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Climb the stairs Robot vacuum Not a new idea. We’ve seen an early attempt at this using Dream X50 Ultrawhich was able to overcome thresholds of about 2 inches. Recently, at IFA 2025, we saw Joffe Marswacker and Cyber-X dreamwhich uses a tread system and an additional shell to help the robot climb stairs. However, neither of them can actually clean stairs.
The Roborock Saros Rover is different. It’s a legged robot — and I mean real legs, not treads or a lifting system.
Read more: The Roborock Saros Rover has been selected as a winner in the Best Smart Home Technology category for The Official Best of CES 2026 Awards.
Yes, this robot vacuum comes with authentic chicken legs (or maybe frog legs) and wheels on the bottom. It’s an odd-looking device, no doubt, but it’s hard to argue with the result. Here at CESI watched Roborock run the Saros Rover through a set of demonstrations to showcase its stair-climbing abilities, its balance, its ability to jump over obstacles, and even to dance. Here’s what I thought.
Watch this: Check out the first legged robot vacuum in action at CES
The rover’s legs remind me of chicken or frog legs in how they fold and unfold.
How does Saros Rover work?
The Saros Rover uses its legs to stabilize its body for the next move, and then lifts them up.
The Saros Rover works differently than other stair-climbing robots you’ve seen in demo before. Instead of using a chassis with tread attachments, it deploys a pair of legs and wheels to lift itself up stairs and other obstacles. Its climbing is vaguely reminiscent of a stork or other long-legged bird, its legs acting as support to propel its large, flat body upwards on the next step. The legs then fold themselves behind their back, then spread them out again for the next step.
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The Saros Rover can handle all types of stairs, including traditional, curved and carpeted stairs.
It took the Saros Rover about 30 to 40 seconds to climb about five large steps, so it’s certainly not very fast compared to a human, but it can clear each step as it moves up. He does this by using one leg to balance on the step below, then rolling up and down on the next step to make sure it is clean before moving on. This is something that Eufy specifically told us his Marswalker is incapable of doing, and the same goes for the Dreame prototype as well.
The Rover takes a while to climb stairs, but it responds admirably when using its wheels.
Roborock says the Rover should be able to handle traditional and curved stairs, as well as different floor types, including carpeted stairs with bullnose facings. This will also help with other obstacles you may have in your home, such as multi-level room thresholds.
The Saros Rover’s legs are attached to its body and does not rely on any external attachments to climb stairs.
Robot jumping and dancing
A Saros Rover dances and jumps surrounded by Z70s.
What I liked most about the Saros Rover was its ability to balance and maneuver on its own. Gone are the days of the hesitant robot vacuum that slowly and hesitantly skirts obstacles, as if unsure of its surroundings. Not only does the Saros Rover climb stairs, it also rises on its wheel legs for added maneuverability. This gives it increased reach, lift and height, which Roborock compares to human mobility.
The Saros Rover had no problems with inclines or inclines.
Once it reached the top of the stairs that Roborock had set up for demonstrations, I watched it descend a steep incline with impressive control of its speed. It was even able to stop partway down a slope and reverse, something I’ve never seen another robot vacuum do before. It’s capable of making sudden stops and turns, and even jumping, which Roborock demonstrated to me with a cute little dance-off involving Rover, surrounded by Saros Z70 models waving their arms in sync with the beat, just like a group of fans.
The Saros Rover can also reverse without much effort and climb steep inclines.
It’s quite impressive to look at, and there was only one instance where I saw the Saros Rover lose its balance and stumble a bit, but it seemed to be able to right itself fairly effectively before a Roborock booth employee pounced on it. In all fairness, these are early prototypes, so some hiccups are to be expected, but what was striking was how few hiccups actually occurred.
The software is where the magic happens
The Saros Rover pulls its legs up behind it after it reaches the top of the stairs.
Whatever software Roborock uses to manage navigation and object avoidance is impressive. Roborock told me that it uses an artificial intelligence algorithm, which works in conjunction with complex motion sensors and 3D spatial information, to enable the wheel’s legs to interact with its surroundings.
Avoiding objects has been a major challenge for robotic vacuums, and even the best vacuums we’ve recommended at CNET have had trouble avoiding obstacles like pet waste. The problem is mostly on the software end rather than the hardware end, so if the Saros Rover can handle stairs, thresholds, ramps, and other barriers, that puts it ahead of most other robot vacuums on the market, at least until we see the Narwal’s upcoming capabilities. Flow 2.
The rover was able to control its speed as it descended the slope, and never hit the wood at the end of the experimental area.
Although Roborock didn’t show me this personally, they also showed me a video from a previous briefing of the Saros Rover dodging tennis balls thrown at it by Roborock’s engineers (sign me up for this post). I asked what the tennis balls were meant to represent in a real-world use case, and company officials explained that they were meant to show that the Saros Rover is able to recognize and react to fast-moving objects in its environment that might get in its way, such as pets and children. As someone who has three cats and enjoys zooming, I’m looking forward to seeing how they work with them and putting Rover to the test at CNET Labs.
Price and availability unknown
The Saros Rover can also use its height and maneuverability to get around obstacles.
Roborock also confirmed to me that this is a product that will be brought to market, though they don’t currently have pricing or an estimated time to market to share. With fitted arm Roborock Saros Z70 Starting at $2,599 when it first launched, I expect the Saros Rover to cost at least the same, if not more. Of course, the price of the Saros Z70 has come down over time and can be had these days for around $2,000 if you find it on sale, so I’m hoping we see the same with the Saros Rover.