks and crannies of hard to reach objects to clean them instead of just leaving them blank. The first time my robot bumped into my chair leg, I thought "Oh great" it'll think that it's a wall and nothing under the chair will be cleaned." Instead it kept probing itself around the leg and eventually squeezed itself between the chair legs and cleaned underneath the seat. Furthermore, the chair was next to a row of other bar stools creating a tunnel of legs and the robot squeezed itself between all the legs and cleaned underneath them. It astonished me even more that it found its way back out of the tunnel of legs and back onto its route!!!
I'm constantly expecting it to get stuck somewhere and get lost leaving entire areas of my home uncleaned but so far it has not happened. It even works on my rugs (low to medium pile carpets) quite well - going from carpet to hardwood floor with ease. Others have complained about carpet use but so far it's not been a problem for me. The only problem I've had so far was that it can't cross the bit of marble floor stop that separates my living room from the bathroom. The floor stop seems to be too high for it to climb over. Finally it does not do well with cables and wires. Loose charging USB phone cables and extension chords get tangled in its rollers and once I found it back at its charging station with an iPhone USB charger stuck inside. It dragged the cable around the entire apartment. I've learned to secure loose cables so they don't get in the way. It is a vacuum after all and all vacuums' weaknesses are loose cables. Additionally I've noticed since it maps with a laser, I have a floor mirror that reflects the light. My robot thinks my floor mirror is a magical portal to a new dimension.
Noise is surprisingly quiet. I was expecting a hive of angry bees but it's a dim hum. There's not even a huge difference between the "balanced" and "max" speeds. I actually fell asleep once while it was cleaning. In terms of suction, it's not as good as a dedicated vacuum like a Dyson. I've tested by throwing a few torn pieces of tissue paper next to it while it was running. The tissue paper didn't get sucked up. It only sucks up items right underneath it, which is find considering it runs in tight parallel lines around your home for max coverage.
The app and Alexa integration is also great. I set biweekly cleaning schedules when I'm not home to maintain a high level of cleanliness. It's so smart and dependable that I feel comfortable with it running without any monitoring. I can be at work and track its progress on my phone. I can also tell it to clean a specific area on the phone app, draw a do not enter area, or divide the apartment by rooms to clean a specific room. Finally the Alexa integration is also great, I can easily tell Alexa to clean the apartment. It also has a great spot cleaning feature where you pick up the robot, and clean the spot-cleaning button and it will clean a small area where it was placed.
I have not tried the mopping feature yet. By most review accounts it's not great as it just drags a wet rag around the room. It also doesn't stop on carpets so you'll get a wet carpet from using it. I'm not expecting much but I primarily use it for vacuuming anyways.
If you're looking for a robot vacuum, I wholeheartedly recommend this! This is so much better than "dumb" robots that bump around randomly. Cleaning my 780 square foot apartment takes approximately 45-50 minutes which is surprisingly fast and took only 35-40% of my battery. Every time it runs, I'm constantly surprised by how effortless and smart the path-finding is. Until now I was never a believer of artificial intelligence but I am now!
All hail our new mechanical overlords!
(Please leave an upvote, thanks)
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2020
My wife and I are in the process of 'smart-tizing' our new home; so, of course, we needed to invest in a robot vacuum. After 'some' research, we initially bought the Shark IQ (more like low-IQ) - disastrous...didn't function as a vacuum or a robot; didn't vacuum anything (lint, hair, dust), and couldn't map the room or find its station...it was like a lost dog roaming around in circles, bumping into walls. Needless to say, we returned it. Subsequently, my wife and I did A LOT more research - Reddit posts, endless YouTube videos, tech reviews, etc...stumbling upon this lesser-known robot - Roborock S6. In that it was only offered for sale via Amazon or eBay, we were a bit skeptical, but the reviews were unanimous...excellent performance.
Enter the S6. Due to our previous experience, I was leery out of the box, nervously syncing the bot to app and network. I have to say, despite a recurring error (5) within the first few days (resolved, see below) and a less-polished app, the robot is amazing. It mapped our entire upstairs (600 sq ft) in 1 run, and vacuumed the carpet (all carpeted floors) impressively. It runs in complete darkness due to its laser optics which is one of the lesser-known perks; should be one of the more marketed features, as a robot is supposed to function unattended - often times when home is vacant and dark! Absolutely love it! For the price and the performance, this is a must-buy for robot vacuum shoppers!
Now, I need to mention several of out-fo-the-box cons; one of which has been resolved, the other, from what I hear, will be resolved, the last of which may be resolved with help of Amazon (Alexa) and app dev:
1. Error 5...error 5...error 5. This was a recurring theme within the first few days. The robot would stop completely, notify via audible voice from robot itself and app. Error 5 occurs when the main brush becomes jammed, prompting the user to 'un-jam'...which is actually quite easy; but, this required constant attention. Now, you could override this by simply resuming remotely, but the user wouldn't know if the brush was truly jammed. Most of the times, the brush was indeed jammed with hair that had gotten tangled mostly in the space between the axle and rotor fittings. It occurred so regularly that my heart began to sink because I feared I'd need to return a robot that I loved for all other reasons. I did try to rectify initially with vinyl electrical tape to better seal said gap to prevent entanglement; but, that only delayed the inevitable error 5. But, wait! After researching online, I learned there is a 'Carpet Mode' in the app’s peripheral vacuum settings that, when activated, supposedly enables maximum suction and main brush roller agitation upon sensing carpeting. After activating, I was a bit nervous; but, lo and behold, the darned function worked...and resolved the issue...no more error 5...and no more tangles! Amazing! I understand why this carpet mode is a selection and not a default mode…higher suction and more vigorous brush action requires more battery which is less economical; however, in that the robot has an automatic recharge and resume function that resumes right where it left off after charging in addition to the battery life being one of the largest of the robots we’d researched (5200mAh), I’d suggest having this carpet mode engaged by default.
2. The less-refined Roborock app. Now, I know there is an alternative Mi-home app that's a universal smart app for multiple devices from a third party that has more features; but, I wanted to stick with the manufacturer-sponsored app. This is a Chinese product; so, there are a few English-based grammatical errors you'd expect from non-native speakers...those are trivial. My biggest gripes are the layout itself, the clunkiness of the mapping, and lack of storing multiple floor maps. First, the layout, some menu items (like the schedule /timer or the aforementioned carpet mode) that are buried in places that should be more prominent as they're features that are more routinely used. Second, the mapping system. Again, part of this is the function that actually enables map memory is a toggle that actively needs to be selected by the user, and is located in a peripheral menu. Why is this not just natively enabled by default? It does, in its current state, save multiple back-up versions of the map in case the user accidentally deletes or needs to redo an edit. Speaking of the edit, the editing needs to be refined. Currently, the edit modes are partitioned into ‘room’, ‘no-go’ and ‘entire map’ - this could easily be integrated into one edit menu. Also, even though the map can be partitioned into sections, there is no way to label/name each section which may be nice with things like Alexa. Speaking of partitions...when the original run that maps is complete, the robot’s algorithm tries its hardest to define sections; but, we needed to refine it. The split function to manually separate sections is a bit wonky…it ultimately worked; but, took several edit retries. Now, all these things re. app being said, I’ve read from 2020 CES reports, Roborock is working to polish and improve their app, specifically enabling the ability to map and memorize multiple floors. This would be great, as we would love to be able to have our robot vacuum and mop (yes, there is a mop function) both floors.
3. This is the least important; even though Alexa is a big part of the routines governing other sections of the house. Alexa seems to have limited functionality with the Roborock app skill enabled…allowing simple vocal commands like clean (entire house), stop, return to station. I have yet to be able to have Alexa recognize the device so that routines can be enabled. I’ve had no trouble finding my other 20+ devices. This has been reported to be an app issue. It would also be nice, as stated earlier, to be able to label the rooms by name, and then be able to vocally request Alexa to have the robot to clean certain rooms / sections.
Anyway, overall, this is an exceptional robot that does everything it advertises. We love it, and highly recommend it!
Enter the S6. Due to our previous experience, I was leery out of the box, nervously syncing the bot to app and network. I have to say, despite a recurring error (5) within the first few days (resolved, see below) and a less-polished app, the robot is amazing. It mapped our entire upstairs (600 sq ft) in 1 run, and vacuumed the carpet (all carpeted floors) impressively. It runs in complete darkness due to its laser optics which is one of the lesser-known perks; should be one of the more marketed features, as a robot is supposed to function unattended - often times when home is vacant and dark! Absolutely love it! For the price and the performance, this is a must-buy for robot vacuum shoppers!
Now, I need to mention several of out-fo-the-box cons; one of which has been resolved, the other, from what I hear, will be resolved, the last of which may be resolved with help of Amazon (Alexa) and app dev:
1. Error 5...error 5...error 5. This was a recurring theme within the first few days. The robot would stop completely, notify via audible voice from robot itself and app. Error 5 occurs when the main brush becomes jammed, prompting the user to 'un-jam'...which is actually quite easy; but, this required constant attention. Now, you could override this by simply resuming remotely, but the user wouldn't know if the brush was truly jammed. Most of the times, the brush was indeed jammed with hair that had gotten tangled mostly in the space between the axle and rotor fittings. It occurred so regularly that my heart began to sink because I feared I'd need to return a robot that I loved for all other reasons. I did try to rectify initially with vinyl electrical tape to better seal said gap to prevent entanglement; but, that only delayed the inevitable error 5. But, wait! After researching online, I learned there is a 'Carpet Mode' in the app’s peripheral vacuum settings that, when activated, supposedly enables maximum suction and main brush roller agitation upon sensing carpeting. After activating, I was a bit nervous; but, lo and behold, the darned function worked...and resolved the issue...no more error 5...and no more tangles! Amazing! I understand why this carpet mode is a selection and not a default mode…higher suction and more vigorous brush action requires more battery which is less economical; however, in that the robot has an automatic recharge and resume function that resumes right where it left off after charging in addition to the battery life being one of the largest of the robots we’d researched (5200mAh), I’d suggest having this carpet mode engaged by default.
2. The less-refined Roborock app. Now, I know there is an alternative Mi-home app that's a universal smart app for multiple devices from a third party that has more features; but, I wanted to stick with the manufacturer-sponsored app. This is a Chinese product; so, there are a few English-based grammatical errors you'd expect from non-native speakers...those are trivial. My biggest gripes are the layout itself, the clunkiness of the mapping, and lack of storing multiple floor maps. First, the layout, some menu items (like the schedule /timer or the aforementioned carpet mode) that are buried in places that should be more prominent as they're features that are more routinely used. Second, the mapping system. Again, part of this is the function that actually enables map memory is a toggle that actively needs to be selected by the user, and is located in a peripheral menu. Why is this not just natively enabled by default? It does, in its current state, save multiple back-up versions of the map in case the user accidentally deletes or needs to redo an edit. Speaking of the edit, the editing needs to be refined. Currently, the edit modes are partitioned into ‘room’, ‘no-go’ and ‘entire map’ - this could easily be integrated into one edit menu. Also, even though the map can be partitioned into sections, there is no way to label/name each section which may be nice with things like Alexa. Speaking of partitions...when the original run that maps is complete, the robot’s algorithm tries its hardest to define sections; but, we needed to refine it. The split function to manually separate sections is a bit wonky…it ultimately worked; but, took several edit retries. Now, all these things re. app being said, I’ve read from 2020 CES reports, Roborock is working to polish and improve their app, specifically enabling the ability to map and memorize multiple floors. This would be great, as we would love to be able to have our robot vacuum and mop (yes, there is a mop function) both floors.
3. This is the least important; even though Alexa is a big part of the routines governing other sections of the house. Alexa seems to have limited functionality with the Roborock app skill enabled…allowing simple vocal commands like clean (entire house), stop, return to station. I have yet to be able to have Alexa recognize the device so that routines can be enabled. I’ve had no trouble finding my other 20+ devices. This has been reported to be an app issue. It would also be nice, as stated earlier, to be able to label the rooms by name, and then be able to vocally request Alexa to have the robot to clean certain rooms / sections.
Anyway, overall, this is an exceptional robot that does everything it advertises. We love it, and highly recommend it!
Images in this review
