Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra: Deep Clean, Hands-Free Experience

Maneuverability, Navigation, Suction, AI Cleaning, and Obstacle Avoidance are just some of the wins that the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra have.

Initially I was deciding between the Dreame X40 Ultra and the Roborock MaxV Ultra. With a superior construction and upgraded mop pads with VibraRise 3.0 I leaned towards the Roborock and I’m glad I did.

From the app to the AI features where the robot cleans based on what it think is best, I was incredibly excited!! At first I thought the Voice Assistant would be redundant but it’s so easy to use “Hello Rocky”. It’s my go to now.

In the end what separates this unit from the others is that it comes with a 5 year warranty. Customer Service is amazing and 24/7. Parts are always available and it’s just a quality company to deal with. The new side mop cleaner sounds gimmicky but it really works well and get up to the edge.

Very happy with this purchase and recommend it highly!! Search no more, this is the vacuum to beat.

I've had a Roomba i7, actually four of them because they had issues, so iRobot's solution was to send a refurbished one.

The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is so much better than the Roomba i7 in every aspect, except maybe the dustbin size, and the base vacuum suction to empty the dust bin. I've had the tube clog 2 or 3 times due to the dog hair it picks up.

I love the mop and vacuum on the same robot. The Roborock is smart enough to lift the mop when it goes across our rugs, and it lifts the brushes when I only want to mop.

Unlike the iRobot Braava, the S8 cleans it's own mop pad when it detects it's dirty, and then continues to mop, leaving a clean floor. Not streaky like the Braava.

The two tank system, and the separate detergent container, make it easy to keep the S8 ready to mop.

The app works well, once you find where to schedule the runs. I like that it shows the patch the unit took in each room.

The latest offering from roborock ups the competition game. Side brush definitely gets the edges clear. Side mop brush ensures dust doesn’t lag behind. Suction appears to work but we’ll see the the Dyson upright sucks out of the carpet after a few weeks of the s8 ultra maxv has its time in the sun. I like having the detergent dispenser. One less thing to mess with when filling the water. I miss the removable mop pad attachment vs now having to remove the robot, flip it over like a newborn and change its diaper. I don’t like the tiny Philips screw they used to attach the side mop pad. I really don’t like having to stand at the faucet holding the water canister open so that it doesn’t close while the water’s running. And I think the mop drying feature is nice but it sucks a lot of electricity so that features been turned off. I’ll save that money for the air conditioner to run when the summer heat sets in.

It mapped my whole 2nd floor in less than 15 minutes. Vacuums and mops my floor as good as I could do manually. It doesn't run into anything like the iRobot that I used to own. I also have a Roborock S7 Max Ultra that also works well. I really like the automatic detergent dispenser on the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra. The mop lifts about 3/4" so it can mop a floor and then vacuum carpet without getting the carpet wet. I start both robots when I take my dog to the dog park on Saturdays. The whole house has been vacuumed and mopped when I get home in about an hour. All I have to do is empty the dirty mop water and top off the fresh water tanks. Both robots clean the mop, empty the dirt, and refill the robot with water. The only negative I have with the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is with the "Hello Rocky" voice control. The application doesn't allow me to custom name my rooms and the 11 provided room names provided are not sufficient. The list has only 1 bathroom, no closet, no office, etc. The voice control is not usable for me.

There was some hiccups with Amazon delivery, but I'm overall impressed with this vaccume. I have always used iRobot for the last 15 years or so. Roborock came highly recommended by a friend when I'm ready to replace one of the old iRobot. It was the best decision ever.

Noise: The noise level was low!!! I meant super low. My iRobot was loud, and this roborock merely made any noise!

Zone clean: I must say, this is my favorite function. I'm sure any family with kids will appreciate this functionality. I was able to call for it to clean the dining area after dinner to pick up and clean the crumbs lefted by my kiddos.

View: it tells me what was in the way and asked if it should be avoid. I LOVE it. I often forgot to remove things out of the away and it took photos of things that obstructed the cleaning path, so I can remove it for the next scheduled clean or call it back for a zone clean.

Water tank: the clean water tank last about 5 days for the entire bed rooms area which was pretty good in my opinion. The robot tells you when it's due for a refill and clean, and there are red lights on top of the machine to alert you.

I have a photo of the pre clean area(because I forgot to remove the kids stool out of the way) and after clean. It does a very good job on cleaning it was in a standard cleaning cycle. There is a deep cleaning cycle as option but at the time of photo, I wanted to see how the standard cycle turns out. For our bathroom area, we appreciated it for the printless extra clean floor after mopping.

I understood all they hype my friends had for this machine and I'm for sure impressed and would recommend it to anyone looking for a robot vacuum and mop.

Waited in anticipation for the release of this S8 MaxV Ultra robot vac and mop unit. It's a hefty 30 lbs, but it actually helps it navigate thresholds and carpets better than are older 6 lb Shark. The dock is an important component to automating the mop cleaning and dust bin emptying. Say bye bye to mixing soap and water. It has a separate soap dispenser. Clean and dirty water bins are easy to lift, fill, empty, install. No leaks! The bot program is 100 times better than our Shark, which we liked, but often called stupid as the Shark would often bang into the same thing multiple times, get stuck, and get lost. The S8 MaxV Ultra uses a color camera, built-in headlight, and lidar in addition to a typical bot bumper. But it never hits anything! We did get it stuck once, but it was our fault. So reliable, we can let it run and forget it is even there. It will approach, slow down, and maybe gently touch to confirm.... once... Way more "intelligent" in mapping and following the map! Map has more details like the AI feature will auto-mark carpets and rugs. You can place furniture icons, no-go zones, invisible walls, and other things on the map. App has features that no other bots have. Remote Control with POV! Ya, literally, take your bot for a drive remotely while looking through it's front camera! Built-in voice assistant allows you to talk directly to the bot even if the Internet is down. Haven't played with the pet search a bunch yet, as our cats know how to evade well. Overall, superb job out of the box!
Biggest complaint is the lack of plain directions. Lots of picture based directions with a separate booklet to explain the pics. App directions aren't much better. Basic instructions are there. How to use features are not. Would love to see directions on how to search for your pet. I think I figured it out, but it isn't readily obvious. If you can setup your own tech gear, you're good to go. If the TV remote baffles you, you're gonna need some help.

This is replacing a Roborock S6 MaxV that's performed dutifully for the last few years but for whatever reason has started to get itself trapped, often losing orientation and not being able to complete a full cleaning cycle without manual intervention.

Initial impressions are very positive, like the S6 MaxV it's replacing we have it automated through Alexa to clean the house whenever we leave the and stop (return to dock) as soon as we return. The initial mapping this S8 created was incredibly precise, with a cleaning path so structured and efficient its like it knew our home's layout already (hmm?).

This is the first time we've used an auto-dock and so far it's a significant quality of life upgrade as it automates the water refilling / mop cleaning that I'd typically neglect just due to all the manual work involved. Our floors going forward are going to be that much cleaner because of this. I imagine the waste water bucket will get grimy over time so it may be a good idea to spray some disinfectant / bleach inside to inhibit bacteria growth (our next house will definitely be plumbed to take advantage of the auto-auto dock variant).

It seems every time there's a new Roborock release there's a contingent of paranoid delusionals lamenting the fact that there's cameras for remote viewing, microphones for voice controls, and other potentially privacy infringing capabilities. If you're one of these people I don't know how to break this to you but get over yourself, you're not that interesting. Rogue Roborock employees, black hat hackers, or *gasp* the CCP!!1 have better things to do than check if your carpet matches the drapes.

Time will tell if the S8 will start to degrade in its performance like our S6, but thus far it's more efficient in both it's battery use (cleans more surface area of our home before recharging, but still can't complete the entire floor on a single charge), produces a deeper clean, and is more convenient to maintain. It's basically an upgrade in all areas but of course is also more than double the price.

I bought this at full price, I did not get this for free.

I've had many different Roborocks over the years. While this one is the most advanced, it does carry a big price tag. Overall, it's decent but needs work. Software fixes can fix many of these.

Notable issues I've found:

- Flexibrush only works when you set the vacuum to a 'full' clean. In this mode, when it hits a corner, it quickly extends but then stops because it encounters resistance. This is seen in Roborock's own promotional video. Additionally, it only briefly extends to clean under things like counter tops and stoves, not nearly long enough for the full length clean.

- When cleaning the mop, it only uses 100 F, not 140 F as advertised.

- When it's vacuuming in a dark area, it turns on a front 'fill light' that is very, very bright. This makes night time cleaning impossible. You can turn it off but that greatly reduces its ability to avoid things.

- Unable to detect if mop is wet and doesn't always dry mop. For example, if you finished doing a cleaning; after it docks, and then you run 'pin and go', afterwards, it won't automatically dry the wet mop on return.

- Take pictures of your pet? Why would I use a camera that takes blurry 240p pictures? Video is equally poor.

- Unable to clear thresholds above .25 inches. Other Roborocks can, this can't (see photo).

- Often takes the long way around.

- If you use an individual room clean or 'Pin and Go', if it fails once or twice, it will never try again, it won't move and say "can't reach target point."

- Before it leaves the dock, it will always clean the mop, even if you set it to only vacuum something. It'll then need to dry the unused mop afterwards. This is very time consuming and wasteful.

- Noticeably taller than other Roborocks which hinders it from going under shorter furniture.

- Sometimes gets lost finding the dock.

- Sometimes completely rams into things (I've seen this with different colored table legs several times).

- The lens you need to clean on the vacuum scratch very easily.

- Eats cords for breakfast.

I am indecisive about buying a product, whether $5 or $1500. Those who know me tend to tell me I'm "bougie." I personally just like to purchase the best quality products at the most effective price. While I do not feel the highest quality items come at the highest price tag, a few items are not worth skimping the money on. This product is one of them.

That being said, I'm eternally grateful that I purchased this Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop. As the review headline states - I am very, genuinely impressed.

Before trying the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, I tried the Shark Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Self-Empty XL. I have no complaints about that robot. I just instantly knew it was not the robot for me.

After returning the Shark robovac at BestBuy, I ordered the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra on Amazon. It got here in less than two days.

*INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:*
It usually takes a lot to impress me. However, I was instantly impressed with the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra - including the box it came in. I'm not sure how to explain; however, the preciseness of the edges of the box not only satisfied my OCD nature but also let me subconsciously know that a lot of detail went into the design and packaging of the product. Even the anti-tamper box seal tape included irresistibly satisfying detail. When you peeled the anti-tamper seal tape, the Roborock logo magically appeared in a consistent, diagonal pattern across the sealing tape. Self = SOLD.

Disassembling the shipping box was just as satisfying as it was a breeze. The smell of a new electronic is also very pleasing to me - that's what I got unboxing the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra. Fitted styrofoam protected the entirety of the Roborock robot, docking station, and other parts and accessories that came in the box.

*SET UP:*
I usually dread setting up new complex devices due to needing to figure out how detailed the process will be. I was (yet again) pleasantly surprised with how simple the setup of the Roborock dock process was. The app was also straightforward to use for setup purposes. Most electronic phone applications can be wishy-washy. That was different from my initial impression of the Roborock app for iPhone. After just under one month of use, my opinion remains the same.

The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is essentially a plug-and-play style device. All I did was take the robot and dock out of the box, fill the clean water tank with filtered water, and have been using it with ease ever since.

*AFTER ONE MONTH OF USE:*
I'm still genuinely impressed every time I use this robot vacuum and mop. Usually, the lavender haze stage quickly wears off on me. With the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, Christmas is every day around here. I will never be able to clean my floors as well as this robot. It offended me (not really) as I am a true clean freak. It definitely showed me up.

The cleaning power is simply outstanding. I love having clean floors every day if I want to. After emptying it for the first time, what really "told" me that this robot vacuum and mop was doing the "tough job" was how dirty the dirty water tank was. After about one week of daily use, I had first to empty the dirty water tank. I have three cats, and the vacuum filter has yet to signal to need to be replaced (I have auto emptying turned to "smart" in the Roborock app).

I caution anyone to be aware that the dirty water tank can and will be a bit funky smelling due to the nature of the water - it's dirty water! The same thing goes for the auto wash station on the dock. I decided to use a gentle hypochlorous acid disinfectant spray to clean and disinfect the dirty water tank and the auto wash station on the dock as necessary to avoid any funky smells. The hypochlorous acid cleaner does the deodorizing OK.

I have yet to use the OMO Robodock cleaner with the clean water tank. I like to keep things in my house on the natural side - so I'm on the fence about using a dash of the Roborock specially formulated OMO cleaner "here and there" in the clean water tank.

The AI obstacle avoidance functions well. I noticed a day ago that the robot seemed to run over a white extension cord. While I did expect that not to happen, I blamed myself for leaving it on the ground while the robot was cleaning. I believe I was doing it for testing purposes. The robot does, however, avoid my iPhone charger and a black extension cord lying on the floor.

*THE APP:*
The app is relatively simple to use and is a well-designed app. I have not encountered any flaws within the app: no crashing, bugs, or delays. I am using the app on an iPhone.

I like that I can tell the Roborock S7 robot which rooms I want to clean, how many times I want them cleaned, when to wash the mop, etc.

I am not impressed with the matrix functioning of mapping the floor. I use the 2D and 3D versions of the map, although using either genuinely does not make a difference to me.

I have not gotten the chance to really explore all of the features of this Roborock robot or app. However, I am truly finding new features I was unaware of the more I dig around in the app and user settings. Hence, I am continuing to be impressed.

I am a huge fan of how customizable the app makes the Roborock S7 experience feel.

*WHAT I WAS NOT EXPECTING:*
I was unsure about buying this Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra compared to the Narwal cleaning robot a couple of months ago. I was hesitant to buy the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra because I did not realize sooner that the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra DOES clean its mop. Suppose I had known that sooner, and I would have it ordered sooner. I am glad I eventually discovered that it does wash its mop. Otherwise, I would have never ordered it.

I also did not expect the Roborock S7 to have an LED flashlight to help it see in dark/low-lit rooms. It does not drain the battery life at all.

I was also shocked to find out (as mentioned before) the funky smell of the dirty water tank and slightly from the auto wash station. You must get down close to the auto wash station to smell it. Still, I'm not too fond of that. However, this issue is easily fixable with a bit of cleaning power and maintenance.

Lastly, I was not expecting the dock to not come with a dryer module. I was annoyed, although impressed that this is a separate module for purchase that does seem reasonably priced. So, there's that.

*LAST COMMENTS:*
There are too many pros to this Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra for the cons even to become considerably noticeable. The high price tag initially threw me off. However, after one month of usage, the price is unshakeably justifiable. The cleaning power is phenomenal (for lack of a more satisfactory description). This robot vacuum gets five stars and an A+ in my book. I advise anyone I know (and don't know) to try it out. I can't sing my praises enough or loud enough. I am genuinely happy that I purchased this Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra. I understand the S8 has recently announced for launch to come out for purchase. While I'm sure the S8 will impress others, I can not be happier with this one (S7 MaxV Ultra). The S7 and S8 features are not all that different and warrant the purchase of the newer version (in my opinion). There, this thing is the icing on the cake. Very happy customer!

I hate vacuuming. Always have. Unfortunately, in the division of chores in our house, it became my responsibility. So a few years back I got a robot vacuum for xmas, but it was a cheaper one, and it was kinda "meh." Can't remember the brand. It did inspire me to buy a Roborock S4, though, which I loved. Unfortunately, after one too many of my son's charging cords got run over, my S4 finally died around Thanksgiving 2022. Technically, I could have bought replacement parts, but whatever. This was my excuse to upgrade. I did my homework (thank you Vacuum Wars) and opted to stay with the Roborock brand. The S7 Vmax Ultra is way better than I could have hoped! I love the Roborock app. It's easy to use, including setup. I really liked the quick mapping feature on the S7. It allowed me to map the house and set up the rooms and barriers/no-go zones quickly. I thought the automatic division of rooms was so-so, I think I ended up redividing them all manually. With the S7, I am using the scheduling feature to ensure that it runs regularly, as opposed to manually starting the cleaning like I did with the S4. I did not think I'd like the automatic dustbin emptying as much as I do. With my S4, it always felt good seeing the amount of dirt collected when I ran it. However, as my wife pointed out, that always led to a dust cloud on top of the trash can when you threw anything else away, which we don't have now since the S7 dust is all contained in a disposable bag. I did a few unofficial tests with the mop on my kitchen floor. My overall impression is that it is a pretty decent mop. I used to Swiffer it like once a month or so, but now I just let my Roborock do the job on Saturdays while we are out of the house. So that was an unexpected win! We are actually going to remove the carpet in most of the downstairs next year (right now my dining room is carpeted...terrible choice if you ask me), so having the mop for our new flooring will turn out to be really nice. One unexpected byproduct of owning a robot vacuum is it's helped train our son to pick up his toys. When we got the S4, he was fascinated by it, so it was easy to tell him, "Pick up your toys so we can run Rob!" After a while it became a habit which has more or less stuck, although I usually do a visual sweep of the house before I leave for work on the days our S7 runs just to be sure. I guess that's a possible drawback of the bag system, there's no finding any little toys or whatever that get vacuumed up. Luckily, he's old enough now that it's not really an issue. So I guess I've prattled on long enough about all the stuff I love about this machine, so it's time do discuss the negatives, as there are a few. Number one is with the auto scheduling feature, it is lacking in a "skip the next scheduled cleaning" button. Recently my wife was home sick for a day, and I had to go in and manually remove Tuesday from the list of days it was scheduled to run as I didn't want to disturb her if she was asleep on the couch. The automatic dustbin emptying feature is LOUD for like 30 seconds. Not really a complaint, just was unexpected. So a "skip cleaning" button would be nice. Next, while the bag system has it's merits, I really do hate buying something just to throw it away. Having a dumpable bin would be a nice option. Also, it would let you see if anything of value was sucked up. I haven't bought any bags (or other replacement parts) yet, but I'm guessing they aren't super cheap. Next, the obstacle avoidance feature is supposed to identify and avoid stuff left on the floor, but I'm unimpressed. I did a test, and it ran smack into a pair of slippers as well as a belt lying in the middle of the room. Also, it wrapped up a charger cord that had fallen off the table. No damage done, but it did stop the vacuuming that day. Pretty small complaint list, if you ask me. This machine is pricey, don't get me wrong. I did save like $400 by getting a black friday deal, but it's still a lot of money for a vacuum. However, the benefits are very much worth the cost if you can swing it. Our house is so much cleaner than it has ever been. When the morning sun shone in the windows, you used to just SEE the dust floating in the air. That is no longer the case, or at least not nearly as bad. Our allergies are not nearly as bothered as they used to be. Once it's set up, you can mostly forget about it. One improvement I forgot to mention is that I like the brush better on the S7 than the one on the S4. It doesn't have bristles, just rubber fins that seem to do just as good of a job without constantly needing the lint cleaned out of them. My wife has long hair, so be aware that you will still need to clean that off of the brush regularly. I do it once a week using a seam ripper I purchased from a fabric store, as the S7 does not include one like the S4 did. So if you are still reading, thanks! I've really enjoyed writing this review. I can't say enough good things about this machine. While it is not perfect, it has taken a chore that I absolutely hated and never did frequently enough and turned it into a job that takes like 10 minutes of effort a week, and minimal effort at that. For anyone wondering, I've been using my S7 for 3 months as of now. Our downstairs is approximately 900 square feet, with about 2/3 of that being carpet. The remainder is a mix of tile and LVT. It has a multi-level function which I used on the S4, but haven't set up yet on this one. Eventually I will do the upstairs and basement as well since it can store multiple maps for different levels of the house. I run the vacuum 3 days during the week and a vacuum/mop cycle once on the weekend. Sometimes I run it more just cause I can. I like to tell people "I think I'm going to vacuum my house now" while we're out doing something, and then show them the app and start a cycle. I know, I'm a nerd. But my house is clean!

Summary
1. Buy it. It is good enough, maybe the only one that currently is.
2. I’m grading this product on what it is and what it could be. In a sector filled with Ds and Fs, this robot is a solid C maybe a C+
3. To get a meets minimal expectations from me, a C, this product needed to not get stuck, not mop rugs, actually vacuum and mop, be able to work in the dark and be able to run a mission autonomously start to finish including tanking, washing and emptying. It’s apparently the only one in the sector that does the minimum.
I bought this unit during black Friday, 2022 and owned a first generation roomba. I am not an employee of any robot company. I used only publicly available information for this review.
The moderator has my permission to disclose my contact information to both Amazon’s iRobot team and Roborock. Suggest check of uspto and linkedin.
What I liked about it.
1. Good attempt at autonomy.
2. Mopping in the dark under beds is a solid add to personal space cleanliness. Note this is only true if cleaning agents are added to the mop water.
3. Teardown videos show solid construction with use of screws instead of plastic clips.
4. Complete set of replacement parts available.
5. 3 year extended warranty available via Amazon partner.
6. Use of air vacuum pump for dirty water cleanup instead of impeller or diaphragm water pump. Should be more reliable.
7. Use of gravity feed on clean water path.
8. It is possible to integrate directly into water supply and drain using components for the G10S, the Chinese version of the S7 maxv.
9. Internal counterweight to maintain nose trim with full water.
10. Roborock's partner, Xiaomi, provides many details on the S7’s 12 sensor array which includes a gyroscope and a sonar mode for its ultrasonic transducer. See puch list for potential future use.
To get to a C, I had to work around a couple of limitations.
First, like all products in this sector, there are no antibacterial features. This is a real problem for a floor dwelling appliance. Growth and odor in the dirty water tank can be addressed by adding pine sol to the dirty water tank after every empty. Growth and odor in the clean water tank and filter can be addressed by using roborock’s cleaner at twice the concentration. Growth and odor on the pad can be addressed by purchasing the optional drying accessory.
Second, the ir cliff sensors (intended to protect against falling down stairs) false detect on our low pile Persian rugs to the point of crippling the product. Our home is single level and I can use keep out walls and zones where necessary. Unfortunately, the company does not provide a way to disable the cliff sensors. This is understandable because of the risk in multi story homes.
I found open source stl files for 3d printing of sensor covers and a Finnish company on ebay that sells preprinted covers. With the sensors covered, all the navigation issues resolved, cleaning time dramatically improved and power burn per room was reduced.
When the cliff sensors were active, the robot would do things like repeating cleaning under chairs (on the rugs) or getting trapped between rug and wall. Note that it was not physically trapped, the robot appeared to be caught in a loop. I suspect it was getting so many interrupts from the sensors it ran out of memory.
Once again, all this resolved with the sensors covered.
Note that the covers allow the IR sources in the cliff assemblies to be picked up by their paired sensors which effectively defeats the sensors and the product’s ability to detect stairs. Use at your own risk.
The IR approach to cliff sensors seems to be pretty much standard in the sector so all robots may have the same issues to some extent.
User Tips
1. 1 capful of Pine sol in the empty dirty water tank. This is to retard bacteria growth in the tank. Mitigating odor. It’s important to do this because the dirty water tank is filled via a vacuum pump which could become infected if a culture is permitted in the tank. A volatile caustic should not be used in the tank since vapor could corrode the pump.
2. 2 capfuls of roborock cleaner in the fresh water tank. Retards bacteria growth in tank, robot, floor, filter and space under filter.
3. Clean water filter with soap once a week and wipe out under filter.
4. Buy the optional dryer module. Set to 2h at 40% rh, longer for higher rh.
5. Buy Q5+ brushroll. Reduces wear on carpet edges and improves pickup of some types of hair.
6. Buy irobot brushroll cleaning tools. This set of tools easily cuts and clears thread and hair from the brushroll.
7. Use invisible walls and keep out zones around floor openings and stairs.
8. Buy cliff sensor covers (prevents false detection of black rug patterns and edges). Note that this disables the cliff sensors, see item 7 above, use at your own risk.
9. Backup map. Restore from backup when map drifts (fantom walls appear). Map drift is reduced with cliff sensor covers.
10. Position rugs and mats one robot diameter away from walls (14 inches).
11. Select wash mop after each room. Limits cross contamination between floors. For example, from bath to kitchen.
12. Select intense moping for all mopping tasks.
13. Mask floor type detection for rubber mats so they will be mopped.
14. Use carpet tape to fix rubber mats to floor.
15. Initial run under beds and couches should vacuum only (mopping off). Vac+mop OK after initial dust bunnies cleared.
16. Pin bed skirts up on a non appearance side to create a “door” for the robot. The opening should be as wide the robot and hold skirt about 6 inches above the floor.
17. Buy teflon coated hepa filters. Swap and rinse once a week. Blast water from clean side to clear dust. Note that fouled filters impair suction and can overheat a vacuum pump in any appliance.
18. Create keep out zones around floor plants.
19. Create vacuum only, max+, 2x zone cleaning tasks for large area rugs. The zone should include only the rug(s). This causes a criss-cross pattern without cycling to low suction at edges.
20. Using carpet edges shown in map, create vac and mop zones between rugs to mop to edge of rugs.
21. Low angle light reflected off wet, newly mopped, floors may read as a fantom obstacle from certain angles. The AI offers an option to ignore these.
Punch list to get 5 stars.
1. Recognize this is a sanitary appliance. Use active measures to suppress bacteria growth. UVC, silver, zinc, stamped stainless steel bottom and AB coatings. Note that an appliance like this can either be a vector or suppress vectors, there is no neutral.
2. Fix cliff sensors. Reflected IR may be unworkable due to carpet dye absorption in IR band. Worse, some colors may not appear black in visible band but be opaque in ir. Polished stair treads may reflect IR defeating the sensors. Consider ultrasonic ranging (sonar), contrast on nose camera(s), structured light, contact sensor behind nose wheel, secondary nose wheel, nose wheel strain gauge and or tilt (nose down pitch). Note that wheel current will abruptly fall prior to loosing traction downhill.
3. Measure water levels and dust bag capacity.
4. Don’t run a mopping mission without enough water on board. Hint, use strain guage to weigh robot.
5. Don’t attempt to empty dust bin into full bag. This will cause a jam every time.
6. Don’t attempt to move robot when it is restrained. This can move small tables. Hint, monitor wheel motor current when floor type is detected as wood or tile.
7. Don’t attempt to move robot when it experiences high vertical forces. This happens when it is Jammed under an object, child or pet. Hint, use strain gauge to detect excess weight.
8. Allow new tasks to be queued up before current tasks are complete.
9. Allow zones to be rotated.
10. Add an oval shape for rugs.
11. Add triangular table shape.
12. Allow maps to be locked to prevent walls from drifting.
13. Save all tasks and zones with map backups.
14. Consider using ceiling data (vslam) to improve map stability.
15. Fix app crash during HD remote viewing. Happens after a few minutes.
16. Allow zones to be merged (like rooms) to allow for complex zone shapes.
17. Allow zones to be named.
18. Recon rug edges fast with brushroll static and mop retracted. Then vacuum rugs criss-cross without leaving rug. After vacuum phase complete, do hardwood/tile vacuum -mop using rug edges from initial recon. This will limit rug edge wear, shock and vibration on robot transitioning over edges, mop retract deploy cycling and allow mopping to edge of rug. Hint, consider using forward imager contrast plus ultrasound to recon edges. Note straddling edge of carpet, with one wheel on hardwood and one on carpet with robot tilted (roll axis) toward the hardwood is ineffective, causes excess wear on both carpet and robot and should be avoided. Hint, this condition may be detected with optical contrast, a tilt sensor and/or differential wheel current (to maintain a straight line).
19. Pull air to clear dustbin backwards through hepa to clear filter on each empty cycle.
20. Fix flat dirt trap under water filter. Lowest point should be sloped water pickup.
21. Dry dock mop wash assembly after each use.

"Error 5: Main brush jammed. Clean main brush and bearing!"

Buy the Roborock S7MaxV Ultra and you'll probably hear this a lot, especially if you have pets. There is a great deal to love about it, but like most things in life, ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Bottom line: This is a good choice for automated floor cleaning if you (a) don't have pets that shed excessively and need regular light floor cleaning, (b) are willing to do a lot of precleaning/obstacle-removing before you start the unit, and (c) understand you'll be spending a fair amount on consumables.

(and sorry for the long review)

The S7MaxV Ultra is a cleaning robot, as opposed to just a robotic vacuum like the Roomba or less expensive Roborocks. It vacuums, deep-vacuums, mops, and empties/cleans itself when needed. It also, like most "turtle-style" robotic machines, knows when to return to its base station for dinner, i.e., to charge itself back up.

Pros
This is an extremely sophisticated robot compared to the first Roombas: It has on-board cameras that let it locate itself in a 3D space, it creates maps of each zone you want it to clean (although it's not (yet) sophisticated enough to recognize its location and switch assigned maps). It can identify (very generally) obstacles in the room such as sofas, tables, and doors, and map them into its route.

It can also identify temporary obstacles, such as your giant, very hairy dog who seems fascinated by an animate hockey puck and wants to play. (I swear, this thing runs over the dog's paw to get him to back off--the dog has now declared war and growls whenever it hears a vacuum start up).

Its programming allows it to bypass what I call "minor obstacles" such as the edge of a thick carpet, a cord or stick left on the floor, a narrow squeeze between chair legs, etc. It can push itself up and over things if they're not too tall.

You run it from a phone app, which also allows you to view, name and edit the zone maps it makes, and choose the cleaning modes you'd like. It offers vacuum-only, and mop-only, and combined modes, with a power-grabbing "deep vacuum" mode that does a good job of getting up the dirt.

You can schedule cleanings, so that, for example, it could start vacuuming the main space early, before people are awake, or late at night when everyone's asleep and it can work uninterrupted. (Caution about that: This thing is about as loud as a regular vacuum cleaner, so when it's operating no one will be getting much sleep.)

You can send her out to spot-clean an area by going to "pin" and selecting the area that needs cleaning on her map.

She (we named her Maxine Rocksucker, don't ask) is a very talkative beast: She'll tell you when she's charging up, when she's trying to find herself in a space, errors she is encountering, and just basically what she's up to.

She does an excellent job of vacuuming a space, returning to her dock to empty her dirt receptacle whenever necessary. As long as there are no insurmountable obstacles in her path, she will quite happily vacuum the space, then go back home for a charge.

She also mops, with a receptacle for sucking in post-cleaning dirtwater, and another containing fresh water to replenish her mop. She'll clean her own mopping pad, which should still be washed/replaced after one or two full moppings.

Cons
Forget the robots you've seen in the movies, the ones that walk the dog, burp the baby, and have a delicious dinner on the table with a nice chilled chardonnay. Maxine is absolutely NOT a set-it-and-forget-it kinda cleaning robot. She expects you to work right alongside her.

You'll need to "pre-clean" the cleaning area, removing ANYthing that might cause a jam, such as scraps of paper, big leaves, long rug fringes, and tight spaces.

Maxine tends to plunge right in and THEN discover that she's stuck. We've learned to get one small side table off the floor before she starts or she'll be trying to drag it all over the house.

She will valiantly attempt to suck up a shoelace, for example, and five seconds later you'll hear the dreaded "Error 5." The more you use her, the more thorough your pre-clean will become.

Our main living area is about 50 square meters (540 sf) and I'd estimate we get some kind of "come help me" alert from Maxine five or six times per vacuuming run, slightly less for a mopping. We've learned to stay close when Maxine is working.

Mopping is something you should only do when Maxine's already gone through a deep vacuum cycle at least once (we do it twice). She tends to leave stuff after the first pass, and if you go straight to mopping, she'll simply be moving mud around.

Her mopping is fine, but it's not a deep clean--it's more of a maintenance mop between hand-mopping. She's also going in straight, programmed lines, and if the floor was very dirty she'll leave streaky tracks.

About pets
We got Maxine because we have two cats, an outdoorsman (my partner, who is into fishing, hiking, mushrooming, blacksmithing, and anything else that will track in dirt), and a giant, long-haired German Shepherd who sheds about half his body weight in fur every couple of weeks.

Keeping the floors clean is a twice-a-day chore, and we thought Maxine would make it simple: Just schedule her to clean a couple times a day, mop daily, and voila: People stop thinking we have black fur rugs atop dirt floors.

Nope. It's going to take most of the day to get Maxine through a full cleaning cycle (two vacuums plus a mopping). She'll need to recharge her battery 3 times (she goes back to her dock when her battery dips below 20%), and charging takes 60-90 minutes.

Pet hair is the biggest source of delays; Maxine pulls those hairs into her roller brush and felts them into long, hard rolls. They'll get pushed into her vacuum receptacle until they block the entrance, then...Error 5. I'll pull out a double-handful of hairballs--ick--reassemble Maxine and reset her, until it's time for the next Error 5.

It is almost worth including a light vacuuming in Maxine's precleaning routine, and if I have to vacuum...is there a point to having a robot vacuum?

Consumables
The robot is only the start: Maxine needs new dust bags regularly ($32 for a pack of 6), and after awhile, the mop pad will just be too spent and need replacing ($18 for a pack of 6) . After having her for about three months of cleaning, her soft rubber roller/brush was pitted to the point that it needed replacing ($22). She needs replacement HEPA filters ($33 for a pack of 2) , and little cat-whiskery pinwheels that help her identify walls and such.

You can save some money with third-party "accessory packs" but be sure to buy the pack for the exact model you have; they tend to look alike and I can virtually guarantee the ones that save the most money won't fit.

Overall? Jury's still out on whether the Roborock actually is a labor-saving device. I love gadgets and especially robotics, so I'd have her around just for that...but this probably isn't a great choice for an active, dirt-and-fur-filled household.