I’ve been reviewing robot vacuums for almost a decade, and one question I hear repeatedly is “When will it clean my stairs?”
Well, we finally have an answer. Sort of. At CES 2026 this week, Roborock launched the Saros Rover, a robot vacuum with articulating legs on wheels that let it climb a full staircase in order to clean multiple floors and also clean each step along the way.
I saw a live demo of the Rover on the show floor, and it was impressive. Its legs move in a froglike manner, fluidly and with lots of flexibility. It can raise and lower each one independently, do small jumps, and change direction quickly — moving much more smoothly than most robot vacuums.
I’m skeptical this will eliminate the dust bunnies on my stairs, but it’s a big step up
As for stairs, it climbed them by using its legs to lift its body, then lowering itself onto the step before pivoting on one leg to vacuum along it. It then proceeded to the next step.
The process was fairly slow, taking just under three minutes to climb five stairs, and there were a few moments where it teetered on the edge of a step and I was sure it was going to tumble backwards — but it didn’t. While I’m skeptical that this will entirely eliminate the dust bunnies in the corners of my stairs, it’s a big step up for sure.
The Saros also successfully navigated a slope, rolling down it smoothly with control. Roborock said its engine enables it to brake and stop, turn around, and move backward up a slope. In the demo, it also did a small hop, which should let it navigate multi-level room thresholds by jumping over them.
I’m told the Rover can climb down stairs using the same method it does going up, and can also go up and down without vacuuming if you want it to move a bit faster, say, to clean your upstairs rooms.
Roborock says the Rover will be able to climb almost any staircase, including traditional, curved, spiral, and carpeted staircases with bullnose fronts. Although the stairs I saw it demoed on were wide, flat, and straight. All of this combined should mean the Rover can access every room of your house.
There are no specs or a release date for Rover. But the company says it is a real product in development. Roborock is moving cautiously here following the poorly reviewed Saros Z70, its robot vacuum with an arm. “It will take a while to reach the market,” Ruben Rodriguez of Roborock told The Verge.
Additionally, the Rover is currently only a vacuum; it doesn’t have a mopping system. “We’re still working out which of our mop systems will work or whether we do a different thing altogether,” said Rodriguez.
The evolution of the robot vacuum
We knew this was coming. At CES last year, Roborock and Dreame both debuted vacuums with arms; Dreame’s even had little legs (not staircase-climbing appendages but small propellers that enable it to get over small steps).
Then, at IFA 2025, several companies rolled out stair lifts for robot vacuums. The first vacuum robot that can walk up and down your stairs, while also cleaning them, felt inevitable. It’s impressive, but whether it will be practical and affordable remains to be seen.
Roborock hasn’t given Rover a robotic arm yet, but it’s just a matter of time
What’s really remarkable is what this signals. Robot vacuums are evolving faster than ever. From simple disc bots that just sucked up dirt to machines that can pick up clutter, clean more than just your floors, and even climb stairs, they’re becoming more capable.
Roborock hasn’t given Rover a robotic arm yet, but it’s just a matter of time. All of which indicates that the path to the humanoid home robot may start from the ground up.
