The dream of robots finally taking over menial tasks at home has been hampered for decades as human intervention still needs to happen at one point in the chain. Take the dishwasher for example – it is a massive time saver for many but still requires loading, unloading and other preparation of what you put in.

The space of automated cleaning has come a long way, but still has the same break in automation that requires you to get your hands dirty, this time literally. Automated vacuums / mopping machines will need human hands to clean out the dustbins and dirty water tanks, and potentially also clean parts of the robot like the brushes and mopping pads.

Yes, the cleaning robot needs to be cleaned.

Some cheaper models even require that you get up and physically plug them in to charge, further taking away from the entire point of automated cleaning.

Manufacturing giant Xiaomi has now presented what is likely the most autonomous floor cleaning solution that you can buy and implement in your house, without somehow travelling to the future. That solution is the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum X10+ & Auto-Empty Station.

The X10+ is a Robot Vacuum that you may be familiar with, but the Auto-Empty Station is here to take your job. Your boring household cleaning job, that is.

This smart docking station for the X10+ removes the need for you to empty the dustbin and water reservoir of the Robot Vacuum. Using a powerful dual air duct system the dustbin is emptied in just 10 seconds. With a 2.5 litre dust bag inside of the Auto-Empty Station, it can hold 60 binloads of dust from the Robot Vacuum. Unlike other automated vacuums that need to be cleaned often after a few cleaning cycles, you will only have to do it after 60 cycles which is an unparalleled level of automation for the home or office.

The water tank used for mopping is similarly topped up using the S-Mopping assistant. This will detect the water levels inside of the X10+ and add water where needed.

One particularly impressive feature of the Auto-Empty Station is how it cleans the mopping pads of the X10+. A strong water flow soaks the pads while at the same time rotating and scraping them to clean as deeply as possible, as fast as possible. Hot air is then piped into the chamber for the drying cycle so that your Robot Vacuum is ready to mop again without any dampness or odour.

That extra step of hot air drying really illustrates the all-encompassing automation and speed of this system. There’s no need for you to get involved and everything is done as fast as possible so the system can get back to work as fast as possible.

But what about the Robot Vacuum itself? With all its automation the X10+ is still a fantastic cleaner on its own, boasting a strong 4 000 Pa suction fan which can suck up most messes. For mopping the aforementioned mopping pads spin at 180 RPM and balance three water settings to apply the optimal amount of water without oversoaking the floor, depending on what it is made out of.

Using laser guidance, an RGB camera, an array of sensors and navigation software that Xiaomi has been honing over years, the X10+ effortlessly guides around vacuuming and mopping until your house or work is perfectly clean. The larger internal battery can get you up to two hours of cleaning which is great even for large spaces. When the battery runs low that too is automated as the X10+ can simply return to the Auto-Empty Station to be charged.

Another feature we have to point out is carpet cleaning. Again going back to lesser automated vacuums from other companies, they will usually tell you to keep away from carpets and to only clean flat floors. The X10+ instead uses carpet recognition to detect carpets, at which point it will automatically lift itself to the correct height. Have you seen those extremely low supercars with suspension that lifts them up for speedbumps? It’s the same idea, but miniaturised. With the 4 000 Pa suction fan, the Robot Vacuum can apply the constant suction that is required to pull debris out of carpets.

Once the carpet is cleaned the X10+ can return to regular flooring, and lower back down to its original height. This lower height maximises the suction pressure for a better clean on non-carpets, and it allows the Robot Vacuum to limbo under furniture and other obstacles.

The Xiaomi Robot Vacuum X10+ & Auto-Empty Station is available in South Africa now through Takealot, Yuppiechef, and Tafelberg. The system has an RRP of just R19 999 which is surprisingly cheap given that this is an entire ecosystem of robot cleaning that used to be in the realm of science fiction.