As one of TechRadar’s Homes editors, I’ve been following the robot vacuum market closely for some time now. While I’m excited about efficient home cleaning, it’s rare that I hear any news about robovac that makes me reflect on the press release. Today’s best robot vacuum cleaners are very impressive, but rarely exciting.
As CES 2025, the world’s largest consumer technology event, approached, I expected more of the same: robotic vacuum cleaners that are more capable, efficient and smarter than their predecessors, but nothing too dramatic. I made a mistake. Robovac brands are going off track a lot this year and I’m here for it.
It started with a call about a robot vacuum cleaner with a giant mechanical gripper arm attached, and escalated from there. The next thing I knew, I heard about a robot that could be raised on stilts to climb through doors. Then there was a robot vacuum cleaner that wasn’t just content with cleaning your floors, it also wanted to be able to deliver a sandwich to your grandmother. Whether these innovations will prove useful remains to be seen, but they are certainly interesting.
Now that CES has wrapped up for another year, here’s my pick of the weirdest and most wonderful robotic vacuum innovations debuting at this year’s event.
1. Bionic arms
Roborock launched three new robot vacuums at CES 2025, but by far the most eye-catching was the Saros Z70. And that’s because it has a large mechanical clamp arm. This arm remains hidden under a mysterious trapdoor on top of the robot until called, whereupon it emerges to carry out its owner’s orders. I got a preview before CES and it was pretty fascinating.
At this point, the arm’s main function is to sort out the mess. For example, you can tell him to pick up anything he identifies as a sock and place it next to the laundry basket. This leaves the floor clearer for more effective vacuuming.
Perhaps most excitingly, this isn’t a technology from the distant future: last I heard, the Saros Z70 would go on sale in the first half of this year. In the future, Roborock seems excited to add more features too: it’s working on training your arm to play with your cat, for example.
While Roborock is further along in its journey, it’s not the only brand experimenting with practical robots. Dreame used CES to demo a robot vacuum cleaner with a “multi-joint bionic robotic arm.” Unlike Roborock’s efforts, this arm can rotate in multiple directions, theoretically allowing it to operate in tighter spaces.
On the SwitchBot event homepage, there is a video showing a bot with two arms ending in molded human-looking hands. However, these aren’t addressed anywhere else, so I assume the idea is still in an early stage of development.
Read the full story: Roborock’s new robovac has a mechanical arm that can pick up your socks and maybe also play with your cat.
2. Robovacs that can also be fans, air purifiers, security cameras…
Many of today’s best robovacs can mop and vacuum. But what if that’s not enough? What if you want your robovac to keep you cool or hold a tablet while you make a video call? What if you want me to deliver a sandwich to your grandmother? These are issues that SwitchBot believes are affecting the general public right now and has found a solution.
On its own, the SwitchBot K20+ Pro looks like a regular robot vacuum, albeit about the size of a pint. However, if you couple it to the so-called ‘FusionPlatform’, a whole world of possibilities opens up. SwitchBot has designed a range of accessories that fit onto this wheeled mounting platform, at which point the robovac essentially serves to drive them.
So you can place a tray on top and use it to deliver things to other people in your home, or you can mount a phone or tablet and turn it into a mobile tripod. It is also compatible with a fan, air purifier and security camera. That’s it for the current offerings, but SwitchBot seems interested in letting you experiment more, noting that it can integrate with custom accessories, 3D printed components, and third-party devices.
Read the full story: This robot vacuum cleaner can also bring you a sandwich
3. Little robot legs
Robovacs are becoming more and more capable, but they have always had one final enemy: stairs. Like the Doctor’s greatest enemy, the robot vacuum cleaners have remained cruelly tied to a single floor. But Dreame is going to change that. Maybe.
The new Dreame X50 Ultra Complete has little feet that you can use to raise yourself over steps. To be clear, these are steps rather than ladders: you can clear obstacles up to 4.2cm in one jump, or 6cm high in two. Although you won’t be climbing the Eiffel Tower anytime soon, it’s still a big step up (pun intended) for anyone with a higher-than-usual threshold between rooms.
Robots with feet seem like the logical conclusion to the growing trend of robovac brands trying to find more effective ways to deal with uneven floors. In September, Roborock launched a quad-suspension robovac, and Shark has one that can overcome thresholds, but Dreame’s approach looks especially promising.
Read the full story: Eat your heart out Daleks: Dreame’s newest robovac can climb stairs
4. Pop-up navigation disks
Most leading robot vacuum cleaners have a raised central disc, which plays a key role in navigation, giving the robot a more complete view of its surroundings. That’s great, but the downside is that it also adds height, meaning the robot may not be able to venture under low furniture, where dust can quickly accumulate.
Roborock has found a way to solve this problem in its new Saros 10R (an armless sister model to the Saros Z70 I mentioned above). This robovac has a navigation dial that goes up and down like a periscope. That means you can still use the brand’s proven LDS system for mapping, without limiting where you can clean.
The LDS disk has an additional ToF (time-of-flight) sensor that points upward to detect vertical distance. When the robot detects that it is entering a low-height area, the disc will retract and automatically re-emerge when the environment allows. It also features a wide-angle vision module designed to offer improved mapping, meaning the robot is less likely to get lost when the puck is down.
With the disc lowered, the 10R measures just under 8cm tall. That’s an impressively shallow surface for a robot vacuum cleaner, and short enough that it can bravely venture into the dusty depths beneath most people’s couches.
Read the full story: Roborock’s new robovacs are determined to get under your couch – here’s how
5. Moonwalking Carpet Cleaners
Robotic vacuum cleaners tend to have less suction power than manual vacuum cleaners, which means they may have a hard time getting dust out of carpets, especially if they are long-pile.
Narwal has come up with a couple of ways to tackle this problem and added them to its soon-to-be-launched Narwal Flow robot vacuum cleaner. When it finds a carpet, the Flow will start in the usual way: moving forward and vacuuming. Then things get a little flashier, with the robot backing away, Billie Jean-style, along the same floor section. In addition to tackling ingrained dirt and hair from the opposite direction, this move should also help lift the carpet fibers and release anything trapped deep inside. I haven’t seen this approach anywhere else and it seems to make especially sense for thick carpets.
It’s not the only mat-centric feature adorning the Flow. When placed on the carpet, a cover next to the rotating brush will descend, creating a slight vacuum (in the non-appliance sense of the word) in the area and improving suction.
Read the full story: Narwal’s new robovac will go through your floors to clean even the thickest carpets
6. Bots with supervision
Robot vacuum cleaners are becoming increasingly intelligent when it comes to correctly identifying the objects they encounter and responding appropriately. This is important because it means that if the robot finds, for example, the leg of a sofa, it will know to vacuum as close to it as possible, but if it finds your cat sleeping, it will give it a wide berth instead of doing everything. as much as possible to suck. above.
The Eureka J15 Max Ultra goes one step further because it can see things that are invisible. Or at least transparent.
Previous robot vacuums from this company used something called ‘IntelliView AI’ to intelligently tackle wet cleaning tasks. When it encountered spilled coffee, the robot would spin, raise its rotating brush to keep it dry, and prioritize mopping to clean up the liquid. The only problem arose if a clear liquid was spilled because the ambient light could confuse the robot’s vision sensors.
However, the new IntelliView AI 2.0 is designed to recognize even clear liquid spills. Create two types of views, one using an infrared vision system and another with an FHD vision sensor, simultaneously and in real time. It uses these images to generate a high-definition image of the area, which is not as affected by lighting variations. The robot then uses AI to identify subtle differences in surface texture and reflections, thereby highlighting any liquid, including transparent ones. Then you know how to respond appropriately and clean up the spill.
Read the full story: This new robot vacuum and mop has so much eagle vision that it can even detect clear liquid spills
