The new Roborock S8 vacuums now come with two roller brushes. | Image: Roborock
Roborock, arguably Roomba’s biggest competitor in the world of robot vacuum cleaners, launched a new line of flagship robot vacuums at CES this week. The S8 Series starts at $750, and its big new feature is straight out of Roomba’s playbook: dual roller brushes.
While brushes may not sound as impressive as lidar mapping, AI-obstacle avoidance, or automatic emptying docks, a big problem with most robot vacuums is they have one small brush trying to pick up all the dirt. Often, this is a bristle brush that quickly gets tangled up with hair.
In my experience testing robot vacuums, Roomba’s superior cleaning power is largely down to its dual rubber roller brush system that rotates in opposite directions to get up more grime and is less…