IFA Smart Cleaning Observation: Indoor 3D Operation, Full Outdoor Scenario Coverage, Divergence Emerges in the Development Paths of China's Three Leading Domestic Brands

On September 4, IFA 2026 officially kicked off in Berlin, Germany. As one of the world's three top consumer electronics exhibitions, this year's IFA attracted more than 1,900 exhibitors from 49 countries and regions, with the theme of "The Future is Now". The "Leitech IFA26 Reporting Team" dispatched by Leitech (ID: Leitech) has been working intensively on site in Berlin, delivering on-site, three-dimensional and first-hand coverage of IFA2026.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

After visiting all the cleaning booths, the biggest impression on our team is that robot vacuum cleaners, the home appliance category that competed the most fiercely at IFA in the past two years, are no longer satisfied with only cleaning floors this year. Nearly all Chinese cleaning manufacturers are expanding their products to full-scenario directions including lawn mowing, pool cleaning, stair climbing, washing and care.

"Stepping out of the floor" has become the core new trend of the smart cleaning industry.

High-temperature steam becomes standard for floor washers, leading brands launch new products collectively

The most notable keyword for indoor cleaning this year is "steam". While manufacturers were competing for suction power and self-cleaning performance in the past two years, Roborock, Ecovacs, Tineco and Dreame all take "high-temperature steam" as the core selling point of their flagship floor washers. The reason is very simple: oil stains, dried sauce stains, and old stubborn dirt on kitchen floors cannot be cleaned thoroughly only with cold water. High-temperature steam can first soften the dirt, making the second cleaning much easier.

For example, the Aqua20 Pro Ultra launched by Dreame reaches a steam temperature of 180℃, with 40kPa suction, focusing on "steam mopping". To put it simply, it first uses high-temperature steam to soften stubborn stains, then removes them with strong suction. Dirt that used to require repeated wiping such as oil stains and dried sauce stains can be removed in one pass. The T16 Pro Steam even integrates 200℃ steam, 90℃ hot water washing and 30000Pa suction into a 9.85cm ultra-thin body, focusing on no dead corners in low-height spaces.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

Tineco FLOOR ONE S11 Artist Fusion Steam under the Ecovacs system achieves an impressive steam temperature of 230℃, and is equipped with HyperSteam dual-steam self-cleaning, claiming to sterilize and deodorize from the source. With 30-second fast steam output, 35kPa suction, 110-minute battery life, 180° flat lying function, and FlexExtend telescopic handle to reach under furniture, it is almost equipped with all configurations users can think of;

Roborock launched the F25 Ultra Steam Gen 2, which follows the direction of "steam + hot water" dual function: 180℃ VaporFlow 2.0 high-temperature steam + 90℃ hot water roller brush washing + 25000Pa+ suction + 450rpm high-speed roller brush.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

After a round of visits, Leitech found that in the high-temperature steam field, several manufacturers have similar designs and parameters, with no obvious difference. The specific experience differences will be shown in the relevant reviews after the Leitech exhibition team returns to China.

No longer limited to 2D floors, robot vacuums start "3D operation"

After several years of parameter competition, robot vacuums finally choose to change direction this year, stepping out of the floor to carry out cross-border 3D three-dimensional cleaning operations.

The Cyber X stair-climbing robot vacuum at the Dreame booth is surrounded by crowds, with a six-legged three-section track that can climb a 42° slope. It was unveiled as a concept machine at last year's IFA, but Dreame has set its price this time: 1199 euros, and it is expected to be launched in Europe in September. In the past, no matter how powerful robot vacuums were, they could only move on the floor. Dreame finally brings the three-dimensional cleaning concept to the market.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

Ecovacs' flagship product DEEBOT X11 OmniCyclone does not compete with peers on traditional suction parameters, but creates differentiation with the combination of "visual recognition + live water floor washing + full-domain voice". First, it uses the camera for mapping and obstacle avoidance to make the robot see the road and avoid obstacles. Then it sprays clean water while recycling sewage through the roller brush to keep the water clean. Finally, it saves user operation steps, users only need to shout a command to start the cleaning task, providing one-stop services including sweeping, mopping, sterilization, self-cleaning and automatic dust collection.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

Roborock's Saros 20 Flow and Qrevo Edge 3 Pro robot vacuums both reach a suction power of 36000Pa, and with the upgraded AdaptiLift chassis, they can cross an 8.8cm double-layer threshold. The industry's first five-axis folding bionic manipulator G30 Space Explorer Edition is equipped with a real gripper that can grasp objects on the robot vacuum. The 8.98cm ultra-thin G30S Ultra and P30 Pro robot vacuums, together with the mini washer-dryer Z1 Mini Pro and steam floor washer F25 Ultra Steam Gen 2, bring the whole set of "sweeping, washing, care and drying" housework process to the booth.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

What happens when physical AI meets robot vacuums?

Our old friend Narwal did not set up a booth in the IFA exhibition hall this time, but held a separate autumn global brand launch event in Berlin on September 3, the day before the exhibition started, bringing a full matrix of new products including the Xiaoyao 003 series, 10th Anniversary JX, S3 Steam floor washer, V50 vacuum cleaner and U50 Cube mite remover. The two flagship robot vacuums Narwal promoted this time are the Xiaoyao 003 series and the 10th anniversary limited Narwal JX, both equipped with the self-developed NarMind™ full-intelligent scene perception system 2.0, with two RGB cameras and an autonomous driving-level computing power chip.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

In simple terms, Narwal is making robot vacuums advance from "seeing an object" to "understanding a scene": it knows to avoid the floor dirtied by cats and dogs, automatically reduces noise in the space where children are, and can select the most appropriate cleaning strategy for different stains. Our team thinks this direction is correct. In the next stage of robot vacuums, the competition is no longer about how strong the suction is, but whether the robot "knows how to clean your home", which requires the application of physical AI.

It is a very interesting new way of playing to move the launch event out of the exhibition hall, hold it nearby or set up a sub-booth to gain exhibition traffic. Lenovo has been doing this at IFA and CES in recent years. Although it does not participate in the official exhibition, it holds launch events during the exhibition period to show new products, and the "lightweight participation" also achieves good results. Narwal does not need to compete for traffic with peers in Hall 9 this time, but takes exclusive attention with its own launch event. Rather than being diluted among hundreds of brands, it is better to build its own stage to accumulate popularity in advance.

Will iRobot's mother-and-child robot become a new trend?

iRobot, the former "category founder" of robot vacuums and the real originator of the industry, brought the Roomba Duo in Hall 9 this year, which adopts a split two-in-one design: it usually looks like a large white bucket, with 35mm climbing and obstacle surmounting capability for conventional cleaning. Once it encounters a very low space that cannot pass through, it can separate the smaller main unit part out. The separated small robot is smaller than the conventional robot vacuum, with a more compact roller brush, which can easily go into narrow gaps and height-limited spaces, with an extended cleaning space of 31mm.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

Our team approves of this idea, but we can easily find two shortcomings after careful consideration: first, the weight and height of the main robot increase too much, which will greatly reduce the battery life of the main unit; second, the idea of the small robot vacuum is good, but its cleaning power is much weaker than mainstream robots. Therefore, our team thinks this machine will not cause much response in the market.

The other side of Chinese manufacturers' collective "expansion" is the collective ebb of old European and American manufacturers. Ten years ago, when we talked about robot vacuums, the first brand that popped up in many people's minds was iRobot; but today at IFA, almost all the most lively booths are Chinese brands.

The leading players and operation rules of this industry are changing. However, we should not only focus on indoor areas. At this IFA, the most eye-catching products for our team are those machines that "walk out of the door".

Collectively "go into the water", solar energy is even applied

If steam is the "stock competition" of indoor cleaning, lawn mowing and pool cleaning are the real "protagonists" of this IFA: almost all Chinese manufacturers making robot vacuums have launched corresponding products. The underlying logic is easy to understand: the technologies of robot vacuums including navigation, mapping, obstacle avoidance and self-cleaning can be almost directly transplanted to lawn mowing and pool cleaning, while the European and American markets are exactly the "main battlefield" for courtyards and private pools.

First of all, for pool robots, Roborock's globally launched RockAqua P1 can adapt to various special-shaped pools, fully cleaning the pool bottom, pool wall and water line, even the shallow platform with a minimum depth of 15cm. It has a suction of 6800 gallons per hour, a 4-liter dirt collection basket, 180 micron + 70 micron dual filtration, and the longest duration for both working and charging is 3.5 hours.

(Photo source: Leitech IFA Reporting Team on-site shooting)

Roborock's actions are not limited to underwater products. With the wheel-legged robot vacuum G-Rover (capable of going up and down stairs) making its European debut and the lawn mower RockMax Z1 L800, Roborock presents a complete "indoor + courtyard + pool" cleaning ecosystem at the booth. No wonder Roborock directly displays "World NO.1" on the large screen of its booth.

Ecovacs' ULTRAMARINE officially expands the cleaning scene from 2D land to 3D underwater.

The Leitech reporting team that entered the exhibition in advance also took a set of details of this pool robot exclusively. One point that our team thinks needs to be mentioned separately is that when smart devices work underwater, WiFi and Bluetooth all fail, so Ecovacs is equipped with a repeater floating on the water, which is charged by solar energy to ensure continuous connection; the underwater obstacle avoidance adopts the laser solution. Lidar working underwater was originally a "century-old problem", which Ecovacs has finally solved this time — this technological leading edge itself will attract more European users.