CES 2025: This Dreame Robot Vacuum Can Climb Over Small Obstacles

I truly thought this would be the year the world would see its first stair-climbing robot vacuum cleaner: While the Dreame X50 Ultra, announced today at CES, is being written about that way, it turns out that it can only climb "stairs" if the steps in question are under two inches tall. Rather, the Dreame X50 is a threshold-climbing robot, which might be less exciting, but is still useful. 

The X50 has a lot of new tech under the hood. This robot has 20,000Pa suction: For context, while suction power numbers have exploded this year, many robot vacuums that I think do an exceptional job, do so with less than 12,000Pa. There’s a limit to how much suction can actually help, and at least one executive has admitted to me that this number rises primarily because consumers generally choose the vacuum with the highest Pa. Still, more suction certainly couldn’t hurt. 

As is happening with many other robots, the X50 is beginning to transition away from LiDAR exclusively by adding cameras into the mix. LiDAR uses light to measure space in front of the robot, but it does so with less precision than cameras do, and LiDAR requires the familiar round button on top of more robot vacuums. In the case of the X50, the LiDAR tower is still present, but can retract when needed, to go under low spaces like your couch. At that point, the robot relies solely on RGB cameras with advanced AI power. Companies are leveraging AI to identify objects so the robot knows to avoid them. 

Featurewise, all robots this year are hyper-focused on detangling brushes. This makes sense, since the rollers and brushes often become tangled not only with hair, but random strings, rug threads, and detritus on the ground. This means you have to pick the robot up, detangle it, and pull out the rollers. Dreame has an extending arm for their brush and two rollers, and while that isn’t particularly new, the rollers can spin in reverse, which should help with detangling. Dreame has received TÜV certification for “100% detangling.” 

But let’s talk about the exciting part: The Dreame X50 Ultra has legs under the vacuum that can lift the front of the vacuum up over obstacles as much as two inches high. This may not seem like a lot, but the product team has managed to continually improve that height, so it seems reasonable to hope that stairs are coming someday soon. So what does two inches get you? It can climb over power cords, a small shoe, or a rolled-up rug edge. Most importantly, it can climb over one heck of a threshold—that transition between rooms or floor types—so it can access parts of the house it couldn't have reached on its own before.

The Dreame X50 Ultra will retail for $1,699, and will be available for pre-order Jan. 7, in advanced of a Valentine's Day release.