Roborock Saros 10R – new Gen 5 mapping and obstacle avoidance tech (review)

The Roborock Saros 10R has introduced solid-state LiDAR, the first StarSight 2.0 navigation and obstacle recognition, Vertibeam lateral obstacle avoidance, all in a svelte 79.8mm high body. It’s a true Gen 5 whole-of-home robot cleaner.

Earlier this year, we reviewed the $2990 Roborock Saros 10 – the thinnest, smartest robot vacuum/mop, which scored a very high 87/100. The $2890 Roborock Saros 10R had not been released, so we will present a basic comparison of the differences first.

	Roborock Saros 10R	Saros 10
Navigation	3D ToF solid-state StarSight 2.0 Claimed 21600 sensor points	LDS (LiDAR) and retractable turret. Sensor points are not relevant to LiDAR.
RGB camera	Yes	Same
LED headlight	Yes	Same
Obstacle recognition	108	108
VertiBeam Side sensor	Yes	Same
Coverage	200m2	240m2
Clean water tank ml	69	70
Battey mAh	6400	6400
Run-time minutes	180	220
Size	350 x 353 x 79.8mm	350 x 353 x 79.8mm
Mop type	Dual Rotating	Vibrating D-platten
High-speed sonic mopping	No	Yes
Mop rise mm	8 plus Mop Drop	18 plus Mop Drop
FlexiArm extendable right mop	Yes	No
FlexiArm Riser Side Brush	Yes	Same
Edge Mini Mop	No	Yes
Suction Pa	19,000	22000
Internal water tank ml	65	100
Internal Dustbin ml	270	270

Both share

• DuoDivide roller brush
• Brush lift
• Same app and voice control
• 30mm thresholds

Dock

All Automatic unless specified	381*475*488mm (Dock)	440*409*470mm (Dock)
Mop washing	Yes	Same
Mop Drop	Yes	Same
Mop drying hot air	Yes	Same
Dirt detection	Yes	Same
Floor cleaning solution dispenser	Yes	Same
Dustbin Litres	2.7	2.7
Clean water Litres	4	same
Wastewater Litres	3	3.5
Maintenance	Manual Deck cleaning	Automatic Deck Cleaning

Australian Review: Roborock Saros 10R (as at 7/7/25)

Website	Product Page Manual
RRP	$2899 – if you are not in a hurry, Roborock has occasional event-related sales
From	Roborock AU online Official Store, Amazon – see grey market warning*
Colours	Black
Warranty	2-years. It has a Sydney service centre.
Made in	China
Company	Established in 2014 with support from Xiaomi, Beijing Roborock Technology (Roborock) specialises in the research, development, and production of robotic home cleaners and other cleaning appliances.
More	CyberShack cleaning tech news and reviews CyberShack Roborock news and reviews

Ratings

We use the following ratings for many of the items below. CyberShack regards 70/100 as a pass mark. You can click on most images to enlarge them.

• Fail (below expectations), and we will let you know if this affects its use.
• Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be.
• Pass (meets expectations).
• Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good, but does not quite make it to Exceed
• Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader).

* Grey Market Warning

There is substantial parallel importing (grey marketing). Roborock can only offer an Australian warranty for purchases made from its official store or approved retailers, typically including Harvey Norman (and its sub-brands), JB Hi-Fi, and Bing Lee, but this varies by product. See its website for authorised retailers.

First Impression – Curious

If you’ve seen one round robot vacuum, you’ve seen them all. It is hard to improve and make something different. The 10R has all the Gen 5 features as defined in Five tips for choosing a robovac/mop (2025 cleaning guide), which we recommend you read first.

 Roborock’s 10 and 10R models are 79.8mm high; the former features a retractable LiDAR turret, and the latter has StarSight (no turret), which is essentially a marketing name.

What is StarSight 2.0?

Claim: StarSight Autonomous System 2.0 is a cutting-edge AI navigation system. Replaces LiDAR LDS with a dual-light 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) technology, delivering an ultra-precise 3D environmental map and real-time obstacle detection.

Well, that says a lot, but does not mean a lot. Here is what we could find.

Saros 10: Traditional 3D 360° 2000+ rotations per second IR Laser LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system has a range of 8 to 10 meters.

Saros 10R: QVGA 320 x 240 pixel, dual-transmitter solid-state LiDAR (not strictly LiDAR) utilises two optical phased arrays to steer the IR pulsed light beams. It has a range of 1- 5 metres.

Then you add 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) with 21,600 sensor points to measure the distance to objects by calculating the time it takes for light to travel to and from a target. These usually have a range of about 50-60 cm and can see objects as small as 20 x 20 mm.

In short, LiDAR is more accurate for map building and navigation, but StarSight is more precise for close-up obstacle avoidance. But, add an RGB camera, 3D Structured light sensors, crossed IR sensors and ToF, and you have the latest in navigation and close-up obstacle detection with both systems.

But Roborock has chosen this new system for its Saro 10R and Saros Z70.

Our panel noted that the 10R tended to spin around a lot to get its bearings, whereas the 10 was all business.

Sensors – Yes, it is Gen 5

• Front StarSight 2.0 Sensor (dual solid-state phased IR laser)
• dToF
• RGB camera
• LED fill light
• VertiBeam right side lateral structured light laser floor/wall sensor
• Cliff sensor
• Carpet sensor
• Bumper

AI Features – Pass+

It is a smart Gen 5 robot in every sense, but that is perhaps the hardest to quantify. It has been trained on a large language model (LLM) that enables it to identify rooms by name, set zones, re-clean, navigate, identify objects and obstacles (in 108 categories), and floor types, allowing it to clean as efficiently as possible.

In other words, you can expect it to perform unattended whole-home cleaning, avoiding obstacles, adjusting suction pressures, and adding more cleaning for dirty patches, among other features.

Panellists found that, over four runs, the robot became smarter and faster, passing all Gen 5 expectations.

App – Pass

The app is comprehensive, but it is apparent that AI makes more basic decisions, so it lacks some of the granularity of other brands’ apps. This is not a bad thing—default settings are fine.

It uses 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and appears to be mesh aware.

Home Prep – Pass+

Our guide outlines the best practices for house preparation. Follow this for at least the quick map and first one-pass clean.

We tested various states of ‘laziness’, leaving the home as is, where is, and 10R managed to clean regardless. The Roborock Saros 10R passed the torture test for unattended, whole-of-home cleaning.

Quick Map – Pass

Quick Map was considerably slower than the 10, sometimes covering the same area multiple times from multiple angles. The map was accurate, and room names were about 70% correct.

It only recognised four furniture items – two beds and two couches. The 10 recognised over 20. That is the difference between LiDAR/camera and StarSight/camera.

Navigation – Pass

It initially cleans the room edges and then uses a U-shaped pattern to clean in between. Panellists were amused that it usually selected the shortest cleaning path instead of a more logical, longer path. For example, in a hallway, it cleans at right angles to the walls. Navigation improves over time.

But we found that it often stopped, looked around, and the robot voice said, ‘Location found’, as it moved on.

Obstacle Detection – Pass+

It understands 108 types of obstacles and how to deal with them. It uses AI and the camera to decide how close to clean. Compared to the 10, it was able to avoid smaller obstacles and perhaps cleaned a tad closer to chair legs.

Vacuum test – Pass+ on hard floors, Pass on carpet

It has 20000 Pa on Max+, but this is more about bragging rights than real power. The efficiency of the rotating brush primarily determines vacuum efficiency.

It has a split brush that rotates at different speeds to funnel hair into the centre, where suction pulls it into the dustbin. The brush does not beat the carpet (like some), so it is slightly less efficient, but it still does a credible job.

We test with 4 x 25g sand, rice, oats and Kellogg’s Nutrigrain. The figures are for single/double passes.

• Low Pile: 62/71% – difficulty with sand and static-charged tissues,
• Med pile: 59/60% – ditto
• High Pile: 45/51% – Only with mop platten removed
• Hard floor: 90/93% – excellent

These are very similar to the 10, which has 22,000 Pa suction.

Mop Test – Pass+

The 10 features a D-shaped vibrating platen mop, which is more effective on certain surfaces, and lifts to 18 cm over carpet. Panellists were initially sceptical of its hard floor cleaning ability, but it matched the 10R for maintenance mopping.

The 10R has dual rotating mop pads that lift to 8mm over carpet. It is hard to quantify, but the 10R uses more water, which may improve the mopping outcome.

Both have app settings for mop drop, where the mops are left at the base, allowing the robot vacuums to clean the carpet first.

Edge and Corner clean – Pass+ on hard floors and Fail on carpet

Where the 10R has the edge is edge cleaning, where the right mop pad extends past the robot to mop hard floor edges (not carpet).

The FlexiArm asymmetrical right whisker does well on medium to large particles but leaves sand and rice in the corners. All round robots have right-angle corner cleaning fails.

Carpets are poor as the 13cm brush leaves an 11cm gap. The whisker does not work on the carpet. Again, all round robots suffer from this.

Cleaning speed – variable

Our 50 m² test (default settings, one pass) took 69 minutes, or 1.2m² per minute, with three mop washes. The battery was 50% exhausted.

By comparison, the 10 takes 56 minutes (1 m2 per minute) with four mop station cleanings.

This is where we noticed the unit spending more time getting its bearings and seemingly revisiting the same areas.

After an initial map and clean, the robot AI kicks in and offers a Smart Plan. This added about 10 minutes to the clean time.

 We would rather have clean than fast, but it does affect the gross floor area you can cover with one battery charge.

Pets – Pass

Our pet-loving panellist was pleased to see a dedicated pet program, but commented that it was less comprehensive or effective than the Dreame X50 Ultra.

• Automatic Pet Recognition (and stay clear)
• Pet Snaps (photos)

The split brush is good for long pet and human hair.

Battery and coverage – Pass

It features a 14.4V/6.4A/92W Lithium-ion battery. Although not listed as a spare part, OEM equivalents cost about $150 and are relatively easy to replace if you are handy with a Philip’s head screwdriver.

The claim is 180 minutes, and that is in quiet mode, with a vacuum only on a hard floor. The good news is that a fast charge takes 150 minutes (test 167 minutes)

Panellists had different experiences. On defaults and a 50m2 hard floor vacuum and mop, it was 50% exhausted in 69 minutes. This results in a runtime of 138 minutes and a 100 m² cleaning area, with reduced coverage on carpet.

Sill climb – Pass+

It had no issues with 20mm sill climbs. It can climb 30mm for a single layer and 40cm for a stepped sill.

Camera – Pass

The front camera is a QVGA (320 x 240) fixed-focus, RGB camera for still and video images. It utilises a LED light for low-light conditions and works in conjunction with the VertiBeam to assist in obstacle identification.

Privacy – Pass

You can disable any personal data collection, and all images are stored on the device and deleted after use.

Noise – Pass

It ranges from 40dB on Quiet to 65dB on Max+. The mop washing is 50dB. Noise levels are within spec.

Voice – Pass+

While it can utilise Google, Alexa, and Siri, Roborock now offers Hello Rocky, which features an expanded vocabulary and works both online and offline.

Clean station – Pass+

The station has intelligent hot and hot air drying. The robot can return to clean the pad after each room or every 10, 15, 20, or 25 minutes.

The 4-litre clean water tank was approximately 50% used on a 150 m² area, providing a cleaning area of around 300 m² before refilling. The wastewater tank was about 30% full.

It is a premium station in all respects. The only thing missing is the UV light sterilisation found on some brands.

Omo Roborock Cleaning Solution

None was supplied, and we did not feel like trekking to Harvey Norman to buy 480ml for $39. The station has a dispenser that mixes the correct solution.

Our engineer panellist investigates cleaning solutions for all robots. He found it had <5% Non-ionic surfactants, detergent, fragrance, colour and benzothiazolinone (anti-microbial).

He advises that it should work with any brand of robot vacuum or mop solution, provided it has a 1:200 or 1:300 mix ratio. He also says viscous (thick) or oil-based cleaners (like Tea Tree or Eucalyptus) will damage it.

With the caveat that you may need to experiment with mop water level settings if you notice foaming, which he was unable to find in the app.

Maintenance – Pass

This requires about the same level of maintenance as any robot. You must occasionally wipe the mop base clean. Maintenance costs are more expensive than other brands.

Accessory website

• Roborock floor cleaner 480ml $39.90
• Dustbags 3 pack $39.90
• Internal filter pair $54.90
• Side whisker brush pair $39.909
• Main roller brush $79.90
• Mop pads – TBA

Amazon AU offers a generic replacement kit at a lower cost, but we can’t attest to its quality.

CyberShack’s View: The Roborock S6 Pro is a fully featured Gen 5 robot that can perform whole-home unsupervised cleaning

10 or 10R? From my perspective, the 10 does everything I need and may be a little better all around. However, the 10R is also very good, and Joe and Jane Average would not likely notice much difference.

Our team of four panellists and four homes (plus mine as the reviewer) felt:

• 10 had slightly better navigation.
• 10R had slightly better obstacle avoidance
• 10R had slightly better hard floor mopping (rotating versus D-Platten).
• 10 mini mop was effective at edge clean, but the 10R extendable mop pad was just as effective.
• 10 had 18mm mop carpet lift versus 10R at 8mm (but both have mop drop, so it’s not an issue)
• 10 Dock looks nicer, but both are functionally similar.
• 10 had a more efficient dustbin empty than the 10R, where pet and long hair are concerned.
• 10 performed slightly better at carpet vacuum tests

Panellist’s summary

• Mop efficiency: Hard floors – as good as any rotary mop
• Vacuum efficiency: Hard floors – excellent. Carpet – average
• Pet Poo detection: Yes
• Liquid detection: possible, with brush/whisker lift and vacuum removal.
• Obstacle detection: Hard floors – very good for objects larger than 20 x 20 mm
• Corner clean: Hard floor average. Carpet – no
• Multilevel map: Yes
• Strengths: Low height
• Weaknesses: Carpet, but it may get better
• Bouquets or brickbats: Seemed to get better as AI got to know the home.

Roborock Saros 10R rating

• Features: 90 – an excellent suite of Gen 5 features
• Value: 80 – it is at a premium compared to other Gen 5’s – wait for the sales
• Performance: 90 hard floors and 75 carpet
• Ease of Use: 85 – 2-year warranty is not class-leading. The app is a little confusing
• Design: 85 – StarSight, but a round shape means it must make more passes, which makes it slightly slower.