Roborock says the Rover will be able to climb almost any staircase, including traditional, curved, spiral, and carpeted staircases with bullnose fronts. Although the stairs I saw it demoed on were wide, flat, and straight. All of this combined should mean the Rover can access every room of your house.

Adding legs to robots that have minimal awareness of the environment around them can help the robots operate more effectively in difficult terrain, my colleagues and I found. We were inspired by mathematician and engineer Claude Shannon’s communication ...