It was only a matter of time before someone came up with the bright idea of strapping a robot vacuum to a drone and having the drone carry it up the stairs. The idea comes from Mova, a Dreame sub-brand owned by the same parent company. I watched it in action at CES 2026, and I can confirm it works. Sort of.
A DJI for your robovac
While it worked in previous demos, in the one I saw, the Pilot 70 wasn’t able to actually land on the platform.
In a perfect scenario, according to the demo video Mova showed me, the drone would carry the robot vacuum from a base station to a second or third floor of a multi-story home. Notably, this is a very rich person’s house, as demonstrated in the video, with high ceilings and a wide, open landing. I doubt it would work nearly as well in a skinny townhouse or brownstone.
Another video also showed it outside and carrying the robot vacuum up to a hard-to-reach balcony, and dropping it off to clean. I assume that after it’s done cleaning, the drone would come back to pick it up.
The complications here are pretty obvious. Most people don’t have the wide open spaces and high ceilings in their homes for a drone to fly safely. And the ones that do likely have a cleaning staff of some kind that will do a better job than a robot vacuum. Clearly, this isn’t a product you should expect to buy any time soon, but I give points for a cool concept, even if it’s probably impractical for most people.
Zeus 60 stair climbing robot
There are a lot of moving parts with the Zeus 60, but this one is likely to come to market.
It’s a bit overengineered, as there are many moving parts involved. There are a pair of lifts that raise the body of the robot vacuum up to the next step, an extension that safely deposits on the step, then the lift system retracts, and it does it all over again. Once the unit reaches the top, the front swings open, allowing the robot vacuum to roll out and do its work.
Mova wasn’t able to share many details with me about which robot vacuums will work with the Zeus 60, but it should support more than one future Mova robot vacuum. Unlike the Pilot 70, it will eventually be available for purchase.
