IFA 2025: Stair-Climbing Robot Vacuums, Innovations and Big Reveals

Welcome to our IFA 2025 coverage from Berlin, Germany — one of the world’s largest technology trade shows. This year’s announcements were packed with innovation in robot vacuums, vacuum mop combos, and cordless vacuums. Here are the biggest highlights from the floor.

We saw major robot vacuum manufacturers expanding into all kinds of new product classes, including lawnmowers, pool cleaning robots, washing machines, and kitchen and bathroom appliances. However, we won’t cover those types of product announcements here since Vacuum Wars focuses mainly on floor cleaning products.

Stair-Climbing Robot Vacuums: Dreame, MOVA, and Eufy

One of the biggest stories is the rise of the stair-climbing robot vacuum. For the first time, we got a look at how robot vacuum manufacturers are planning to solve the problem of staircases. 

Dreame

We first attended the Dreame press event, where they announced the Cyber X robot vacuum, which features their new Bionic QuadTrack™ stair-climbing system. Like others you’ll see, the stair climber is a separate robot that the actual robot vacuum enters into. Then, the Bionic QuadTrack™ carries the robot up and down the stairs.

Dreame’s system uses four tracks with large rubber grips that grip the edges of the stairs for climbing. It also uses an advanced braking system to ensure stability when descending stairs. It was probably the fastest stair climber we saw, and the largest in terms of physical size.

MOVA

MOVA announced the Zeus 60, which is also a separate robot that the robot vacuum enters to navigate up and down the stairs. It uses two legs and a more traditional step climbing method, and as a result, it’s a bit slower than Dreame’s version. But it was significantly smaller and takes up less space.

Eufy

Another robot vacuum announced at IFA 2025 is the Eufy S2 Omni. It’s paired with what Eufy calls the MarsWalker, a robot vacuum stair climbing module. Like the Dreame, it uses four rubber tracks that sort of stretch to climb and descend stairs.

The MarsWalker seems to move at a similar speed to the Dreame, but it’s much smaller. Eufy was also the only one with a full demo of their innovation. We saw the robot actually enter the MarsWalker and the MarsWalker itself go into its own dock. All of which makes us think Eufy might be a bit further along with this innovation than others.

Robot Vacuums with Robotic Arms: Roborock, Dreame, and MOVA

Another major story at IFA Berlin was the arms race that began at CES earlier this year, when Roborock introduced the Z70. Back then, it was the first robot vacuum with a grabber arm on top for picking up household objects. However, both Dreame and MOVA have now announced their own versions. 

Dreame

The Cyber10 Ultra showcases Dreame’s interesting take on robotic arms. The arm is mounted on the top, and a cover reveals it.

This differs from the Roborock Z70, which stores its arm internally in the robot’s housing, thereby limiting factors such as dust bin size, battery, and motor components. With the Cyber10 Ultra’s arm mounted on top, valuable internal real estate is preserved.

There are four joints on the arm. It extends up to 33 cm and can pick up objects up to 500 g, which is just over one lb. For comparison, the Z70 can handle 300 g. 

The Cyber10 Ultra is also unique because it has different attachments in its dock that you can swap out with its arm. For example, it can use a dusting brush for baseboard cleaning or even a mini vacuum for vacuuming hard-to-reach places. So, it’s by far the most useful of these arms, assuming everything works as advertised.

MOVA

MOVA announced the Sirius 60, which has two extending arms—one for grabbing and the other for sweeping narrow places. Both arms are mounted on the side near the front. The idea is that this configuration requires less motor strength. It also frees up some of that valuable real estate we mentioned earlier because of the way it’s mounted.

Also worth noting is that MOVA had the most limited demo of the three manufacturers at IFA Berlin and is probably the farthest from getting to market. 

Roborock

It’s still unclear when MOVA and Dreame will release their models, so Roborock is ahead with robotic arms since it already has the Z70 on the market. Plus, they announced some updates to it at IFA Berlin.

The Z70 robot vacuum now has AI object recognition, letting users add and label up to 50 custom items in addition to the 108 already pre-programmed. Roborock was also featuring the Curv 2 Pro, which is the European flagship. It appears roughly equivalent to the Qrevo Curv X in the USA. We are currently evaluating that model and should release a review soon.

Ecovacs Deebot X11 Omni Cyclone

Ecovacs had a big booth at IFA Berlin and made some pretty big announcements at their press conference. The biggest reveal was the announcement and release of their new flagship: the Deebot X11 Omni Cyclone, which uses a bagless auto-empty station.

The manufacturer also announced a new battery-related feature for the X11, which they’re calling power boost technology. This is a combination of hardware and software changes that super-charge the robot when it returns to its base to wash the mop pads during a run. 

Ecovacs claims it will charge the battery by 6% during the 3-minute pit stop at the base (which is significant) and could clean floor plans perpetually. They also announced a threshold climbing system on the X11 that uses two extra drive wheels. We just purchased an X11 for ourselves and should review it soon. 

Tineco Floor ONE S9 Scientist with Hydro Burst

Ecovacs and Tineco held a joint press conference, during which Tineco announced the Floor ONE S9 Scientist, a hard floor cleaner.

The S9 Scientist is their new flagship vacuum mop combo, and its standout technologies were: streak-free with TMR magnetic sensing (coordinates suction) and water pickup to minimize streaks. For example, on forward push, the system lifts to apply suction, while on the return pass, it lowers to sweep away water.

It also has the capability of lying flat, which is a big trend. Plus, it has the new Hydro Burst system. That delivers a high-pressure spray that targets water directly on stains, and we think it’s an excellent idea.

Dreame Floor Cleaners: H15, H16, and T16 Models

We saw some of Dreame’s new hard floor cleaners, such as the H15 Pro Foam Wash, which is expected to be released in the United States soon, if not already. They also announced the H16 Pro Steam and the T16 Ultra, but these models won’t be released until 2026.

The H15 has a little foam sprayer operated by a button. This helps remove tougher stains, and we think it’s a useful feature for these machines.

There’s also a robotic mechanism for better edge coverage on the H15, and the vacuum can lie flat. You can buy it in two versions: one with steam and one that works on carpets, which we discussed recently.

Bissell Crosswave Edge and FurGuard

We had a great time checking out Bissell’s various demos at IFA Berlin. We were especially impressed with all their cleaning solutions and related technologies. 

Crosswave

Bissell started the hard floor cleaner revolution with the CrossWave, and they were featuring their new CrossWave lineup to be released around October in the United States.

The flagship is the CrossWave Edge Find, which is a reference to its impressive ability to clean right up to wall edges using a unique brush roll configuration.

Bissell’s new lineup also features the longest battery life yet, along with the new FurFinder headlights, which we’ll discuss further shortly. 

Cordless Stick Vacuums

Bissell was also showcasing their new cordless stick vacuums, such as the Bissell PowerClean FurGuard. It features an all-new anti-hair tangling system and an innovative dual-color temperature headlight angled to reveal hair and other debris on hard floors.

The FurGuard was impressively powerful in both stick vacuum and handheld mode (as per the demo at IFA Berlin).

Roborock F25 Ultra

Roborock featured their new F25 Ultra hard floor cleaner. It has dual scrapers for streak-free cleaning, a curved comb wiper that prevents hair tangles, a self-cleaning system with high-temperature water, smart dirt detection, a lie-flat design, and edge-to-edge cleaning.

Roborock H60 Ultra Cordless Stick Vacuum Line

Roborock showcased its new H60 series as well. It’s Roborock’s most aggressive push yet into the cordless stick vacuum market. And at the top of the lineup is the H60 Ultra, which delivers 210 air watts of suction, making it Roborock’s most powerful stick vacuum to date. The Ultra also boasts up to 90 minutes of run time.

IFA Berlin 2025: Key Takeaways

There were so many more interesting products we could have mentioned, but this article is focused on the very best! Three themes stood out at IFA 2025. First is mobility. Stair-climbing modules moved from concept to credible prototypes, which is great for multi-level homes.

Second is autonomy. Robotic arms (and smarter object recognition) are changing how robot vacuums navigate and handle obstacles. This matters for homes with many obstacles, such as cables, toys, and pet bowls. The third theme is maintenance. Bagless bases, faster pit-stop charging, and more effective self-wash/self-dry stations all reduce the day-to-day friction that makes or breaks ownership.