Dreame's next robot vacuum can climb the stairs (so long as they are little stairs)

Robot vacuums are great for automatic cleaning, right up until they hit a barrier they can't climb. Like stairs. Dreame's latest robot vacuum, the X50 Ultra, was announced at CES this week and offers a unique retractable leg to help the vacuum climb up small stairs.

When I say small, I mean up to 6 cm high. I've never lived in a home with stairs that small before, so I have questions about the real-world benefits of including this feature in the X50 Ultra.

But it's still a cool piece of engineering to try and solve a real problem.

The other key design feature worth pointing out is that the little circular head on top – which houses the DToF sensors used for mapping and obstacle avoidance – retracts into the vacuums main body so the X50 Ultra can get underneath low furniture.

With the head retracted, the X50 Ultra is just 89 mm high, allowing it to pass under a lot of furniture effortlessly.

Dreame has also improved its main brush – I had a lot of trouble with both the L20 Ultra and the L10S Pro Ultra Heat models, with the main rubber brushes tearing after a week or two vacuuming up a bit of hair. The X50 Ultra has a twin roller design, which promises 100% anti-entanglement for hair up to 30 cm long, apparently.

The vacuum offers 20,000 Pa of suction, automatically raises the mop pads to protect carpets and will automatically wash the mop pads back at the base station with 80ºC hot water.

Pricing and availability

The Dreame X50 Ultra is set to launch in Australia in March 2025. Pricing has yet to be confirmed.