The modern world of tech is so fast moving that sometimes a brand can pretty quickly come out of nowhere to announce itself as one of the most important names in a sector without much warning. 

That's an awful lot like what Roborock has done over the last five years or so - it only released its first vacuum in late 2016, but now, in 2020, is one of the most impressive and trusted names in the vacuum market, with particular expertise when it comes to autonomous robot vacuums, but growing influence in home essentials, too. 

So fast has been Roborock's growth, though, that you might find yourself scratching your head as to where the company came from, and how it's got to where it has. Good news - we've got the answers. 

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Roborock

Founding principles

Roborock was founded in the middle of 2014, aiming to enter into the home technology market, but quickly attracted major attention and in September 2014 got a principal investor that you've probably heard of - Xiaomi. 

That made it part of Xiaomi's ecological chain, and one part of a massive family of technology companies and start-ups. From there, the road ahead was pretty clear, if complicated: get to the point of launching an actual product. This took a couple of years, but in September 2016 Roborock launched its first ever product, the Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Cleaner.

It was an instant hit, and since then has become the best-selling robotic vacuum cleaner in the whole of China, the sort of success that would set up any company for further innovation very nicely. 

It was then rolled out across more territories, finding success everywhere it was launched. That's the foundation that Roborock is built on - great tech. 

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Roborock

A technological vision

Now, a few years later, Roborock is headquartered in Beijing, with R&D and branch offices in Shanghai and Shenzhen where its engineers, designers, scientists, and manufacturing experts collaborate closely throughout development and testing. Its international office in Hong Kong is home to a global team and staffed with people from across the globe.

Roborock's CEO Richard Chang was actually working in the US a couple of years ago when the robot vacuum scene started to take off. Interested, he bought his own but didn't like it - so he bought another. Eventually he had bought 20 different vacuums, and found all of them unsatisfying, so he decided he could do better and started Roborock.

The company knows that it can prove the case for its own products by getting them into people's hands, and is committed to showing the world what’s possible when you have a robot to help you at home - and given that the company was recently publicly listed, something is clearly working. 

The team it's gathered over time to complete that objective contains alumni from giants like Microsoft, Huawei, Baidu and Foxconn. They come from a range of backgrounds and fields, making for a diversity of attitudes and approaches that helps them to collaborate inventively. 

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Roborock

The products themselves

Of course, a consumer tech company is nothing without good products, and the key to Roborock's success has been its superb devices. We love the Roborock S5 Max, for example, one of the very best robot vacuums on the market. 

Whether that's because of its amazing automatic mapping, or the fact that it's a brilliant mopping robot as well as a reliable vacuum, doesn't matter too much - it's the overall offering that's so impressive. It's got us to a point where we don't even have to think about cleaning our home - it's just clean by default, on schedule and without any fuss.

Of course, some people, even those who actually own a robot hoover as well, simply prefer cleaning for themselves. That might be because of particularly hard-to-reach nooks, or because (shock horror) they find it therapeutic. Luckily, Roborock's doesn't confine itself to robots. It's about to launch the Roborock H6, its first cordless stick vacuum - a cleaning system that looks set to impress hugely with great suction & battery life packed into a clever, lightweight design.

That means that very soon, between its stellar lineup of robot vacs, and the new H6, you'll be able to take care of your mess in whatever way you like, with the help of Roborock. If your interest is piqued, visit Roborock's website to find out more about its products and history.