SwitchBot S10 Overview: a very hands-free robotic vacuum and mop

As I kind, a small white robotic has simply rolled previous me, heading from my lavatory, the place it simply completed mopping and vacuuming the ground, to my laundry room. As soon as there, it docked to its water station, gurgled rather a lot because it emptied its soiled water tank and stuffed itself up with contemporary water, then headed again to its charging station, the place it settled down for a blow-dry (of its mop) and recharge.

That robotic is the brand new SwitchBot S10. A robotic vacuum and mop with a few distinctive options, the S10 was introduced final 12 months and, following a Kickstarter launch, is now in the stores for $1,119.99 (€1,099.99 / £999.99). 

The S10 is the primary combo vacuum / mop I’ve examined that may hook instantly into your plumbing, so that you don’t want a cumbersome, multifunctional charging dock to deal with the robotic.

As a substitute of 1 big dock, the SwitchBot has two small ones: a water refill station and a charging / auto-empty dock. These don’t need to be positioned in the identical room, the water station doesn’t even want an influence outlet (it has a battery), and they’re each extra compact than different docks with the identical perform. 

With its twin docks, the S10 can empty its soiled water, fill itself up with clear water, empty its dustbin, dry its mop, and cost itself. And since it’s hooked instantly into my plumbing, I by no means needed to take care of emptying or refilling large water tanks. The truth is, the one handbook labor the S10 requires is changing its mud bag — one thing SwitchBot claims you’ll solely need to do each two months. 

The S10 is the one robotic vacuum I’ve examined that cleans its personal mop because it cleans the ground. Its curler mop makes use of a squeegee system, pushing the soiled water right into a small tank whereas spraying the mop with clear water because it mops.

This meant much less chance of cross-contamination on the flooring, and it completed the job sooner than a robotic that has to return to its base to clean its mop would. I additionally didn’t need to take care of the dirty, smelly “sink” that almost all different multifunctional docks have to wash the mops in — and which needs to be cleaned manually. 

I’ve been testing the S10 for a couple of week, and this method, which at first appeared slightly circuitous, works rather well. The draw back is that each one this work drains its comparatively small 4,000mAh battery fairly rapidly, and it couldn’t get via a full clear of my upstairs and downstairs (about 1,000 sq. ft) with out a three-hour top-up. 

General, I just like the method of the 2 docking stations, particularly the self-filling water station, which was surprisingly straightforward to put in. I put that in my laundry room, the place it’s largely out of sight, and put in the compact auto-empty dock in my lavatory, the place it matches neatly underneath my heated towel rack. 

SwitchBot isn’t the one firm providing the choice of plumbing its docks. Narwhal, Roborock, and Dreame all have plumbable choices utilizing their multifunction docks. Nonetheless, these require energy, whereas SwitchBot’s water station is a smaller, battery-powered gadget — which makes set up simpler. (The battery is recharged by the robotic.) 

SwitchBot’s water station can hook into various water sources and drain strains — underneath a sink, by a rest room (draining into the bowl), or connecting to a dishwasher or washer provide line. The corporate’s Evaporative Humidifier (coming quickly) might be refilled by the robotic vacuum, and a dehumidifier that would empty itself into the S10 is being developed. This type of good dwelling symbiosis is intriguing. 

SwitchBot makes a variety of good dwelling gadgets, from lights and locks to curtain motors and robotic fingers. The S10 can work with all of those utilizing the SwitchBot app to do issues like dock the robotic when the entrance door unlocks or begin cleansing when the lights flip off. SwitchBot additionally helps Matter via its Hub 2, opening the door to extra good dwelling integrations.

I used to be impressed at how straightforward the S10’s station was to put in, contemplating I’m not a plumber (neither is my husband, who gave me a hand with this one since he’s higher with a wrench than I’m).

On a scale of 1 to 10, one being putting in a sensible mild bulb and 10 being plumbing a sensible faucet, this can be a seven. It’s completely doable in case you have easy accessibility to the pipes and may deal with a wrench. We put in it underneath an open utility sink (so no cabinet to take care of), however the water shops have been tucked behind the sink, so it was tight getting in there. 

That was the hardest half. SwitchBot’s YouTube set up movies have been very clear (don’t trouble with the paper instructions), and the attachments SwitchBot supplied to hook the pipes into the plumbing have been straightforward to make use of and nicely made. Nonetheless, the soiled water pipe attachment wasn’t free-spinning, leading to some contortions to get it connected. The entire thing took half-hour.

I wasn’t thrilled with how a lot piping there was, and I couldn’t discover a great way to cover all of it underneath my open sink. SwitchBot offers cable-tidy fittings, however I would like to modify them out for shorter pipes or to have the ability to lower them to suit. As a result of the S10 is so huge, it wouldn’t match underneath my sink, so I needed to put the dock subsequent to the sink, which isn’t ultimate.

When you don’t have the choice of hooking as much as water, SwitchBot has a water tank add-on coming later this 12 months for $80. I attempted this, and whereas it labored superb, you continue to need to take care of all of the piping, so it’s not a sublime resolution. When you can’t use the plumbing choice, the S10 is just not the fitting robotic for you.

As a robovac, the S10’s specs are good, if not the most effective of the most effective. It has 6,500Pa suction, a 4,000mAH battery, and AI-powered impediment avoidance (which makes use of an onboard digicam). Whereas Roborock’s, Dreame’s, and Ecovacs’ flagships have greater suction energy and longer battery life, they price considerably extra.

The S10’s impediment avoidance wasn’t pretty much as good as Roborock’s, and whereas it dodged faux pet poop, it acquired shut — brushing up in opposition to it because it navigated away. It did nicely at avoiding cables, socks, and bigger gadgets like footwear.

The bot’s single rubber curler brush carried out nicely in my exams, getting up all of the oatmeal and rice on exhausting ground and doing a wonderful job on cat hair on low-pile carpet. Typically, I favor twin curler brushes, however the S10 is a heavy robotic, and its weight appeared to assist it dig down into carpet fibers.

Mopping is the primary purpose to purchase this bot, and it’s very efficient. Its rolling motion agitates the grime, and with its 10n downward stress, the mop simply tackled dried milk and spilled OJ. The water station has the choice so as to add a cleansing resolution, which appeared to assist with more durable grime. However the mop doesn’t oscillate because the pads on the Dreame X30 or Roborock Q Revo do, and a few soiled paw prints have been nonetheless barely seen.

On the flip aspect, oscillating mopping pads can get hung up on issues like rug tassels, cables, and room transitions, whereas the SwitchBot’s mop is tucked neatly underneath it, and it by no means acquired caught. The mop raises when it goes over carpet (however solely by 7mm), or you may program it to keep away from carpet altogether or draw keep-out zones round high-pile rugs.

The mop is simple to take away — it slides out the aspect, so I didn’t need to flip the large beast on its again. It stayed clear all through my testing and dried rapidly. The mop is replaceable, and a two-pack prices $30.

The SwitchBot app has the important thing options you’d count on from a high-end bot, together with lidar mapping, digital no-go zones, and room-specific cleansing. However it’s lacking just a few issues. There are two cleansing modes with a number of ranges: vacuum and mop and vacuum solely, however there isn’t any mop-only choice or good cleansing modes. There’s voice management with all the primary platforms, however it’s restricted. It helps as much as three maps, however you may’t add furnishings to them. Moreover, on flooring the place there isn’t any water station, it solely vacuums — it gained’t mop — and you’ll’t purchase a second water station. 

General, I used to be impressed with the S10. Its twin dock system is an progressive repair to the design downside of those large multifunction docks, and the potential for connecting with a humidifier and dehumidifier takes us one step nearer to a future the place robots can do extra in our houses than simply clear the flooring. However for at the moment, the water hookup and self-cleaning mop make this essentially the most hands-free cleansing robotic I’ve examined. 

The most important draw back is the brief battery life, and I’m upset SwitchBot didn’t go for extra milliamp hours, particularly given the potential for utilizing the water station for extra duties down the road. The self-refilling humidifier and self-draining dehumidifier are nice concepts — in the event that they get launched. Possibly this ingenious robotics firm may give you an attachment for the robotic that may refill your canine’s water bowl or water your crops. However all of that may require extra energy.

Images by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge