Robot vacuums have spent years politely stopping at the foot of the stairs, treating every landing like the edge of the world. Roborock’s new Saros Rover changes that, using a hybrid wheel and leg system to climb steps while it cleans, turning one of the last hard limits of home robotics into just another surface. Instead of asking homeowners to buy a second robot for the upper floor, the company is betting that a single, mobile machine can patrol the whole house.
The result is a product that looks less like a puck and more like a compact rover, with articulated limbs that lift it up each riser and then tuck away when it returns to flat ground. It is a bold attempt to move robot vacs from “floor appliances” to whole-home cleaners, and it arrives at a moment when the category badly needs a new trick.
From flat floors to full-home coverage
For as long as I have covered smart home gadgets, stairs have been the unsolved problem for robot vacuums, forcing people to either lug their bots between levels or accept that only one floor gets automated cleaning. Roborock is trying to erase that compromise with the Saros Rover, a model it describes as the world’s first robotic vacuum built around a dedicated wheel‑leg architecture, a design it is confident enough to showcase alongside its partnership with Real Madrid Football Club in its own official announcement. By treating steps as just another obstacle to traverse rather than a hard boundary, the company is reframing what “coverage” means in this category.
That ambition is already visible in early hands‑on demos, where Jan reports watching the Saros Rover roll up to a staircase, pause, and then extend its limbs to begin climbing. In those sessions, the machine did not simply hop to the top and resume work, it vacuumed each tread as it went, then folded its legs neatly behind its back before switching back to wheels on the landing, a sequence described in detail when Jan watched The Saros Rover in action. It is a small but crucial detail, because it shows Roborock is not just solving mobility, it is trying to preserve cleaning performance on every surface the robot touches.
How the wheel‑leg “Rover” actually climbs
At the heart of the Saros Rover is a two‑leg system that lets the robot change its posture depending on the terrain, something that immediately sets it apart from the usual low‑slung discs that dominate the market. When it reaches a step, The Saros Rover raises its body, plants its legs on the next riser, and then pulls the rest of the chassis up before repeating the motion, a pattern that lets it handle traditional, curved, and even carpeted staircases without needing ramps or extra hardware, as Jan notes in a separate look at how The Saros Rover handles inclines. Once it reaches the top, the robot lowers itself back into a wheeled stance, which is both more efficient and more familiar for standard floor cleaning.
That choreography is not just for trade‑show theatrics, it is central to how the Rover navigates real homes filled with toys, cables, and furniture. In a short clip shared on Instagram, Jan marvels at how the Saros Rover glides through Stairs, toys, and clutter with what is described as design precision and a flair for the dramatic, a performance that underscores how the legs are used not only for climbing but also for stepping over everyday obstacles that would trap a conventional bot, as shown in the Saros Rover reel. A follow‑up post highlights how those same limbs let it tackle Stairs and other challenging terrains with ease, reinforcing the idea that this is a mobility platform first and a vacuum second, a point driven home in the second Stairs, toys, clutter clip.
CES spotlight and the race to stand out
Roborock chose CES 2026 as the stage for this debut, a calculated move in a year when robot vacuums risk blending into a blur of incremental suction upgrades and slightly smarter docks. On the show floor, the Saros Rover quickly earned a reputation as The Wildest Robot Vacuum on display, precisely because it can Clean While Climbing Stairs instead of treating them as a cliff, a feat that has already been framed as more than a conceptual prototype in coverage of The Wildest Robot Vacuum. That kind of attention matters, because it signals that legged mobility is not just a lab experiment, it is being packaged as a real product that consumers will eventually be able to buy.
The company is also using CES to position the Rover within a broader 2026 lineup, rather than as a one‑off stunt. Alongside the legged model, Roborock dropped three new robot vacuums that push suction power and mopping features, including the Roborock Qrevo Curv and the Flexi Pro 2 Flow, which is set to cost $999, details that help frame the Rover as the halo product in a family of more conventional machines, as outlined in coverage of how Roborock dropped 3 new robot vacuums. In that context, the stair‑climbing model is less a gimmick and more a signal of where the company thinks the category is heading.
From awkward stairs to actual legs
For years, Your robot vacuum’s awkward relationship with stairs has been a running joke in smart home circles, a reminder that even the most advanced mapping and obstacle avoidance could not overcome basic physics. Roborock is now arguing that those boundaries might finally become obsolete, pointing to the Saros Rover’s actual legs as the missing piece that lets a robot treat a multi‑level home as a single continuous space, a claim that sits at the center of analysis of how Stair Climbing Robot Just Grew Actual Legs. It is a shift that could change how people think about where to place docks, how often they need to intervene, and whether a single robot can realistically maintain an entire house.
That evolution did not come out of nowhere, and Roborock has been iterating toward it over several product cycles. Earlier, the company introduced the Roborock Saros Z70 Robot Vacuum at CES 2025, a model that used a robotic arm to pick up small obstacles from the floor, a different approach to the same problem of clutter and complex layouts, as described in a hands‑on look at how the Roborock Saros line has evolved. By moving from an arm that manipulates objects to legs that move the entire chassis, the company is effectively betting that mobility, not just dexterity, is the key to unlocking the next phase of home robotics.
What it means for buyers, and what we still do not know
For potential buyers, the most immediate implication is that a single device might finally handle both downstairs and upstairs without manual help, a promise that has obvious appeal for anyone with a split‑level layout. The usual robot vacuum cannot climb stairs at all, but the Roborock Saros Rover is built differently, with a design that lets it confront steps and other obstacles instead of surrendering to them, a contrast that is spelled out in detail in coverage of how the Roborock Saros Rover conquers stairs. In theory, that could justify a higher price if it lets households avoid buying multiple robots or relying on a mix of bots and traditional vacuums.
There are still open questions, starting with availability and cost. Jan notes that Roborock expects the Saros Rover to be available sometime in 2026, but there is no confirmed release date or final pricing yet, a gap that is echoed in a brief update from The Editor at HomeKit News, which describes Roborock’s new robovac that can climb stairs as part of its first‑half 2026 product slate with no confirmed release date, as outlined in the Roborock new robovac report. A short YouTube walkthrough underscores that Roborock just introduced a robot vacuum with stair‑climbing legs at CES 2026 and positions the Saros Rover as a step change from traditional robot vacuums, but it also stops short of naming a price, as viewers see in the clip titled Roborock Saros Rover has Legs to Climb Stairs.
What is clearer is that the Rover is not a one‑off curiosity but part of a broader 2026 strategy that leans heavily on advanced hardware. ZDNET’s Jan describes The Roborock Saros Rover as the first two‑legged robot vacuum coming to the market and notes that Roborock’s 2026 robot vacuums also include models that use downward pressure to remove stains, a sign that the company is trying to compete on both mobility and cleaning power, as detailed in the Roborock’s 2026 robot vacuums overview. Another hands‑on account notes that Roborock says that the Rover should be able to tackle both traditional and curved staircases, as well as different floor types, and that it felt surprisingly responsive when using its wheels, a balance of agility and stability captured in a closer look at how Roborock says that the Rover behaves. A separate demo video shows The Rover vacuuming each step as it climbs, with Video by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy at The Verge highlighting how it pauses, cleans, and then ascends, a sequence that makes the concept feel less like science fiction and more like an appliance in waiting, as seen in the clip labeled End of dialog window. For now, the Saros Rover is still a promise, but it is one that finally lets robot vacs go where none of their predecessors could.
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