Roborock has long left behind the era of robot vacuums blindly bumping around your home, getting stuck in corners or tangled in cords. Their robovacs combine smart AI-powered systems with cutting-edge hardware to map your home while they vacuum and mop, avoid obstacles, slip under low furniture and even tackle staircases.
With the release of Roborock’s Saros Z70, it’s worth asking if you should still think of these appliances as robot vacuums or if a higher expectation, like an all-purpose, AI-powered housekeeper, is more appropriate. Featuring the first robotic arm on a mass-produced robovac, the Saros Z70 unanimously won the votes of CNET’s home editors for the Best of CES awards in January. It’s available now in the United States from Roborock’s website.
A robot arm that picks up your dirty socks (so you don’t have to)
The Saros Z70’s mechanical arm is the first of its kind on a mass-produced robot vacuum. The OmniGrip is a foldable five-axis appendage, which lets the robovac move objects on the ground that weigh less than 300 grams (0.6 pounds). Right now that means things like socks, sandals and crumpled tissues. As the technology continuously updates and the vacuum learns (yes, these vacuums learn), the Z70 will tailor the roster of the things it recognizes to your home. The Z70’s growing intelligence will be pushed out to your device via software updates.
The mechanical arm is part of a complete system for visual perception and AI-powered navigation and learning. The robovac uses two cameras, positioned on the arm and also on the front of the vacuum, to map out the room, spot potentially dangerous items like scissors and identify stray objects that it can pick up. On a first run it cleans the room, then returns to move the obstacles and clean the newly uncovered spot. The Z70 can also make another run to return the objects to user-predetermined storage locations, like dirty laundry hampers and trash cans.
Though the Z70 has a gentle grip – it can lift suede shoes without harming the fabric, and it isn’t strong enough to grab a beloved cat – Roborock has included several safety features, like an anti-pinch sensor. Upward-facing sensors prevent the arm from deploying when detecting things 45 centimeters above the vacuum, like a mesmerized toddler in hot pursuit. There’s also an emergency stop button on the top of the vacuum that releases the grip. For the video game aficionados out there, you can also manually control the OmniGrip using Roborock’s app.
A cleaning machine that sees the space it lives in
The arm works in tandem with AI features Roborock has already pioneered on previous models. The more these self-learning machines clean, the smarter they get. The Z70 harnesses the power of data to map your space. The robovac uses StarSight Autonomous System 2.0 navigation, dual-light 3D Time of Flight technology and an AI-powered RGB camera. Data pours in at a high sampling rate – 21 times that of traditional Laser Distance Sensor (LDS) sensors – to build rich 3D models of rooms and the ability to see an obstacle in real-time. The vacuum is currently able to detect more than 100 common items.
The VertiBeam Lateral Obstacle Avoidance – a system that uses a wide vertical laser on top of a forward-pointing laser – measures the height and distance between the vacuum and nearby objects, which helps the robovac avoid bumping into walls or getting caught in household cords.
The AI-powered technology pairs with the features that have made Roborock a pioneer in the robovac industry. The Z70 is an ultra-thin 8 centimeters, which means it can slide under hard-to-reach spots under the couch or a coffee table and give your back a break. It also uses Roborock’s AdaptiLift Chassis to raise its frame by 10 millimeters to help it cross uneven terrain. The many components of the robovac also automatically retract if the device lifts itself to avoid colliding with furniture. A multifunction RockDock Ultra 2.0 charges the robovac in only 2.5 hours, and the robovac boasts 22,000Pa of suction power that can adjust lower during quiet hours.
A dual anti-tangle system stops clumps of hair from interrupting the robovac’s cleaning routine. The flexible side brush – another arm of sorts – uses its asymmetrical curve and the wonders of centrifugal force to push hair to the main brush, so you never have to pull knotted hair from the brushes by hand. The mopping system shakes the device to scrub a tough spot effectively, and is smart enough to detach the mop when it isn’t needed so your carpets get clean but not wet.
The Saros Z70 is available now in the United States. Get your AI-powered housekeeper today from Roborock’s website.
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