Moon Sweepers Robot Vacuum Mk I & Mk II: docks, coverage, moving

What is a Robot Vacuum in Moon Sweepers?

A Robot Vacuum is a small, dock-bound collector. You do not buy the robot on its own: building a Robot Dock supplies the dock and its paired vacuum, and the pair then works the ground around that spot without your input.

It does three things:

• clean the dirty ground within the dock’s area,
• carry the dust back to the dock,
• let the dock push capsules onto an outgoing conveyor.

That separates it from J.O.O.N.A.S., which costs $20,000, roams the Moon, and needs a Capsule Catcher to receive what it launches. A vacuum covers a fixed plot near your base; J.O.O.N.A.S. goes out to find work.

Mk I or Mk II?

	Mk I	Mk II
Dock price	$250	$500
Coverage around the dock	19 hexes	37 hexes
Robot carried load	15 kg	40 kg
Cleaning width	1.3 m	2.4 m
Cleaning speed	0.9 m/s	1.2 m/s
Travel speed	1.35 m/s	1.8 m/s
Turn rate	150°/s	112.5°/s
Dock storage	100 kg	300 kg

Prices are as of patch 1.0.5.

The Mk II is not just a bigger robot, but it is not a clean doubling either. Twice the price buys about twice the coverage (19 → 37 hexes), more than twice the carried load (15 → 40 kg) and three times the dock buffer (100 → 300 kg). It also cleans and travels faster, but turns more slowly: 112.5°/s against the Mk I’s 150°/s. The Mk I remains the cheap way to find out whether fixed-area cleaning fits your base at all.

Because the dock and the robot hold separate loads, a Mk I has 100 kg of buffer behind a 15 kg robot. That buffer is what lets a slow belt keep up: the robot can keep working while the dock drains.

Individual pages cover each purchase and its setup:

• Robot Dock Mk I and Robot Vacuum Mk I
• Robot Dock Mk II and Robot Vacuum Mk II

How does a vacuum’s dust reach a station?

The route is ground dust → robot → dock → conveyor → station intake or processors:

1. The robot must find dirty ground inside its area.
2. It must be able to reach the dock to unload.
3. The dock must have an outgoing belt connected to its outfeed.
4. That belt must actually arrive at an intake or a processor input.

Dust sitting in the robot or in the dock has not been sold. A dock with a healthy buffer and no conveyor looks productive on the map and earns nothing. The logistics guide covers the selling connection from the dock onward.

How should you place a dock so its coverage isn’t wasted?

Coverage is counted in hexes around the dock, so the dock’s position — not the robot’s movement — decides what gets cleaned:

• Put the dock where the dirty ground is, not where the belt is convenient. A dock beside your station with clean ground around it cleans nothing.
• Avoid overlapping areas. Two docks whose coverage overlaps compete for the same hexes, so the second purchase adds far less new ground than its hex count suggests. Place the second dock on the next uncleaned patch instead.

Work one area at a time: place, connect the outfeed, let it clear the ground, then move on. The Moon Map shows which nearby ground is still orange or blue.

How do you move a vacuum setup in 1.0.5?

Since patch 1.0.5, move mode is free and picks up a piece together with everything standing on it:

1. Hold the Building Tool and press R on the dock.
2. Place it on the new patch of uncleaned ground.
3. Reconnect the outfeed belt — belts follow where they can reach, but a longer move can leave a gap.
4. Watch one capsule arrive at the intake before walking away.

Because removal now refunds the full price, rebuilding a dock is not a loss either. The building guide covers the move and refund mechanics, and the controls reference lists the keys.

Why is the vacuum sitting still?

Work through these in order:

Symptom	What to check
Robot parked, dock empty	The reachable ground is already clean; move the setup to a fresh patch
Robot full, not moving	Its route back to the dock is blocked, or the dock buffer is full
Dock full, belt empty	No conveyor connected to the outfeed, or the belt runs the wrong way
Belt moving, no money	The belt does not reach an intake or processor input
Collects slowly	The area is large for a Mk I; a Mk II covers 37 hexes and carries 40 kg

None of these are fixed by buying a second robot. Follow one capsule from the dock to the intake first.

When is a vacuum the wrong tool?

A dock is a fixed investment in one patch of ground. It stops paying off when:

• the work moves away. Relocation is free, but nothing moves it for you; the robot simply waits once its patch is clean.
• you need volume, not tidiness. Docks hold 100 kg or 300 kg of buffer behind a 15 kg or 40 kg robot load. A Garage and vehicle route or a J.O.O.N.A.S. fleet moves far more dust.
• the area is already clean. A dock on finished ground has nothing left to collect, so it is just a parked machine until you move it.

The J.O.O.N.A.S. late-game guide covers the roaming alternative, and vehicles compares the driving options. For the rest of the equipment around them, see machines compared.

Game imagery © DragDrop Games.