In a laboratory in the Nanshan district of the megacity Shenzhen in China, Chinese technology company Anker is testing its latest robot vacuum cleaner, the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2. A few days before my visit, Anker had opened a new office in Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park, which is also home to the much better-known Chinese company DJI. Around us are test areas with carpets, wooden floors and tiles, and the Chinese engineers demonstrate how the robot handles everything from pet hair to fresh ketchup.
Anker, now a global technology company with more than 5,000 employees and offices in 146 countries, including a local office in Scandinavia, has spent 15 years growing from a small office in the Chinese city of Changsha. Today, the company is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of charging products and smart home products. Anker is now making a big push into the Nordic market with the eufy brand, which focuses on robot vacuum cleaners and surveillance cameras.
A target group with high demands
The new eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2, which was unveiled at the IFA trade fair in Berlin in early September, is designed for a specific target group: tech enthusiasts with high incomes who often live in large homes with pets and primarily have wooden floors or thick carpets! According to Anker, this customer group places extremely high demands on product performance.
‘They always choose the best products,’ explains one of Anker’s product experts during the presentation in Shenzhen. That is why the company has thoroughly tested the robot vacuum cleaner’s functions before its official launch in a few weeks.
Three new technologies
The eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2 is equipped with three new technologies that Anker has developed specifically for this model. The first is AeroTurbo 2.0, which uses multi-cyclone technology – the same principle that Dyson uses in its vacuum cleaners.
This technology ensures that the suction power remains consistently high over time:
‘The problem with many robot vacuum cleaners is that they have high vacuum power at first, but when the filter becomes clogged with dust and hair, performance drops dramatically,’ explains the product expert.
‘With multi-cyclone technology, the dust is thrown against the walls of the dust container by centrifugal force, so the filter stays clean for much longer.’
In practice, this means that the eufy S2 can maintain its vacuum power of 30,000 Pa – equivalent to 100 airwatts – for up to 90 days without manual cleaning of the filter. That’s six times longer than competing products, Anker guarantees.
Mop that cleans itself in real time
The second technology, HydroJet 2.0, is for floor cleaning. The system uses a rolling mop that constantly cleans itself while working, Anker promises. Clean water is continuously supplied, while dirty water is collected in a separate tank in the robot so that the dirt does not spread around the floor.
In the laboratory, an engineer demonstrates how the system works. He places a large number of small portions of fresh ketchup on a shiny white test surface. The robot runs over the stain once – and the ketchup is gone. Completely. Not even a faint smear is visible on the white surface. It is quick and efficient, and the demonstration supports Anker’s claim that the robot should be able to clean as well as a human.
The mop presses down with a pressure of 15 N (equivalent to 1.5 kg), while constantly cleaning itself with electrolyzed water, which, according to the manufacturer, has a sterilisation effect of 99.99 per cent.
A new feature compared to previous eufy models is that the mop can extend 15 mm from the edge of the robot vacuum cleaner to reach all the way into corners and along panels. In addition, the base station can wash the mop with hot water to remove grease and dirt more effectively.
The problem with many robot vacuum cleaners is that they have high initial vacuum power, but when the filter becomes clogged with dust and hair, performance drops dramatically.
AI recognises 40 types of dirt
The third technology, CleanMind AI, is a system designed to make the robot ‘think’ like a professional cleaning assistant. Using 3D ToF sensors, an RGB camera and LED, the robot can recognise over 200 different types of obstacles and identify more than 40 different types of dirt – including pet vomit, food waste and hairballs.
‘We have tested all these scenarios thoroughly,’ says the product expert, while showing videos of the robot’s ability to detect and handle different types of dirt. When the robot identifies a particularly dirty spot, it can return to the base station to clean the mop, after which it returns to the same spot to finish the job.
Where Anker got the pet vomit to test this particular type of dirt remains a mystery. The product expert doesn’t seem to understand me when I ask…
The system can also build a real-time 3D map of the home, allowing the user to see exactly where the robot is and how it navigates around furniture and other obstacles via the app. However, the feature can be turned off if you don’t want it.
12-in-1 base station
The eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2 will come with a unique 12-in-1 UniClean base station. The base handles all types of maintenance automatically, emptying the dust container (3-litre capacity), refilling clean water (2.5-litre tank), washing the mop with hot water, drying it with hot air, collecting waste water (1.8-litre tank) and automatically dispensing cleaning solution.
The station is equipped with an LCD screen so you can control the robot directly from the base station without using the app. The robot also supports the Matter standard, so it can be integrated into a smart home system.
No stair function this time
When the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2 was first unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin in September, it was presented alongside the eufy MarsWalker – a separate robot that could transport the robot vacuum cleaner up and down stairs between floors using four independently controlled arms and a belt system.
However, the MarsWalker was nowhere to be seen during the visit to Shenzhen, and Anker did not mention it either, so perhaps it was just a concept to impress the trade fair visitors in Berlin?
Price and availability
The eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S2 will be officially launched in a few weeks. We do not know exactly when, and Anker has not disclosed the price in Denmark or which retailers will sell the product. However, the recommended retail price will probably be on the expensive side, so the Omni S2 will compete with products such as the Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone and Roborock Saros Z70.
