Summary
- Roborock Saros Z70 is a robot vacuum with a gripper arm for moving objects while cleaning.
- The Z70 uses cameras and AI to mark objects during its first sweep, then lifts and moves them.
- Despite impressive technology, the Z70’s utility may be questionable, but detachable mop heads are a convenient feature.
Every year the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has some delightfully silly products, but sometimes you get a device like the Roborock Saros Z70, which sits on the line between “that’s silly” and “I need it”.
It’s a Robovac With an Arm
Roborock is a solid name in the robot vacuum sector, and features prominently on our list of best robot vacuums and mops, so I absolutely did not expect them to come out with a feature like a robot vacuum with a gripper arm that appears from a little hatch.
This arm allows the vacuum to move objects around. FOr example, it can move a sock out of the way so that it can clean under it without sucking the happless footwear inside.
It doesn’t do this on the fly, but instead uses cameras and AI to mark objects that can be moved during its first sweep of the room. Then it goes out again and moves those objects so it can clean where they were.
It also has some other really cool features, such as the “Adaptlift” which lets it mantle objects like doorframes or table frames.
This combination of coordinated lifting and that arm makes this the closest to a Star Wars droid for the home I’ve seen yet. It is very cool, and is lightyears away from those early Roombas, but is this really the future of robovacs?
Impressive Tech With Dubious Utility
There’s so much impressive software and hardware involved to make what this little cleaner bot does possible. I don’t want to undersell how hard it is to make a robot that promises to do what the Z70 does. Assuming that it works well in real-world scenarios, which we won’t know until people actually use it in their homes.
No, a bigger question for me (under the assumption that it works as advertised) is whether the juice is worth the squeeze or not. I’ve had robot vacuums over the years, and yes it’s a bit of a chore to clear away objects so that it can clean properly, but is it worth developing something as complex as this to “solve” this problem? Particularly since, according to the spec sheet, this arm can lift about 300g (0.66lbs) which means it probably can’t lift one of my bigfoot-sized shoes, for one thing.
I don’t want to be negative just for the sake of it, so I’m keen to see actual reviews and how much value this party trick brings to the table. I do like other cool innovations, such as the ability to detach the mop heads and just leave them in the dock if the bot doesn’t need them. In general, I’m in favor of anything that makes these little robo vacuums more independent, so I don’t have to check up on them or babysit them all the time.
I Have Suggestions, if You’re Listening Roborock
I like to see companies take a swing with something attention-grabbing like an honest-to-goodness robot arm coming out of a vacuum, but if we’re throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks, why not turn it up a notch?
Why not have two arms, and arrange them like a crab’s claws, or even better, the folding arms of a (don’t click if you’re arachnaphobic) tailless whip scorpion? I’m also not against the idea of a drone attachment so the vacuum can go upstairs if it needs to. Hey, it’s not as farfetched as it sounds!