Ecovacs launches the DEEBOT X8 series. Will the drum configuration be the future of sweepers?
Latest update time：2024-09-29
Reads：
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From 'sweeping and mopping in one' to 'constant pressure water washing', Ecovacs has found a new technical route.
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Author | Wu Huaxiu
Editor | Chen Caixian
In the third quarter of 2024, the sweeping robot industry ushered in a busy time, with various companies launching new products, and another intense competition began.
Just like the Olympic Games’ spirit of “faster, higher, stronger”, sweeper manufacturers are also going further, striving to provide a better product experience, and the functions and forms of sweepers are constantly changing:
To make it thinner, the top laser radar is raised or lowered or the external laser radar is cancelled; to enable the vehicle to overcome obstacles, wheel feet are extended; and to enable cleaning, suction is increased.
Behind the dazzling functional innovations are manufacturers’ insights into user needs.
Recently, the veteran player Ecovacs has been making frequent moves, setting its sights on "more comprehensive cleaning" and "achieving deeper cleaning", and has launched two new products.
The former is the lightweight Deebot T50 series that was recently launched. Since the pre-sale started on August 25 this year, more than 15,000 units have been pre-sold so far; the latter is another recent masterpiece - Deebot X8 PRO PLUS, which won the Product Technology Innovation Award at the IFA exhibition.
If the DEEBOT T50 series is the summary of Ecovacs' micro-innovation in the past three years, then the DEEBOT X8 PRO PLUS is a disruptive innovation -
the world's first constant pressure live water floor cleaning robot
. The DEEBOT X8 PRO PLUS has changed the previous product structure, comes with a built-in roller, and can be upgraded from "sweeping and mopping" to "sweeping and washing" with one click.
01
From double discs to drums, constant pressure live water floor washing solves new pain points
In the past, some manufacturers have adopted a drum structure, but the design has some shortcomings. For example, the pressure of some drums is concentrated on the two side brackets, and the uneven force will leave unsightly marks during cleaning, affecting the cleaning effect and efficiency.
In contrast, double discs have become the mainstream choice in the market due to their larger contact area and higher cleaning efficiency. However, in the past two years, Ecovacs has found through a large amount of user feedback and data review that users are generally dissatisfied with the cleaning effect of double discs.
The reason is that when the double discs are used to mop the floor, the water stains are unevenly distributed, and the floor cannot be cleaned in real time, so it is easy to "get dirtier the more you mop". Even if the efficiency is improved, for users, the sweeping machine still does not solve the pain point of cleaning the room, so it is naturally difficult to generate recognition of the brand power.
After understanding this demand, Ecovacs launched the DEEBOT X8 series. Based on the technology and experience of its sub-brand Tineco floor washing machines, it uses constant pressure live water drum washing to overcome the defects of traditional drum configuration and solve the shortcomings of the double disc structure in cleaning, thereby achieving efficient and in-depth cleaning effects.
"Tineco's floor scrubber has proven in the market that this cleaning solution is widely accepted."
Tineco floor washing machines have led the growth of the floor washing machine market with their original constant pressure live water washing technology, and have topped the sales list for four consecutive years, with annual sales exceeding one million units.
Ecovacs CEO Qian Cheng said that Ecovacs has always insisted on technology sharing to promote product innovation and enhance user experience. "The two major brands of Ecovacs and Tineco under the group have achieved technological integration, and in the future we will see more Tineco technologies in Ecovacs products."
Specifically, the OZMO ROLLER constant pressure active water floor washing technology developed by DEEBOT X8 PRO PLUS can be divided into two parts.
First, “constant pressure”.
The drum cleaning module of DEEBOT X8 PRO PLUS is equipped with a floating constant-pressure scraper strip, which can keep the drum in a constant downward pressure state and maintain a certain contact pressure with the ground. Under a pressure of 4000Pa, the drum runs at a high speed of 200 revolutions per minute, achieving the goal of removing stubborn stains with one roll.
Second, “living water”.
The drum cleaning module can continuously clean the drum mop through the built-in clean water tank to ensure real-time running water. At the same time, the scraper will squeeze the drum to take away the dirty water, and then the high-pressure air pump will recycle the dirty water in real time, so that the drum always uses clean water to wash the floor.
The reason why running water is used for floor cleaning is that Ecovacs has found through a large number of laboratory tests that if only the drum material is used to remove dirt and stains, a dry rag can indeed sweep away dust and other particles, but if it encounters stains such as soy sauce, ketchup, or water stains, the cleaning effect will be greatly reduced. "To clean these stains, running water must be involved."
Empowered by this technology, the cleaning power of the Deebot X8 series on colored pollution has been greatly improved compared to previous dual-disc solutions, becoming an "autonomous floor-washing" sweeping and mopping robot. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a floor washing robot. This is also the world's first constant-pressure live water floor washing robot from Ecovacs.
However, although the drum configuration has significant effects, the architectural solution is quite different from previous product forms. To achieve the same product performance, it means that the technical solution must be adjusted, which is not an easy task.
It is understood that as early as 2021, when Tineco launched its products and received wide acclaim from the market for its excellent mopping effect, Ecovacs had actively tried to apply the technology of floor scrubbers to sweepers, and made designs and plans on the drum configuration.
Due to the limitations of technology at the time, Ecovacs decided to temporarily shelve the drum configuration plan after comparing sweepers and scrubbers. The reason is that scrubbers are usually equipped with high-power negative pressure motors and fans to improve water absorption performance, which puts forward high requirements in technology and manufacturing. If this technology is applied to sweepers, it will not only face challenges in battery life, but also affect user experience due to the high operating noise.
It was not until 2023 that Ecovacs resumed this plan and, through repeated testing and adjustments, achieved a technological breakthrough and finally launched the DEEBOT X8 series.
02
“Is the drum configuration the future?”
In order to achieve the same cleaning effect in the drum configuration, Ecovacs has made substantial adjustments to its existing product solutions, reorganized the body design around the drum configuration, and further optimized the functions on the basis of achieving deep cleaning.
Specifically, the Deebot X8 series has been upgraded and integrated mainly in terms of cleaning and intelligence.
First of all, in terms of cleaning capabilities, Ecovacs has integrated past technical experience to further upgrade its sweeping robots.
For whole-house cleaning, the Deebot X8 series uses dual-constant edge technology, with the side brush and the roller expanding outward, which can clean wires, slippers, U-shaped chairs and other obstacles closely, effectively solving the problem of cleaning corners. In addition, the height of the sweeper body will affect its possibility of entering low furniture in the home. The Deebot X8 series flexibly adjusts the roller design, and the whole machine is only 9.8 cm high. The bottom roller can also be lifted, which can enter the low space of the home for cleaning, and can also handle more floors of different materials.
In the past, after the double discs expanded outward, a gap would appear in the middle, which required a second cleaning. However, in the drum mode, the working distance is directly calculated based on the drum width, which improves the overall work efficiency.
As we all know, one of the biggest difficulties in cleaning is preventing hair from getting tangled. The DEEBOT X8 series uses cyclone comb tooth anti-tangle technology, and the 45-degree comb tooth V-shaped streamlined cavity design is conducive to gathering hair and cleaning it out in one go.
The second is algorithm capability, which affects the “intelligence” of the sweeping robot.
The Deebot X8 series uses AINA 2.0 artificial intelligence energy-guiding algorithm and deep-sensing vision module to intelligently identify objects and provide dynamic navigation in all directions and environments. At the same time, with the help of AI and large models, the Deebot X8 series has upgraded its human-computer interaction design. The YIKO-GPT large language model developed by Ecovacs not only enables the sweeping robot to understand the user's vague instructions, but also to communicate directly with the user through the GPT-style interactive interface on the APP, enhancing the interactive experience.
"We don't make the roller just to please ourselves or to be different from the market. It's the actual test results that tell us that the roller will be the future." Qian Cheng said that this does not mean that Ecovacs will completely and comprehensively abolish the double-wiping disk solution.
In the future, Ecovacs will focus on user experience, take into account cost and technical feasibility, optimize product solutions, and gradually replace the double disc solution with the drum configuration, but some products will continue to be used. At the same time, given the differences in cleaning habits at home and abroad, overseas markets will continue to use the double disc design or innovate to meet local needs.
03
Solving pain points can win the competition
"The current focus of the sweeper industry is to increase sales and expand market penetration."
Qian Cheng told Leifeng.com that there are currently two major strategies in the industry. One is to continue to lower prices to promote sales; the other is to optimize cleaning effects through innovation, solve more pain points in long-tail scenarios, and attract more users.
In terms of price, the industry has begun to adopt the "price-for-volume" approach to seize the market since the second half of 2023. Many products that were initially priced at more than 4,000 yuan have dropped to the 3,000-4,000 yuan price range. This price range is the focus of competition among major brands.
However, although the price has dropped, the quality has not decreased, and manufacturers are still racking their brains to improve product performance. Specifically, the main focus is on how to make the sweeping robot more powerful, more convenient to use, and more intelligent to operate.
Manufacturers often choose one direction to focus on in order to solve problems at different latitudes. For example, since last year, the industry has generally paid attention to the problem of cleaning corners, and many companies have launched robot arm expansion solutions to clean along the edges. Ecovacs has also launched the Deebot T30 series with Lingxi constant edge technology. Compared with conventional two-break robot arms, Lingxi technology can achieve adaptive extension angles and clean close to the edge of obstacles to ensure that corners are cleaned without omission.
"No matter which manufacturer, everyone wants to provide a good user experience, so there are all kinds of fancy solutions. Even if it is just a new function with slight improvement, it will be applied to the product first. Whoever can better solve the user pain points will win the competition." Qian Cheng said.
In the past, the "sweep and mop" robot vacuum cleaners could certainly meet the cleaning needs of users, but it was difficult to achieve better cleaning effects. "Mopping the dirty with the dirty" resulted in inadequate cleaning, and was more for maintaining daily hygiene. Although the cleaning effect of the floor scrubber was significant, it required manual labor, and for office workers, it was difficult to solve the big problem of time cost.
Based on deep user insights, the Deebot X8 series integrates the characteristics of sweepers and scrubbers, leveraging their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses to truly achieve "sweeping and washing in one". This not only improves cleaning power, but also enables autonomous cleaning, greatly liberating manpower, and may lead the industry to a further step.
04
Conclusion: Innovation is a marathon, and users are the judges
Looking back at the entire first half of 2024, with the upgrade of sweeper product functions, the pace of new product releases by various companies has accelerated, with a pace of "you finish your song and I come on stage".
However, corporate competition is not a 100-meter race where one round determines the winner. Qian Cheng said, "Competition is a marathon, and every leg is important and needs to withstand the test of users who are the referees."
In this process, how to understand user needs becomes the key to success. As Peter Mayer, a well-known information architecture expert in the Internet industry, said, "User experience is so important that it has now become synonymous with innovation."
For Ecovacs, only product innovation and functional upgrades based on user needs are truly for the users.
"It is both a pursuit and a mission to make consumers feel that a sweeping machine that can be taken home is worth the money and even more than the money spent."
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