There were many innovations on the CES show floor this year, from arms and legs to extendable mops in robot vacuums. movable towerAnd new navigation systems.
As the industry moves forward in the quest to find the best way to clean our floors, it can be hard to see it work despite all the hype. I spent last week in Las Vegas with my robot friends to see how well they're getting by. Here's a look at all the new technologies that came out and how it happened can Help keep your floors sparkling clean.
weapons to carry behind you
The main focus of flagship robovacs over the past few years has been obstacle avoidance. Adding an AI-powered camera navigation system has helped the robots avoid getting stuck on socks, slippers, and toys, but that means they won't actually clean your entire floor.
The solution: adding a robotic arm to move objects out of the way. Roborock's Saros Z70 And Dreame's concept vacuum The two showed off what a RoboVac could do, complete with a robotic claw on top.
Both companies say they have software that will allow you to specify where items will be placed, allowing the vacuum to be organized in a whole new way for you. Roborock said you can set an area for the bot to place clean items, and Dream said its concept vac will be able to place specific items in specific locations, such as near the cat's bed. Have cat toys or shoes near the front door. However, no one demoed their app, so I didn't get to see how it worked.
The biggest limitation for these arms is weight: Roborock can only pick up light objects up to 300 grams – it's currently programmed for socks, tissues, small washcloths and sandals. Dreamy says it will be able to hold up to 500 grams of weight, meaning it can tackle shoes (sneaker up to men's size 42/9). But only Roborock actually demonstrated its robot picking up anything — and that was just a sock.
Dreame's arm looks stronger. It is large and stocky with thick pincer claws. But I couldn't touch it. I got a chance to play with the Saros Z70's arm, and it felt surprisingly sturdy, especially considering how thin it is.
What the Dreamy's arm has that the Roborock's arm doesn't have (yet) are attachments. Dreamy showed off a small toolbox that stored two brushes – a sponge for wet messes and a bristle brush. The idea is that the robot can attach these to its arms and then get into corners and crevices where the main robot can't. However, I haven't had a chance to actually see the robot do anything like this, so this is all still a concept.
climb new heights
Robovac makers are also adding appendages to the other side of their bots. Dreame's concept of vacuum and its The new Ultra X50 has two shorter legs – Small appendages that grow from the bottom of their bodies to hold them up.
They are not joining legs; They're simply little levers that help the bot move up a step, and then its forward motion drops them down as it passes the steps. The benefit here is not actually taking the stairs, but going to a higher room. So, if you have a short staircase between your living room and kitchen or a high transition between the tile floor in your bathroom and the carpet in your bedroom, these robots should be able to move between the two.
This is an extension of most chassis lift technology We've seen from Roborock, Shark, and a few others. Dreami's X50 Ultra adds huge height with its technology – up to 6cm. Sadly, it doesn't really feel like the harbinger of climbing the stairs I had hoped for. It appears that a complete chassis redesign is still years away.
more mopping
A less attention-grabbing trend that emerged at CES was around mopping. ecovacs, switchbotAnd narwhal All robot vacuums started with roller mops that could move outward to reach baseboards and corners. This is a change from the rotating, oscillating mops that have been popular for the past few years.
Like roller mops started running over people eufy omni s1 pro and this Switchbot S10 last year, and – in my experience – they are better than oscillating mops. They have a wider surface area and self-clean as they go, so they don't have to return to base again and again to get their mop cleaned. But current models fail to cover all of your floors because they can't reach the edges, which most oscillating mops can do because they extend out from the main body. Hopefully, these new extended roller mops will tackle this problem.
EcoVac Model – The Deebot X8 Pro Omni – Adds a hot water tank not only to the base station, but also to the robot. This means that not only can it clean your floors with hot water, but it can also keep your mop clean while it does the job.
The other invention on the show floor that caught my attention was Dreame's (and its) mop-swapping station Sub-brand MovaThis lets you assign specific mop pads to specific rooms. The robot will return to the station and after cleaning the bathroom, change its pads for the kitchen to use a fresh pair. This may help address concerns about cross-contamination. I'm interested in testing it out, but my initial impression is that the self-cleaning roller mop is a simpler, more streamlined solution.
low lidar
The other big robot navigation trend this year is retractable lidar towers. Lidar has long been the navigation technology of choice for most robot vacs, but the dangerous tower at the top may prevent them from getting under low furniture.
dreame x50 ultra, roborock saros 10And Mova V50 Ultra These are all new bots that can knock down their towers to get to more places. However, how well they will perform when under the bed without their lidar tower is something I will need to test.
Lidar is also being augmented by more sensors and AI to help robot vacuums better understand your home. The idea here is to have a bot that can seamlessly move around your house and learn about unruly rug hangers in the living room, rather than you having to create keep-out zones in the app to ensure that May it not derail.
Roborock makes a fresh start Starsight navigation technology at IFA last yearr on your Qrevo Slim, which is designed to do exactly that. At CES, the company announced that it is bringing a more advanced version of StarSight to its Saros Z70 and Saros 10R.
According to Roborock, Starsight Autonomous System 2.0 Traditional lidar has been ditched for dual transmitters solid-state lidar with 3D time of flight sensor AI-powered RGB cameras to detect distance and for navigation and maneuvering around obstacles. Roborock says Starsight helps robots deal with more complex floorplans and homes by using more sensors to feed the onboard AI.
while i had a bad experience Ecovacs X2 OmniIn which solid-state lidar is used, I am testing it curevo slim For a while now, and it's been largely reliable. So, I'm excited to try the more advanced version.
Ultimately, the goal of all these innovations is to clean floors better with less intervention on our part. I just want a robot vacuum that can reliably and effectively reach every inch of my floor, without needing to clean it before it runs or securing it under a chair leg. From what I saw at CES this week, we're getting pretty close to that.