Robot Vacuums Are Now the Small Appliances of Your Dreams

List of things that robot vacuums can do right now continues to grow. They can create an accurate map of your home to avoid objects. They can empty themselves and replenish themselves. They can reach under your bed to clean the dirt. Many have dual mopping-vacuuming functions to remove your dog’s muddy paws.

One thing that robots clean I can’t do it and take things from under you. Running a robot vacuum cleaner can save you a lot of time and energy, but it usually requires spending 10 to 20 minutes running around and trying to eliminate the robovac booby’s traps by moving or picking up ropes, shoelaces, and tangled hair ties.

This year, Roborock won a competition to launch a commercial robot vacuum that has an extendable arm that can pick up many small particles in its path, thus becoming the vacuum cleaner of your dreams. The Roborock Saros Z70 has an extendable arm with grip tips that the company calls Omnigrip. I screamed when I saw it.

Courtesy of Roborock

Turn me to the right

In my testing, the robot vacuum is only as effective as its movement and precision; All the suction power in the world won’t help you if it can’t find a way out from under your bed. I have found Roborock’s navigation methods to be consistently accurate. The Saros Z70 uses integrated sensors for movement. There are a number of 3D Time-of-Flight sensors to measure distances between objects, and AI-powered RGB cameras to detect obstacles and decide when to deploy the Omnigrip. (The arm can be folded and placed on a small bench above the vacuum when not in use.)

The Omnigrip has five different axes, so it can twist and turn itself horizontally and vertically to hold objects securely in its tiny pins. Currently, it can pick up anything under 300 grams, or a little less than a pound, so things like socks, socks, and even shoes.

To use Omnigrip, Roborock customers activate it through the app. As the Saros Z70 moves through your home, it detects items it can pick up while cleaning, then rotates around to pick them up and put them away when it’s done. In the app, you can choose the areas in your home where Omnigrip should work, where it should be, and where it should place the things it carries.