The WYBOT S3 is the world’s first robotic pool cleaner that cleans, docks, and empties itself

Proudly owning a pool is a dream, particularly with sweltering summer time temperatures across the nook. But it surely entails a good quantity of guide labor, together with dragging the vacuum hose round, scrubbing the waterline, fishing out leaves and particles, managing water high quality, and extra. Robotic pool cleaners can do rather a lot, however not every thing. And that’s the hole WYBOT is closing with the S3.

There’s good motive why the WYBOT S3 has gained a slew of awards, together with the 2025 CES Innovation Award, a 2025 IFA Honoree Award, and each the 2025 Berlin and London Design Awards. It’s the world’s first self-emptying robotic pool cleaner that may dock, cost, and clear itself, and get rid of its personal particles. And with AI-powered mapping, navigation, and impediment detection, together with a number of cleansing options, the S3 can deal with all of your pool upkeep this season. Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know.

The headline function of the S3 is its world-first 3D mapping and sensible navigation system. Powered by 36 superior sensors, together with 27 devoted to robotic navigation and 9 for docking precision, the S3 makes use of its preliminary run in your pool to construct a whole 3D map of the atmosphere. It’s not simply scanning the ground but in addition constructing a spatial mannequin of your complete pool, with its form, depth variations, partitions, and waterline.

The S3 calculates optimized paths for every cycle, getting extra environment friendly over time because it refines its understanding of your pool’s structure. For those who’ve ever watched an older robotic cleaner bump aimlessly off the partitions, you’ll respect how completely different a mapped, path-optimized clear appears to be like. And there’s an enormous enchancment in effectivity, too, with the WYBOT S3 delivering as much as 20x sooner particles detection than customary robotic cleaners.

The navigation system helps six distinct cleansing path patterns, permitting the robotic to adapt its method to the pool’s geometry. Whether or not you could have an ordinary rectangle or oval-shaped pool or a customized design, the S3 maps it on day one and adapts from there. It’s appropriate with fiberglass, vinyl, ceramic tile, concrete, and pebble surfaces, so it doesn’t require a premium or specialised pool to work properly.

Powering its navigation functionality is an industry-first AI imaginative and prescient system. The S3 makes use of a built-in digicam to determine particles hotspots in actual time and adjusts its cleansing technique based mostly on what it truly sees. Whereas conventional robotic cleaners observe a predetermined or random path, the S3 can determine particles, like say a pile of leaves, and actively route itself to take care of it. With AI Imaginative and prescient Mode, the S3 targets ground cleansing effectivity the place particles tends to build up most.

Many robotic pool cleaners do a good job cleansing your pool. However the place all of them fall brief is what occurs after the cleansing is finished. You’d have to tug the robotic out of the water, carry it someplace, open the particles compartment, dump and rinse it, then both plug the unit in for charging or set it someplace to dry. However, the WYBOT S3 requires no guide intervention.

When the S3 finishes a cleansing cycle, or its battery drops beneath a sure threshold, it mechanically returns to its docking station on the pool deck. As soon as docked, it transfers the particles collected from its inside 3-liter bin right into a 10-liter shore-based self-sanitizing particles bin. The robotic then recharges itself, prepared for the following scheduled cycle. The dock makes use of 9 precision sensors to make sure correct docking each time, even in low-visibility water situations.

That 10-liter bin is giant sufficient to deal with eight full cleansing cycles earlier than it must be emptied. Underneath typical pool situations, that interprets to roughly one month of maintenance-free operation. The self-sanitizing ingredient of the particles bin can be price noting. It’s designed to forestall bacterial development and odor buildup, which is necessary whenever you’re coping with natural materials in a heat outside atmosphere.

Filtration is dealt with by a dual-layer system that features an 180-micron ultra-fine filter field paired with a 40 PPI sponge layer. These seize every thing from giant leaves and twigs to sand, mud, hair, and algae particles. And since the robotic handles ground, wall, and waterline cleansing, you’re getting a whole clear with each automated cycle.

Utilizing the WYBOT cell app, you’ll be able to observe the S3’s real-time place within the pool, watch it work out of your cellphone, and monitor cleansing progress with out being anyplace close to the pool deck.

The app additionally permits you to take guide management at any level. For those who discover a selected space of the pool that wants further consideration, you should use the app to direct the S3 to that spot. You’ll be able to navigate it alongside flooring, up partitions, and alongside the waterline as wanted.

Sensible scheduling can be inbuilt, so you’ll be able to set automated cleansing routines that run in a single day or throughout off-peak hours. And with reside progress updates, you’re by no means left questioning whether or not the robotic completed its cycle or acquired caught someplace. You’ll have the ability to discover out its standing immediately. The connectivity layer makes use of each Wi-Fi and sonar communication. The sonar element permits the app to take care of contact with the robotic whereas it’s submerged.

For the reason that dock is poolside on the shoreline, you won’t have quick access to energy with out utilizing lengthy extension cords that get in the way in which. It helps a standard DC connection, after all, should you do have a plug level close by. However should you don’t, the dock can draw energy from photo voltaic panels.

Underneath good daylight situations, the photo voltaic panel on the dock generates sufficient energy to offer roughly 1.5 hours of extra runtime per day. This primarily offers you free cleansing power throughout peak pool season, which coincides with peak photo voltaic season. For those who’re in a spot with a sunnier local weather, this might offset a significant portion of the unit’s power footprint over time.

The DC charging choice serves as a dependable fallback for overcast days or areas with much less constant photo voltaic output. The system is wise sufficient to mechanically handle the 2 energy sources. When the dock’s battery is above 70%, it expenses the robotic, and when it drops beneath 50%, it pauses charging to protect dock energy. That form of clever energy administration is what you’d anticipate from a premium related machine, and it’s good to see it utilized thoughtfully right here.

WYBOT focuses on sustainability, too. The S3 attracts partial energy from the solar, reduces the necessity for chemical-heavy guide cleansing interventions, and retains the pool persistently clear, which reduces the load on filtration programs and is genuinely higher for the atmosphere than the choice.

Robotic pool cleaners have been getting smarter for years, however the progress has principally been incremental. The WYBOT S3 shakes issues up within the class by being the primary robotic pool cleaner that not solely cleans extraordinarily properly but in addition handles post-cleaning upkeep.

The 3D mapping, AI imaginative and prescient, and the self-emptying dock specifically are progressive developments within the house. Your pool stays clear, and also you barely have to consider it.

The WYBOT S3 will go on pre-sale mid-Could for $2,499.99 — a $500 low cost from its typical retail value.