IFA Berlin has typically been a spot to see cutting-edge tech, cool ideas, and attention-grabbing prototypes (or ought to we are saying bizarre?). Whereas there definitely have been a few of these this yr, like iRobot’s Roomba Duo, numerous humanoid demos, and a flying automobile idea, 2026 has felt extra muted than final yr. We’re nonetheless seeing the identical demos of issues just like the Saros Rover and the Dreame Cyber X idea. As a substitute, what I’ve seen is firms actually making an attempt to drill down on perfecting the merchandise and product strains that work for them.
Listed below are the developments I noticed at IFA Berlin 2026 that drew my consideration and are price looking ahead to subsequent yr.
Mud mites and allergy symptoms are the brand new goal for robotic vacuums
Robotic vacuums have develop into fairly good upkeep instruments for cleansing up mud and pet hair, however if you happen to’re somebody with bronchial asthma or critical allergy symptoms, you doubtless nonetheless want a superb HEPA-certified vacuum and air air purifier to maintain issues manageable. Nicely, that’s the brand new goal of firms like Anker with the Eufy Omni E35 and Ecovacs with the Deebot X12S Omnicyclone. Each are licensed by completely different organizations to show they work as claimed. The X12S was examined by the SGS Testing & Management Companies Singapore and, in testing, eliminated a mean of 97.44% of mud mite allergens and 95.45% of mud mites from carpet. The Omni E35 additionally claims the flexibility to take away a barely greater 99% of mud mites and has Bronchial asthma and Allergy Basis of America certification.
Realistically, the proportion distinction isn’t notably vital. What’s notable right here is that firms are actively in search of out certifications that show their robotic vacuums are able to sturdy ranges of cleansing and sterilization, that it’s appropriate for maternal well being, newborns and allergy victims. This would possibly sound area of interest, however as somebody who has three asthmatic cats and sometimes seasonal allergy symptoms, I’m to see if it lives as much as the testing claims.
That is one thing we’re prone to see extra of as robotic vacuums develop into established not only for cleansing however for sanitizing as properly, with fashions that may deploy steam, UV mild, and sprays. In the identical manner air purifiers turned more and more frequent over the previous decade as a simple method to cleanse your air and cut back allergy symptoms, we might even see licensed, high-quality robotic vacuums tackle the identical position.
Deep cleansing is the brand new problem to beat
If you happen to’ve been following robotic vacuums in any respect, one factor you’ve most likely observed is that they’ve gotten fairly good at vacuuming, however mopping can nonetheless be a problem with older and dried-on stains. An outdated spill of tomato sauce, pink wine or ketchup on tile remains to be going to require you to make use of elbow grease to take away it — I communicate from expertise.
Just about each firm is making an attempt to handle this cleansing hole by utilizing completely different mopping choices, starting from curler mops that self-clean with extra downward strain measured in newtons, as with iRobot and Eufy’s new lineup, which will increase the strain to 14N or 18N, relying on the mannequin. That’s a easy and theoretically simple resolution, simply give the robotic vacuum the elbow grease it’s lacking, and iRobot has tried to do this for the vacuuming facet of issues too by including a “skirt” that drops down on the Roomba 875 Combo that considerably will increase suction energy on the already substantial 35,000 pascals.
The important thing downside with this technique, although, is that robotic vacuums are size-constrained, and until you strive one thing like iRobot’s Duo, which includes a flooring washing unit mixed with a cell docking station, you’re by no means going to get the ability of an actual moist and dry mop, not to mention an upright or canister vacuum.
One other manner firms at IFA have tried to handle that is Ecovacs Deebot X12S Omnicyclone, which includes high-pressure water sprayers to saturate outdated stains and assist work them out of laborious surfaces. Intelligent concept, however questionable implementation with the X12S. As I watched, I utterly missed its ketchup-stain goal and as an alternative doused the ground, nevertheless it nonetheless managed to take away the mess. The 875 Combo makes use of a scorching steam spray from the underside of the unit to assist loosen the stain, however no demos had been provided, so I can’t know the way it works in follow till we lab take a look at it.
The humanoid robots had been a giant yawn this yr
Ajay Kumar/CNETI’m sorry to say that humanoid robotic demos had been simply plain boring this yr. Yeah, there are dancing robots and robots that may do backflips, just like the PrimeBot T1 and Q1, and ones that may type laundry or choose issues like Dreame’s robotic butler and SwitchBot’s Onero H1. Yawn. The actual subject is that these items nonetheless don’t do something greater than what they did final yr, and as I wrote in my cowl story, the timeline for these robots is loads additional away than we’d hope and much more costly. With a practical timeline starting from 5 to 10 years for partially practical dwelling assistants that may do issues like fold laundry and costs that can be nearer to $100,000 than $10,000, I count on us to get many extra years of IFA humanoid demos with out truly getting a humanoid robotic which you could purchase and use in your house.
A part of why I’m not notably impressed by any of those humanoid demonstrations is that robotic vacuums have gotten so good. We’ve stopped speaking about whether or not they can clear properly or keep away from objects simply. The most recent fashions we’ve examined at CNET lab do an incredible job of it, and IFA demonstrations strengthened it for me as I watched Dreame’s X60 Extremely Full Professional completely weave via obstacles with exceptional velocity and responsiveness that I don’t sometimes affiliate with robotic vacuums. The draw back is {that a} Dreame consultant confirmed to me that presently there aren’t any confirmed plans for the mannequin to return to the US, and with the added complication across the FCC ban and uncertainity round waivers, most of the extra attention-grabbing new fashions could also be delayed, although most firms have advised me that they plan to maneuver forward with their launch plans.
This additionally impacts humanoids, since a big share of the components required for these superior robots is sourced from Chinese language provide chains. If the FCC ruling stays in impact with out waivers, count on progress on US humanoids to freeze for the subsequent decade as home provide chains are painstakingly constructed, whereas China races forward with its already superior fashions.
Balcony photo voltaic is a superb concept whose time has come
For individuals who aren’t aware of it, balcony photo voltaic is solely placing a plug-in photo voltaic panel on a balcony or different outside area and utilizing it to retailer solar energy and use it to energy your home equipment and units when power costs are excessive. It’s actually supposed for individuals who dwell in flats or different houses the place you is likely to be a renter or don’t have the choice of placing photo voltaic panels on the roof for a full system. Bluetti’s Balco 260 and Balco 500, Jackery’s Photo voltaic Vault 3 Sequence and EcoFlow’s Stream plug-in photo voltaic are all examples of this, which I noticed at their cubicles, although it’s laborious to actually give impressions for a stationary battery that’s not in use.
A few of these weren’t essentially IFA releases both and have been launched earlier within the yr, such because the Photo voltaic Vault 3 Sequence. What I’ll say is that every one of those programs are scalable, which means you’ll be able to add further batteries based mostly in your wants, join extra photo voltaic panels and use sensible switch switches or different energy administration.
With New Jersey changing into the tenth US state to legalize the usage of balcony solar energy (one thing that’s already fairly in style in Germany and the European market), I do count on to begin seeing these getting used within the US to assist defray our ever-increasing power prices. New Jersey’s legislation is especially helpful because it restricts the flexibility of property administration or HOAs to cease you from utilizing balcony photo voltaic, although you’re going to need to dig into the legal guidelines on your state earlier than putting in it. Generally, it ought to work with a typical AC outlet, however if you wish to feed energy again to the grid, issues get a bit of extra difficult and should require an electrician’s set up.
With almost each main energy station firm releasing its personal model, I count on adoption to begin within the US, particularly in New Jersey and New York, the place individuals sometimes don’t have the choice to put in a photo voltaic panel on their roofs however face excessive power prices. Nevertheless, a Bluetti consultant on the firm’s IFA sales space advised me that they’ve presently paused their rollout resulting from uncertainty round — you guessed it — FCC laws. So whereas I do suppose adoption will occur regardless, since, by all indications, Jackery and EcoFlow are shifting forward, US provides of dwelling batteries and photo voltaic panels could also be affected.
Dyson had one of many strongest showings this yr as a tech firm
Dyson hasn’t actually been nearly vacuums for a very long time, although it nonetheless has that notion after I point out it to individuals like my dad and mom. Dyson was off-site at IFA this yr, nevertheless it nonetheless drew tons of consideration as a result of its releases entered brand-new product classes, together with the well-known $500 Dyson CameraJet, which integrates a water flosser into an AI-optimized electrical toothbrush to wash interdental gaps. It’s Dyson’s first entry into the class, and in contrast to vacuums and air purifiers, it’s not essentially a pure match the place there’s loads of overlapping tech and improvement that may be carried over.
Nevertheless, Dyson didn’t relaxation on its laurels, with a complete of 11 new merchandise, one thing sensible dwelling managing editor David Watsky famous as being a a lot quicker tempo than what the corporate has launched up to now. This contains a number of robotic vacuum fashions with cutting-edge capabilities throughout worth factors, redesigned HushJet air purifiers, and new magnificence merchandise similar to its first dryer brush and next-gen hair straightener. With opponents like Roborock, iRobot, Dreame, Narwal, Mova, Shark and others all popping out with an unlimited array of merchandise and fashions on a yearly foundation, I can’t assist however surprise if Dyson is feeling the strain to maintain up within the tempo and frequency of its releases.
Positively an area price watching if you happen to’re a Dyson fan.
As typical, a number of the greatest merchandise at IFA can’t truly be bought by Individuals
I’m speaking about Dreame and Mova particularly right here, although there are different examples like Anker and Ecovacs, with the latter having Tineco and Yeedi as sub-brands. Strolling via their cubicles, I used to be struck by the sheer variety of merchandise they cowl. You’ve got the robotic vacuums, cordless vacuums, moist and dry vacuums, robotic garden mowers, pool robots, window cleansing robots, air purifiers, sensible pet tech like feeders and litter containers, magnificence tech like hair dryers and sensible mirrors, humidifiers, followers and cooling, dwelling battery backups, automotive, dwelling safety, dwelling home equipment, sensible lighting, and different product classes I’m certainly forgetting.
It’s an unbelievable, overwhelming variety of merchandise that make Dreame and Mova jacks-of-all-trades and virtually overwhelming to cowl. In line with the hefty product brochure a Dreame consultant handed me, the corporate had over 40 product releases for IFA, and I’d estimate an identical quantity for Mova. Many of those are merchandise that gained’t be offered within the US, which was the case for almost your complete lineup of each firms, so meaning we don’t cowl them very a lot at CNET.
However strolling into their sales space at IFA all the time jogs my memory that there’s a whole universe of wonderful, high quality product choices on the market that American shoppers don’t have entry. It’s tragic, and with the present uncertainity about what you’ll be able to truly promote within the American market and laws and tariffs that may change in a single day, I don’t count on that to alter quickly.
Editors’ observe: Ajay Kumar’s journey prices for the IFA convention had been coated by Roborock. The judgments and opinions of CNET are our personal
