SwitchBot Branches Out Into the Robot Vacuum Market with the Wet-and-Dry Fully-Automated S10

SwitchBot, best known for its motorized Internet of Things (IoT) power switch upgrades, is branching out into the robot vacuum market — launching a crowdfunding campaign for a mop-and-vacuum that, it claims, never has to be manually refilled and which can even link to humidifiers and dehumidifiers for their water needs.

"Most of you might know us at the 'King of Retrofit,' always dedicated to making your life smarter by enabling you to just add something easy-to-install on your existing appliances (like switches, curtains, you get the idea) to make them smarter," SwitchBot's Xiangchao Huang admits.

"[The] S10 is also made to be just that," Huang continues. "We realized that robot vacuums on the market now are not so smart, and users aren't getting a real fully automated experience, as you still need to change water and wash dirty water tanks and stations."

The SwitchBot S10, by contrast, aims to take the human out of the loop. The vacuum comes with an "auto-empty station" for vacuum waste and a "water station" for liquids — which, once plumbed into fresh water and sewerage, even sharing with dishwashers or washing machines, automatically drains away mucky mop waste and refills the robot with clean water.

For those with no easy access to plumbing, the company has also promised an external water tank with a 2.5 liter fresh and two liter waste capacity — at no extra charge for those ordering during the crowdfunding campaign.

Interestingly, the company is planning to make the S10 part of an ecosystem of water-related products: crowdfunding backers can add an evaporative humidifier as an option, the reservoir of which can be topped up from the S10's internal water tank automatically; it also plans a dehumidifier for launch by the end of next year which, likewise, can drain its condensate tank into the S10 for automatic disposal.

All of this, SwitchBot promises, will link in to existing smart home systems through the cross-vendor Matter standard — though not yet. "The SwitchBot S10 will support Matter via OTA [Over-The Air update]," the company writes, "once Matter supports the robot vacuum category in the future."

The SwitchBot S10 is now available to back on Kickstarter, priced at $899 for early-bird backers — compared with a planned $1,119.99 planned retail price; the humidifier accessory is an extra $129. All hardware is expected to ship in March next year, the company says.