Chris comes at you live from a muscle relaxer. Kelley eats the clay cake topper. Johnathon goes to the past, becomes toothless, and loses his kingdom to his nephew. Jason teaches us how to put wallpaper on the Switch.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 671: “40+ Cast” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris suffers from "The Curse of the Steam Deck." Kelley can't pickpocket, so she mugs people at night. And Ryan likes practical grave robbers. Curl up in your clothmap quilt and enjoy our cozy '60s demon world.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 681: “Ganon Is Afraid of Homemade Apple Pie” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris dresses Pikachu up like a schoolboy with a camera. Josh wants his flight stick, he needs a HOTAS. Kelley wants Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to end like an episode of JoJo. Follow Solstice Warriors on their Myspace music page.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 691: “Hello, What Did Scamper Do Today?” appeared first on RPGamer.

Josh enjoys the important things, like a hot springs mini-game. Kelley purchased Legos; sacrifices were made. Bethesda tells Chris it's his fault for not enjoying Starfield. Meanwhile, we just can't quit Kiryu.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 701: “Allergic to Good Games” appeared first on RPGamer.

Robert finds out what Godzilla sushi tastes like. Josh pimps his Segway. Phil has a pictomancer at home. The awards all Chris's fault, because he didn't vote. Also, PoE is to Chris, as CoH is to Phil.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 710: “Xenoblade Chronicles X Doesn’t Love You Back” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris kink-shames Red XIII. Kelley violates the time space continuum with cat cafes. Josh is better at keeping things afloat than Embracer Group. Robert fails at being family friendly.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 711: “I’ve Always Wanted a Gaming Napkin” appeared first on RPGamer.

Sam is declared legally dead. Chris's Batman Cookies set him down a bad path in his life. Kelley's alien grandpa tells us what Pokémon look like while she ignores her husband. Now excuse us as we shove chocolate down our shirts.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 712: “M.A.S.H Cast” appeared first on RPGamer.

Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, and Kelley Ryan join Pascal and Chris as they go through the best and worst of 2023. See how many categories Baldur's Gate 3 wins and Diablo 4 loses.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 713: “Game Awards 2023” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris sits in a time loop watching Vegeta backhand a guy. Kelley buys solar panels for her Red XIII werewolf. Were you into RPGs before they were cool? Now slide, slide, baby, slide.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 714: “Thirsty for Tactics” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley wonders how you fight a pillow. Chris adopts a sentient Sephiroth noodle. Ryan plays XCOM with a bear. Now everyone, go finish your Turkish Star Wars homework.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 715: “Chocobo Drifting” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris is hunting bears, because of course that's what you do. Kelley hangs out with Chadley and the massively annoying individual. Robert is all about that exquisite fraisier cake.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 716: “Canadian Telephone Game” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris gets cheesecake from rats. Kelley punches worms to get her Tifa back. And Josh funds a re-dub of Yakuza with Mark Hamil. Now excuse us as we go attend tonight's brawl at the local Waffle House.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 717: “I Went to Tokyo Disneyland in Paris” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris confesses to being a French Karen. Kelley is consumed by the Lego mimic freebie. And Robert gets an anime pretzel robot roommate.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 718: “Hamsterbam” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley gets bored and cleans her bathroom. Memories of the Virtual Boy make Josh's eyes hurt. Robert can't stop singing about Albuquerque. Chris, meanwhile, decides to make his own farming sim with coffee shops and old people.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 719: “Good morning, everybody. Hairball!” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris force feeds people desserts to make people like each other. Ryan likes bad games, just like Chris. Kelley has a penchant for losing pendants. Matt throws some garbage in the pot and suddenly it's pizza. Now let's grow old and lose stats together.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 721: “Skyrim Helmet Sleep Mask” appeared first on RPGamer.

Kelley uses familiars to click her buttons. Josh scribbles in comic sans over your collector's edition with a sharpie. Which is good because Chris can't handle yet another collector's edition. They're all doing better than Ryan, though, who is suffering from Wizardry PTSD.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 731: “Dragon Quest: Start Your Own Taco Adventure” appeared first on RPGamer.

Today's cast gets dangerously close to a patent law cast as Chris finds a new pirate game to ignore. Kelley wants truck-kun to be isekai'd into a person. And Josh asks, "What do you get from petting the bear?" No one answers.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 741: “Make A The Rum!” appeared first on RPGamer.

Chris is unmasked as The Corporate Body. Tam talks about anime and waifus. Kelley is excited about text size. Josh explains the meaning of "time to shipwreck." Subscribe to our latest offering, The Monthly Litterbox.

The post RPG Cast – Episode 744: “11.5-Bit Graphics” appeared first on RPGamer.

REVERB features 17 audiovisual installations including new works by Es Devlin and Theaster Gates, plus Devon Turnbull's Listening Room.

The post The Vinyl Factory celebrates art and sound with immersive exhibition at 180 Studios appeared first on Fact Magazine.

IMAGINE if you’d spent a grand on a single Berkshire Hathaway share 31 years ago. That stock just passed $US200,000 and is still climbing.

KLEINER Perkins Caufield & Byers has agreed to invest in ephemeral message service Snapchat at a valuation of close to $US10 bn.

Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Team Asobi in Sony's latest earnings report have announced Astro Bot has sold over 1.5 million units as of November 3, 2024.

Astro Bot released for the PlayStation 5 on September 6.

Our own Lee Mehr gave the game an 8.5 out of 10 in his review and said "As an ode to PlayStation, Astro Bot succeeds at meaningfully infusing its history; as an all-ages theme park, it succeeds by infusing each location with an overwhelming sense of joyous wonder most often felt in Nintendo platformers, but with a level of technical sophistication not yet seen from its hardware."

Read details on the game below:

Join ASTRO on a supersized space adventure.

When the PlayStation 5 mothership is attacked by ASTRO’s long-standing galactic nemesis, scrambling its wires and scattering the crew throughout space, only ASTRO can make things right! Setting off on his biggest mission yet, he needs your help to rescue the stranded crew and rebuild the mothership.

Make the most of ASTRO’s new power-ups, handcrafted to level up your immersion: from springy punches and rockets all the way to a giant sponge!

Buckle up for some epic PlayStation camaraderie, join forces with your favorite PlayStation icons and show the universe that small is mighty in this fresh new ASTRO adventure, exclusive to PlayStation 5 consoles!

Features:

• Embark on a galactic quest and explore more than 50 planets in search of ASTRO’s lost crew.
• Dash, swing, and rocket-punch your way through this journey, with all-new power-ups.
• Feel the world come to life via your DualSense wireless controller.
• Team up with iconic PlayStation heroes to save the galaxy!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463015/astro-bot-sales-top-15-million-units/

Square Enix has revealed the lifetime sales for two of its biggest franchises Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

The Final Fantasy series has now sold over 195 million units worldwide and the Dragon Quest series has sold over 91 million units worldwide.

"The Square Enix Group also boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property including: Final Fantasy, which has sold over 195 million units worldwide; Dragon Quest, which has sold over 91 million units worldwide; and the legendary Space Invaders," said Square Enix.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463021/final-fantasy-series-sales-top-195m-dragon-quest-series-tops-91m/

EA Sports FC 25 has debuted in first place on the Canadian charts for September 2024, according to data from Circana (formerly The NPD Group) reported by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESA).

There were four other new releases in the top 10 with NHL 25 debuting in second place, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom in third place, Astro Bot in fourth place, and NBA 2K25 in 10th place.

Star Wars: Outlaws is in fifth place, Hogwarts Legacy is in sixth place, and Madden NFL 25 is in seventh place. God of War: Ragnarök is in eighth place following the release of the PC version and Elden Ring is in ninth place.

Top 10 best-selling games in Canada:

1. EA Sports FC 25 - NEW
2. NHL 25 - NEW
3. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom* - NEW
4. Astro Bot - NEW
5. Star Wars: Outlaws
6. Hogwarts Legacy
7. Madden NFL 25
8. God of War: Ragnarök
9. Elden Ring
10. NBA 2K25* - NEW

*Digital sales not included

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463027/ea-sports-fc-25-debuts-in-1st-on-the-canadian-charts/

Nintendo announced it will host a Super Nintendo World Direct livestream on Monday, November 11 at 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET. You will be able to watch it on YouTube.

The Direct will be roughly 10 minutes and feature the Donkey Kong Country area of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463031/super-nintendo-world-direct-set-for-november-11/

Following a tease, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have announced Spyro Reignited Trilogy will release for Xbox Game Pass tomorrow, November 12.

VGChartz staff gave Spyro Reignited Trilogy an 8 out of 10 and stated, "it was wise to steer away from marketing the collection as a remaster because that label undercuts the developers’ level of dedication and investment in revitalizing these games."

Read details on the trilogy below:

Remade from the ground up, the Spyro Reignited Trilogy features all three of the original games that started it all – Spyro the Dragon, Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage, and Spyro: Year of the Dragon, amazing for the original fans and new players alike.

Spyro the Dragon

Our new favorite little purple dragon starts on a quest to rescue his dragon friends who have been turned into crystal by the villain Gnasty Gnorc (what an unfortunate and yet apt name!). Spyro explores vibrant Dragon Realms, collects gems, and flambés his enemies, all while learning to how breathe fire and glide.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!

Spyro finds himself in the magical land of Avalar where he is trying to save the realm from the evil sorcerer Ripto and his minions. Along the way, he befriends new entirely new allies, overcomes challenges, complete tasks, and unlocks even more powers to take down Ripto and restore peace.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

In Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Spyro finds out that the Dragon Eggs have been stolen by the devious Sorceress, sending him on a new mission to recover the eggs and save the dragon population. Our favorite purple dragon meets new friends, learns new abilities, all while exploring more vibrant realms with challenges (and treasures!).

Xbox players have been able to explore the Dragon Realms with Spyro since 2018 with the release of the Reignited Trilogy, and now we’re excited to invite our community to jump into these incredible adventures once again and relive the fun and nostalgia that only Spyro can bring.

Available on Game Pass Standard, Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass, for cloud, console and PC, it’s sure to ignite some serious fun. Let’s go save the Dragon Realms!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463034/spyro-reignited-trilogy-headed-to-xbox-game-pass-tomorrow-november-12/

Publisher Whitethorn Games and developer Balloon Studios announced Botany Manor will launch for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on December 17.

The game first released for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam, and Xbox Game Pass in April of this year.

Our own Lee Mehr gave the game an eight out of 10 in his review and stated, "The lynchpin to Botany Manor's success is it being like an orderly garden: a well-attended array of various flowers with nary a dastardly weed in sight.  It may not capture the next mind-blowing concept within the genre, nor overwhelm you with a wild barrage of challenges, but there's an understated value in being among the most succinct within its field."

View the PS5 and PS4 release date trailer below:

Read details on the game below:

Botany Manor is a botanical puzzle game set in a historical English homestead brimming with a lifetime of memorabilia and research to explore, where players will uncover long-forgotten seeds and piece together clues as they solve puzzles to help each rare plant grow.

The enduring estate of Botany Manor is home to retired botanist Arabella Greene. After a long career, she has amassed a collection of rare, long-forgotten plants that require some research to help them live again. Play as Arabella and explore the stunning historic manor and its grounds to look for clues in her notes, books, posters, and items scattered around the residence to determine the correct set of circumstances to help the flora flourish. Unlock new seeds and plant them. Interactable items around the property that can be turned and flipped will provide information to help you solve each gardening puzzle, grow the plants, and discover their mysterious qualities.

Features:

• Explore the peaceful grounds and many calming rooms of the beautifully rendered, historically accurate 19th century manor.
• Pick up, flip, turn, and rotate the many items found around the estate to piece together the clues to solve each plant-based puzzle.
• Learn about Arabella’s life, career, and the challenges she faced as a woman scientist during the 19th century as you explore.
• Fall in love with the calming soundtrack that perfectly compliments the environment and flowers you bring to full bloom.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463043/botany-manor-headed-to-ps5-and-ps4-on-december-17/

Publisher indie.io and developer Maple Powered Games announced G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on November 21.

The game is currently available for PC Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.

View the console reveal date trailer below:

Read details on the game below:

Cobra rears its ugly head yet again and it’s up to G.I. Joe to save the world! Embracing the 1980s era of the iconic universe, Wrath of Cobra is a retro side-scrolling beat ’em up. Play as one of the legendary G.I. Joe characters, including Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, Snake Eyes, and more. Defeat hordes of Cobra troopers, Vipers, Crimson Guards and more of Cobra’s malevolent machinations.

Bring Cobra down, striking back at the likes of Destro, Serpentor, Baroness, and Cobra Commander himself! Fight your own way: Rely on your fists and get up close and personal using each character’s unique combos and special moves or keep your foes at a distance with a variety of weapons!

Retro Gameplay in a Modern Era

Wrath of Cobra takes the classic arcade beat ’em up and brings it into the modern age: Easy to play, hard to master, and smoother than a ride in a H.I.S.S. Want to play with your friends? The game supports local multiplayer (eg. from your couch) and online co-op!

Play as Classic Heroes

Fight Cobra as your favorite G.I. Joe heroes, painstakingly recreated in beautiful pixel art. The differences between characters aren’t just cosmetic: Each hero has different movesets and unique abilities. From the fast and nimble Snake Eyes to the rough and tumble Roadblock, each character is true to form!

Battle Iconic Villains

Cobra isn’t just the Cobra Commander, it’s also its legions! Face hordes of troopers, armored Alley Vipers, artificial B.A.T.s, armed with some of the most iconic weapon systems in the franchise, including the H.I.S.S., C.L.A.W., and the notorious Trubble Bubble.

Retro-Infused Soundtrack

Foil the Commander’s plot to the beat of classic G.I. Joe themes, reimagined by industry veterans at Kid Katana Records, bringing a modern twist to classic arcade music!

Post-Launch Support

Like Destro’s plots, Wrath of Cobra will continue with extensive post-launch support, bringing more G.I. Joe heroes into the fray, adding new game modes, levels, and more to keep the G.I. Joe legacy alive!

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

Full Article - https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463047/gi-joe-wrath-of-cobra-releases-november-21-for-ps5-xbox-series-xs-and-switch/

A hotel worker called 911 to request urgent assistance before musician Liam Payne fell to his death from the third floor of the building in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old British singer and former member of the boy band One Direction died after he “jumped from the balcony of his room,” Buenos Aires Security Ministry Communications Director Pablo Policicchio told the Associated Press. He added that police had been called to the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentine capital after receiving an emergency call shortly after 5 p.m. local time about an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

A transcript of a 911 call published by the BBC shows a worker at the hotel telling the operator that they have “a guest who is high on drugs and who is trashing the room” and the staff therefore “need someone to come.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Beloved roguelike traumatic-childhood-em-up The Binding Of Issac: Rebirth turned 10 yesterday, and it’s half off on Steam to celebrate. What’s more, maker Edmund McMillen has announced that the foretold online co-op update is due on the 18th of this month, alongside a “considerable” balance update. Consider me considering the considerability of said considerable update!

Read more

Roblox is making changes in an attempt to keep younger players safe in the online platform. Beginning later this month, children under the age of 13 will no longer be able to search, discover or play unrated experiences within Roblox, and will be unable to access social hangout experiences.

Read more

GeForce Now, Nvidia’s PC-focused game streaming service, will begin calling time on its most muscular of power users. A post on the GFN subreddit announced the introduction of a 100-hour monthly cap (or "allowance"), effective from January 1st 2025 for anyone who signs up after that date. Existing streamists, or anyone who signs up by the end of 2024, will get a year’s grace period before the limit kicks in from January 2026.

Read more

The Rise Of The Golden Idol will crack its new case wide open on November 12th, but the detective sequel is just the beginning. Color Gray Games are planning another tranche of DLC akin to that received by the first game, The Case Of The Golden Idol: four standalone mysteries that introduce more mysteries to solve.

Read more

Update:

The RPS 100 is our list of the best games to play on PC. It encompasses the full breadth and width of PC gaming stretching back to 1873, but focuses solely on those games that remain great to play today. It's updated yearly by our crack team of writers, and the first half of the 2024 edition is live now.

Read more

Sin enjoyed the roguelike stylings of Dungeons of Blood and Dream when she played it in early access back in July, calling it a “baffling, bizarre thing that lives on the border of janky, retro, and punk”. As of yesterday, it’s now out for realsies, promising psychedelic dungeon crawling, the stabbing of assorted gribblies, and lots of little details that make you go “ooo, that’s nice. I’m glad they put that in there.”

Read more

The developers of hero shooter Overwatch 2 must have dropped a box full of old photographs while clearing the attic, spilling old snapshots of Route 66 onto the floor and getting snared in a nostalgic daze. The game is launching a "Classic" mode today that will let you play the first-person payload pusher as it (mostly) was back in 2016 when the first Overwatch launched. That means 6v6 fights, the original abilities of its heroes, and no limits to stop the entire team picking the same character.

Read more

Secretary of State was questioned on Good Morning Britain over the pledge - with host asking 'how much will it have gone up by then?'

The energy bill support has been described as a "crucial lifeline" for certain individuals who are often "overlooked".

Martin Lewis has warned Tesco customers of a piece of small print that could see £18m worth of Clubcard points wasted.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who has worked on the JWST, catalogues the science behind its most stunning images in her new book, Webb's Universe. Here's her pick of the telescope’s best shots

CAPTCHA tests are supposed to distinguish humans from bots, but an AI system mastered the problem after training on thousands of images of road scenes

If artificial intelligence chatbots are fine-tuned to improve their responses using human feedback, they can become more likely to give deceptive answers that seem right but aren’t

At ICRA 2024, Spectrum editor Evan Ackerman sat down with Unitree founder and CEO Xingxing Wang and Tony Yang, VP of Business Development, to talk about the company’s newest humanoid, the G1 model.

Smaller, more flexible, and elegant, the G1 robot is designed for general use in service and industry, and is one of the cheapest—if not the cheapest—of a new wave of advanced AI humanoid robots.

I’ve been reviewing robot vacuums for more than a decade, and robot mops for just as long. It’s been astonishing how the technology has evolved, from the original iRobot Roomba bouncing off of walls and furniture to robots that use lidar and vision to map your entire house and intelligently keep it clean.

As part of this evolution, cleaning robots have become more and more hands-off, and most of them are now able to empty themselves into occasionally enormous docks with integrated vacuums and debris bags. This means that your robot can vacuum your house, empty itself, recharge, and repeat this process until the dock’s dirt bag fills up.

But this all breaks down when it comes to robots that both vacuum and mop. Mopping, which is a capability that you definitely want if you have hard floors, requires a significant amount of clean water and generates an equally significant amount of dirty water. One approach is to make docks that are even more enormous—large enough to host tanks for clean and dirty water that you have to change out on a weekly basis.

SwitchBot, a company that got its start with a stick-on robotic switch that can make dumb things with switches into smart things, has been doing some clever things in the robotic vacuum space as well, and we’ve been taking a look at the SwitchBot S10, which hooks up to your home plumbing to autonomously manage all of its water needs. And I have to say, it works so well that it feels inevitable: this is the future of home robots.

A Massive Mopping Vacuum

The giant dock can collect debris from the robot for months, and also includes a hot air dryer for the roller mop.Evan Ackerman/IEEE Spectrum

The SwitchBot S10 is a hybrid robotic vacuum and mop that uses a Neato-style lidar system for localization and mapping. It’s also got a camera on the front to help it with obstacle avoidance. The mopping function uses a cloth-covered spinning roller that adds clean water and sucks out dirty water on every rotation. The roller lifts automatically when the robot senses that it’s about to move onto carpet. The S10 comes with a charging dock with an integrated vacuum and dust collection system, and there’s also a heated mop cleaner underneath, which is a nice touch.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time analyzing the S10’s cleaning performance. From what I can tell, it does a totally decent job vacuuming, and the mopping is particularly good thanks to the roller mop that exerts downward pressure on the floor while spinning. Just about any floor cleaning robot is going to do a respectable job with the actual floor cleaning—it’s all the other stuff, like software and interface and ease of use, that have become more important differentiators.

Home Plumbing Integration

The water dock, seen here hooked up to my toilet and sink, exchanges dirty water out of the robot and includes an option to add cleaning fluid.Evan Ackerman/IEEE Spectrum

The S10’s primary differentiator is that it integrates with your home plumbing. It does this through a secondary dock—there’s the big charging dock, which you can put anywhere, and then the much smaller water dock, which is small enough to slide underneath an average toe-kick in a kitchen.

The dock includes a pumping system that accesses clean water through a pressurized water line, and then squirts dirty water out into a drain. The best place to find this combination of fixtures is near a sink with a p-trap, and if this is already beyond the limits of your plumbing knowledge, well, that’s the real challenge with the S10. The S10 is very much not plug-and-play; to install the water dock, you should be comfortable with basic tool use and, more importantly, have some faith in the integrity of your existing plumbing.

My house was built in the early 1960s, which means that a lot of my plumbing consists of old copper with varying degrees of corrosion and mineral infestation, along with slightly younger but somewhat brittle PVC. Installing the clean water line for the dock involves temporarily shutting off the cold water line feeding a sink or a toilet—that is, turning off a valve that may not have been turned for a decade or more. This is risky, and the potential consequences of any uncontrolled water leak are severe, so know where your main water shutoff is before futzing with the dock installation.

To SwitchBot’s credit, the actual water dock installation process was very easy, thanks to a suite of connectors and adapters that come included. I installed my dock in between a toilet and a pedestal sink, with access to the toilet’s water valve for clean water and the sink’s p-trap for dirty water. The water dock is battery powered, and cleverly charges from the robot itself, so it doesn’t need a power outlet. Even so, this one spot was pretty much the only place in my entire house where the water dock could easily go: my other bathrooms have cabinet sinks, which would have meant drilling holes for the water lines, and neither of them had floor space where the dock could live without being kicked all the time. It’s not like the water dock is all that big, but it really needs to be out of the way, and it can be hard to find a compatible space.

Mediocre Mapping

With the dock set up, the next step is mapping. The mapping process with the S10 was a bit finicky. I spent a bunch of time prepping my house—that is, moving as much furniture as possible off of the floor to give the robot the best chance at making a solid map. I know this isn’t something that most people probably do for their robots, but knowing robots like I do, I figure that getting a really good map is worth the hassle in the long run.

The first mapping run completed in about 20 minutes, but the robot got “stuck” on the way back to its dock thanks to a combination of a bit of black carpet and black coffee table legs. I rescued it, but it promptly forgot its map, and I had to start again. The second time, the robot failed to map my kitchen, dining room, laundry room, and one bathroom by not going through a wide open doorway off of the living room. This was confusing, because I could see the unexplored area on the map, and I’m not sure why the robot decided to call it a day rather than investigating that pretty obvious frontier region.

SwitchBot is not terrible at mapping, but it’s definitely sub-par relative to the experiences that I’ve had with older generations of other robots. The S10 also intermittently freaked out on the black patterned carpet that I have: moving very cautiously, spinning in circles, and occasionally stopping completely while complaining about malfunctioning cliff sensors, presumably because my carpet was absorbing all of the infrared from its cliff sensors while it was trying to map.

Black carpet, terror of robots everywhere.Evan Ackerman/IEEE Spectrum

Part of my frustration here is that I feel like I should be able to tell the robot “it’s a black carpet in that spot, you’re fine,” rather than taking such drastic measures as taping over all of the cliff sensors with tin foil, which I’ve had to do on occasion. And let me tell you how overjoyed I was to discover that the S10’s map editor has that exact option. You can also segment rooms by hand, and even position furniture to give the robot a clue on what kind of obstacles to expect. What’s missing is some way of asking the robot to explore a particular area over again, which would have made the initial process a lot easier.

Would a smarter robot be able to figure out all of this stuff on its own? Sure. But robots are dumb, and being able to manually add carpets and furniture and whatnot is an incredibly useful feature, I just wish I could do that during the mapping run somehow instead of having to spend a couple of hours getting that first map to work. Oh well.

How the SwitchBot S10 Cleans

When you ask the S10 to vacuum and mop, it leaves its charging dock and goes to the water dock. Once it docks there, it will extract any dirty water, clean its roller mop, extract the dirty water, wash its filter, and then finally refill itself with clean water before heading off to start mopping. It may do this several times over the course of a cleaning run, depending on how much water you ask it to use, but it’s quite good at managing all of this by itself. If you would like your floor to be extra clean, you can have the robot make two passes over the same area, which it does in a crosshatch pattern. And the app helpfully clues you in to everything that the robot is doing, including real-time position.

The app does and excellent job of showing where the robot has cleaned. You can also add furniture and floor types to help the robot clean better.Evan Ackerman/IEEE Spectrum

I’m pleasantly surprised by my experience with the S10 and the water dock. It was relatively easy to install and works exactly as it should. This is getting very close to the dream for robot vacuums, right? I will never have to worry about clean water tanks or dirty water tanks. The robot can mop every day if I want it to, and I don’t ever have to think about it, short of emptying the charging dock’s dustbin every few months and occasionally doing some basic robot maintenance.

SwitchBot’s Future

Being able to access water on-demand for mopping is pretty great, but the S10’s water dock is about more than that. SwitchBot already has plans for a humidifier and dehumidifier, which can be filled and emptied with the S10 acting as a water shuttle. And the dehumidifier can even pull water out of the air and then the S10 can use that water to mop, which is pretty cool. I can think of two other applications for a water shuttle that are immediately obvious: pets, and plants.

SwitchBot is already planning for more ways of using the S10’s water transporting capability.SwitchBot

What about a water bowl for your pets that you can put anywhere in your house, and it’s always full of fresh water, thanks to a robot that not only tops the water off, but changes it completely? Or a little plant-sized dock that lives on the floor with a tube up to the pot of your leafy friend for some botanical thirst quenching? Heck, I have an entire fleet of robotic gardens that would love to be tended by a mobile water delivery system.

SwitchBot is not the only company to offer plumbing integration for home robots. Narwal and Roborock also have options for plumbing add-on kits to their existing docks, although they seem to be designed more for European or Asian homes where home plumbing tends to be designed a bit differently. And besides the added complication of systems like these, you’ll pay a premium for them: the SwitchBot S10 can cost as much as $1200, although it’s frequently on sale for less. As with all new features for floor care robots, though, you can expect the price to drop precipitously over the next several years as new features become standard, and I hope plumbing integration gets there soon, because I’m sold.

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