Imagine a robot vacuum cleaner. Now imagine a mechanical arm reaching out in front of it to pick up a sock that someone has taken off and thrown to the ground. And now imagine that same robot vacuum cleaner picking up a bunch of discarded items and putting them away neatly, all while cleaning your floor. This is the Roborock Saros Z70, a new robot vacuum cleaner that we spent hours making (clean!) socks to demonstrate an innovative feature in the world of mechanized cleaning. This is a first. And it’s a dream come true.
In a Las Vegas hotel room at CES 2025, and even before that during a small demo in New York for journalists, we saw the Roborock Saros Z70 measure itself sock by sock, pinching it with a mechanical arm . It was so much fun to watch that we had the robot vacuum cleaner clean the same socks over and over again. If the robots ever decide to rebel, we hope they will forgive us.
The Roborock Saros Z70 is the first consumer robot vacuum with a mechanical arm designed to pick up and move larger debris while it cleans. At the preview in New York before CES and at the trade show, we noticed that the Saros arm doesn’t always grab an object on the first try, and that the number of objects it can handle is quite weak at the moment. But technology is showing that it can go far beyond just socks. The five-axis robotic arm, called OmniGrip, can pick up objects weighing up to 300 grams – about 10.5 ounces – and drop them in designated areas where you ask them to.
The Saros Z70 isn’t on the market yet, although Roborock told us it expects it to be available within the first half of the year. Pricing isn’t available yet, but high-end robot vacuums typically cost $1,500 or more. Here’s what we saw during the hours we spent observing this little robot.
Roborock’s new vacuum cleaner features a mechanical arm to clean up any debris in its path.
A problematic start gave way to an impressive display
Debuting on stage at the Soho House members’ club in downtown Manhattan before CES, Roborock’s Saros Z70 prototype initially refused to come out of its room (who among us didn’t suffer stage fright?), a mechanical problem he assures us. corrected for the commercial version.
After a few false starts, the arm was released from its onboard cabin, at which point the thin circular vacuum approached a crumpled sock, sending its arm twisting downward to capture it, much like those slot machine games. infernal claws found in the arcades.
Once launched, the robot arm picked up several socks. He dropped the occasional pickup, but didn’t give up until he had them in his clutches, then dutifully carried each one to a single area of the stage designated by a representative of the brand via the mobile application. A company representative told us that the current version recognizes black socks better than white ones.
While the demo was largely controlled, the final version of the vacuum will seek out and remove debris itself during regular cleaning cycles. During a first sweep, the Saros Z70 should perform normal tasks but also detect and mark objects it can lift. In theory, it will then return to items such as socks, tissues and small towels to put away during a second cleaning.
After a few false starts, the Robotrock vacuum cleaner began picking up socks scattered across the stage.
The Saros Z70 is capable of detecting up to 108 different obstacles. Although the list of objects that OmniGrip can actually lift is much smaller, more items will be supported in future software upgrades, according to the official Roborock release. Those who purchase the first generation model can expect remote enhancements to the OmniGrip without having to shell out more money.
He already recognizes more than socks
In Las Vegas, we spent more than an hour with the robot as it collected socks in a hotel room. One caveat is that the vacuum followed a fairly prescribed routine: it went in a straight line, picked up a sock lying at the side of its track, then walked a few meters to drop it in a basket and returned, along its path . this straight line, to its base. Roborock said this program, designed for demonstration purposes, prevented him from following his usual routine, which would include beginning to map the room. Rather than stand by while the robot vacuum made its way through a suite at the Venetian, he kept to a tight schedule.
That’s not to say we couldn’t see the machine trying to solve problems. A company representative explained to us what types of items it had been programmed to pick up: socks, small towels, small pieces of paper and sandals. We threw in a wool hat, which is basically a sock. The Roborock had no trouble identifying and recovering it.
It was fascinating to watch the vacuum cleaner figure out how to pick something up. Sometimes he would pass the sock he was supposed to pick up, and we would all sigh in disappointment that he would fail. But then he turned, looked behind him, and successfully picked up the sock.
Not every race was a success. Sometimes he would try to grab an object and it would escape him. At other times, he seemed to rebel against being a trade show prototype, spontaneously deciding to start mapping the room.
A robot vacuum with even more to learn
Although the list of objects the vacuum can identify is relatively small, Roborock plans to add more as it develops the software intelligence needed to do so. Future updates might include the ability to pick up cat toys or shoes and place them where they’re supposed to go. The smarter the mechanical arm becomes, the more you can imagine a robot vacuum that can truly clean a dirty, messy floor with little preparation.
The mechanical arm leverages Roborock’s next-generation StarSight navigation and object recognition.
It shouldn’t catch your child or cat by accident
If you’re worried about the arm grabbing an innocent cat or a clump of a toddler’s hair, Roborock says the arm’s grip isn’t strong enough to do any harm. Just in case, the vacuum cleaner includes a child lock and a safety stop button, allowing for immediate shutdown in any scenario.
There are also pet-friendly features that allow you to monitor your pets, take snapshots, and plan cruises on demand. The vacuum cleaner moves away when animals approach to avoid frightening them.
New advanced object recognition
Although the gripping arm gets most of its glory, none of its performance would be possible without precision sensors, a camera and an LED light attached to the robot’s thin frame, all controlled by the navigation and tracking system. Roborock’s next-generation StarSight object recognition. .
“Instead of using a traditional LDS (lidar) tower module for navigation, the system integrates next-generation dual-light 3D time-of-flight sensors and AI-powered RGB cameras to determine its position, environment and whether the object it grabs is overweight,” Roborock said in a statement.
Arms aside, this is shaping up to be a top-tier robot vacuum
In addition to its flashy new appendage, the Roborock Saros Z70 has the basics of Robovac. It has a suction power of 22,000 Pa, combined with a double anti-tangle system, which deploys to prevent hair from getting tangled around the vacuum cleaner. The machine’s dual-wring mops can lift up to 2.2 centimeters (just under an inch), allowing for increased airflow and faster drying and preventing the vacuum from dragging dirt over areas. clean surfaces. All this is in one of the thinnest robot vacuums on the market, measuring just 7.98 cm (3.14 inches) tall.
