Speaking of sweeping robots, Ecovacs’ Deebot series has seized a high degree of attention. Since its establishment in 2006, Deebot has long been considered one of the leading products within the sweeping robot product category. In fact, for many consumers, the first name that comes to their mind when thinking about sweeping robots would be Deebot. A vivid example is the brand-new Ecovacs Deebot T50 PRO.
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Ecovacs Deebot T50 PRO was officially launched on September 17th. Equipped with an 81mm slim body, it has a maximum 15,800Pa suction power and is capable of sweeping and mopping. Ecovacs positions the Deebot T50 PRO as “slim yet powerful, featuring top-tier configurations”. Well, how does the experience go with this new product? How is it a one-stop solution for households?
Design
By design, the Ecovacs Deebot T50 PRO looks sleek and a powerhouse. Its white, black, and gray accents give this robot a generally pure white body. The base station is square-shaped, where it holds a translucent water tank at the top; there is also a short status light underneath it and the Ecovacs logo further below. The dust bag and cleaning fluid are well-hidden under this cover.
The Deebot T50 PRO itself has a look right out of science fiction, with that central black strip giving it a somewhat mysterious look. The placement of various sensors within this black area, or the overall silhouette, may evoke images of a Star Wars Star Destroyer.
One of the immediately noticeable design changes with the Ecovacs Deebot T50 PRO is the absence of the LSD radar “watchtower” from the top, giving it a completely flat surface. This, of course, contributes a great deal to the surprisingly slim profile for the robot-just 81mm-so one should not worry about low blind spots.
The Deebot T50 PRO does without the radar tower and uses instead a three-dimensional omnidirectional perception system. Minitof technology is combined with 3D structured light and an AI camera. The black section at its body has been called a “fully embedded navigation module” to integrate a series of structural design optimizations for the layout of the navigation and structured light modules, reusing the space that was occupied by longitudinal drive wheels.
The Deebot T50 PRO has 3D structured light technology on its front and sides; this incorporates infrared lasers, the objective of which is to capture detailed surface information from objects.
On the bottom, the Deebot T50 PRO features the TruEdge™ 2.0 dynamic dual-constant edge design. The side brush is outward expandable while the mop plate is outward expandable and infinitely hoverable. This they say does 100% corner cleaning coverage.
In addition, the Deebot T50 PRO has an unparalleled roller brush design. There is a V-shaped spiral roller brush with a 45-degree angled hair planting design officially called “ZeroTangle™ 2.0 cyclone comb anti-entanglement” that effectively avoids tangling of hair.
Cleaning experience
Presently in sweeping robot applications, there are still some sanitary dead corners. For example, dust usually piles up in areas, such as under a short bed or sofa, since they cannot be cleaned thoroughly over time.
One of the major reasons most sweeping robots can’t enter into these narrow spaces is that their heights are a little higher, especially with LSD laser radar mounted on top, adding to their overall height.
However, the Deebot T50 PRO adopts a flat body design with an ultra-thin height of only 81mm. By comparison, robots with LSD laser radar are about 110mm high. For this reason, the Deebot T50 PRO can glide smoothly into low spaces and effectively solve the sanitary dead corner problem. According to the results from our test, the Deebot T50 PRO glides under sofas and cabinets without any problem at all.
Historically, besides their inability to enter tight spaces, reaching them has also been a challenge for sweeping robots. For instance, corners and the areas under the refrigerator are very hard to reach. Deebot T50 PRO’s “TruEdge™ 2.0 Dynamic Dual Constant Edge” technology does the magic. This can serve to enable the side brush and mop to extend outwards, thus mimicking an action of a human arm “reaching out” for corners that are hard to reach.
Operation: The side brush and mop of Deebot T50 PRO can flexibly extend and retract in real-time to fit edges and corners closely for complete cleaning coverage.
Coupling these features enables the Deebot T50 PRO to gain access not only to narrow but also complex areas for thorough cleaning.
The other most critical aspect of cleaning performance is the suction power. Without a doubt, it influences cleaning efficiency directly. Having said that, Deebot T50 PRO boasts an impressive amount of suction power going up to 15,800Pa, whereas its predecessors and competitors don’t have such numbers, although some models from other brands offer up to 20,000Pa and more. But the Deebot can already boast such a high index of suction capability, which for daily vacuuming is more than enough, and all this technical reserve only enhances its general effectiveness.
We tested the Deebot T50 PRO with slightly bigger granular debris to give a good show and tell of how well it cleans. It did well when we activated maximum suction, sucking them up like some kind of Pac-Man in an arcade game.
In addition, the internal Deebot T50 PRO is equipped with a new cyclone diversion anti-tangle roller brush. This has a V-shaped comb tooth structure that aligns with the center of the roller brush to effectively separate tangled hair.
We also did a test in this respect, and the result was pretty promising: after finishing cleaning the hair, the roller brush of the Deebot T50 PRO did not have any tangled hair.
When the Deebot T50 PRO detects an area that is wet and dirty, it will first engage in mopping mode for such an area before assessing the condition of the mop for cleaning. At this point, it mops the wet and dirty area before returning to sweep and mop other areas.
Obstacle Avoidance Experience
Without LDS laser radar, many users fear the Deebot T50 PRO may significantly degrade in terms of navigation and obstacle avoidance functions. In our experience, however, there is nothing to say this should be so.
According to information obtained from official sources, the Deebot T50 PRO uses an embedded dTof LiDAR solution. Also, along with the front and side structured light and front AI camera, the system effectively captures environmental information while the robot is in motion. Furniture, rooms, and obstacles can be precisely identified with the employment of deep learning. The line-structured light from infrared lasers makes it possible to project structured light onto the exclusive side, capture reflected light with a camera, and thus find out the contours and depth of three-dimensional objects to enable cleaning stably even in a dim environment.
During our testing, the Deebot T50 PRO demonstrated strong evasion skills while tackling complicated cleaning tasks. It effectively cleared areas under a crib and around a thin stool. Instead of bumping into the stool legs, it skillfully mapped a course through.
For instance, when encountering a slender stool leg, the Deebot T50 PRO cleaned the area around it and smoothly moved away.
Does it perform well in all environments?
In complicated environments with tables, chairs, and benches, the Deebot T50 PRO demonstrated remarkable obstacle-avoidance skills. It quickly assessed and planned the best cleaning path. While moving forward cautiously, it explored new angles. The robot’s flexibility and intelligent path-planning abilities are truly impressive.
The side-structured light of the Deebot T50 PRO enhances distance measurement from side obstacles. This feature allows better adaptive extension and retraction of the side brush and mop plate.
The Deebot T50 PRO supports the AINA 2.0 artificial intelligence navigation model. This model integrates dynamic planning and map planning. It also supports real-time perception of environmental changes.
Our tests show that the Deebot T50 PRO can rapidly and precisely avoid people walking around it. Its millisecond-level dynamic obstacle avoidance resembles advanced emergency braking systems in intelligent driving.
In terms of carpet cleaning, Deebot T50 PRO supports multiple modes: pass, clean, ignore, and avoid. Users can manually turn on carpet mode, which starts by sweeping the carpet and cleaning it a couple of times.
For instance, in the case of the Deebot in pass mode, it lifts its mop and can just pass over small carpets without sweeping or suction. In cleaning mode, it automatically lifts the mop and increases the suction power to effectively clean carpets.
Comprehensive Experience
It features 70° hot water cloth washing and 45° hot air drying. It also includes automatic water replenishment and automatic dust collection. Intelligent rewash and fully automatic double-arm scraping and washing are part of its functions. Additionally, it has automatic cleaning liquid addition and a 14-day anti-odor and anti-bacterial function. Lastly, it offers energy-saving valley point charging.
The self-cleaning function operates through a fully automatic double-arm scraping and washing design. The cleaning disc of the mop itself has a “wiper” structure. During the self-cleaning process, the mop rotates to drive the rotary disk scraper at the bottom of the base station. This action scrapes off the dirt with the help of clean water that dissolves internal residue.
The Deebot T50 PRO returns to the base station during the rag cleaning process. It automatically injects high-temperature clean water. This action ensures a thorough wash. This ensures a thorough wash.
For user interaction, the Deebot T50 PRO features a built-in large model capability called YIKO-GPT, which is “the industry’s first self-developed large language model for a sweeping robot.” For once, this isn’t PR; actually, it lifts the user experience.
Until now, voice control of robot vacuum cleaners required fixed command phrases. This could be cumbersome for some older adults, the very clientele who needed such technologies. The introduction of a large language model makes that interaction totally seamless.
It recognizes natural speech commands. Users can give it direct commands or use vague phrases. For example, one can say, “OK YIKO, I have some mud here; help me clean it.” After receiving the command, the Deebot T50 PRO orients toward the user. It then detects them with its front camera and begins cleaning.
Final Thoughts
The price is 3,999 yuan ($567). Among the Ecovacs products, this isn’t their flagship series, but it really is the thinnest Deebot currently in the industry. It has embedded technology in the same series as the high-end X series. At just 81mm tall, the Deebot T50 PRO covers more cleaning areas, making it ideal for cleaning low spaces.
Our experience shows that the Deebot T50 PRO upholds Ecovacs’ strengths in obstacle avoidance and path planning. For example, it is able to map a room of about 20 square meters in roughly three minutes-an impressive speed.
The moment of concern lies in the time it takes to charge the robot: an hour to reach 20%. Since low points are common in sweeping robots, users face disadvantages, especially during urgent cleaning needs. We would greatly appreciate any improvement on this.
Conclusively, amidst the keenest of competitions in the smart home cleaning market, Ecovacs has proven its dedication to quality. Deebot T50 PRO excels in low space cleaning, AI interaction, strong suction, and obstacle avoidance, making it a top choice.