CES 2025: New Robot Vacuum Cleaner Has a Hand That Picks up Things
Over the past week, I’ve had a chance to take a look at tons of smart technology on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). But the one piece of technology that made me jump and clap with excitement was the Roborock Saros Z70: specifically, the moment when the top of the Z70 opened up to reveal a long robotic arm. This hand can gently lift a shoe, sock, or toy into the robot’s path, then gracefully place it in the location you choose.
Over the past 18 months, I haven’t been shy about talking about how much I love Roborock’s robot vacuums and mops, whether you choose the top of the line models like the S8 MaxV Ultra and QRevo MaxV or QRevo Curv. One reason for my devotion: Roborocks are more autonomous than other robot vacuums—they don’t get clogged, lost, or stranded as often as other brands. Also, they seem to clean the floors.
Yes, Roborock has a lot of models, but the company is looking to simplify the confusion a little with a brand new naming convention: Saros. Roborock has already released two robots under this new naming convention – Saros 10 and 10R – but the flagship will be the Z70.
The hand (officially called OmniGrip) will be able to pick up about six different objects at once, from socks to toys, and then, depending on how the AI identifies the object, throw it at a pre-designated location. . While the open-source AI model already recognizes 108 objects, it will allow users to identify and name an additional 50 objects. In other words, Roborok can now take care of your family. You can ask Saros where he last saw your child’s missing sneakers.
If the idea of a robotic arm coming out of your vacuum cleaner scares you, it won’t work unless you set it up. One of the nice aspects of the arm is that future improvements to the arm are simply software updates. I asked if this arm could help the robot get out of a stuck place, like on an excavator; although this is not currently possible, future updates may make this possible.
As exciting as this is, it’s not the only update to the Z70. Every brand I spoke to this week insisted that their vacuum will have the “highest suction power in the industry,” but Roborock wins that battle with 22,000Pa of power. By comparison, a lot of the robots I tested last year did an admirable job at pressures under 10,000 Pa. This begs the question of how much benefit we get from constantly increasing suction power: does it actually help debris, especially large ones, move through the rollers without getting stuck?
The Z70 uses the technology we saw in the QRevo Curv, where the chassis can lift the front end to get over obstacles like cords and rolled up edges of a mat, but now it will use the same technology to apply more pressure to the back of the robot. where the rotating mop brushes are located. This pressure is lacking in any robot vacuum cleaner released so far, and I for one am very excited. This could mean finally recessing the tiles, grout lines, or getting rid of general dirt.
With Saros, Roborock is making a conscious move away from LiDAR, which has been the navigation standard for the past year or two. LiDAR uses light to measure distance but requires a “tower” on top of the robot, so most robots you see these days have a round “button” on top of the machine to house the LiDAR. Roborock is moving toward using AI-powered cameras for navigation, specifically the Starsight 2.0 autonomous system. Saros is equipped with cameras on the robot and OmniGrip, and these cameras measure the distance between where the robot is and the space in front of it, both vertically and horizontally. LiDAR “guesses” the distance, so it is less accurate. This new navigation includes Vertibeam, a side obstacle avoidance system that allows the robot to vacuum around obstacles such as power cords.
The Saros Z70 is also very slim, just over three inches tall, so it will slide under your furniture, and includes all the features I love about previous Roborocks models: hefty dock-mounted water tanks, dock-mounted cleaning fluid storage, and very fast charging (only 2.5 hours for a full charge). In news that I’m less excited about, Rocky’s built-in voice assistant will still be present. I don’t think Rocky has developed that much yet, and he tends to often react to random phrases from my TV without listening to me at all.
The Saros Z70 is expected to be launched in the first half of 2025; There is no information about prices yet.