As certainly one of TechRadar’s Properties Editors, I have been following the robotic vacuum market carefully for a while now. Whereas I am passionate about environment friendly dwelling cleansing, it is uncommon I will get wind of any robovac information that may make me do a double-take on the press launch. At the moment’s greatest robotic vacuums are very spectacular however not often thrilling.
As CES 2025 – the world’s largest client tech occasion – approached, I used to be anticipating extra of the identical: robotic vacuums which can be extra succesful, environment friendly and clever than their predecessors, however nothing overly dramatic. I used to be mistaken. The robovac manufacturers are going really off-piste this 12 months, and I’m right here for it.
It began with a name a few robotic vacuum with a large mechanical pincer arm connected, and it simply escalated from there. Subsequent factor I knew, I used to be listening to a few bot that might hoist itself up on stilts to climb over doorways. Then there was a robotic vacuum that wasn’t content material with cleansing your flooring, it additionally needed to have the ability to ship your granny a sandwich. Whether or not these improvements will grow to be helpful stays to be seen, however they’re actually attention-grabbing.
Now CES has wrapped up for an additional 12 months, here is my choose of probably the most bizarre robotic vacuum improvements to debut at this 12 months’s occasion.
1. Bionic arms
Roborock launched three new robotic vacuums at CES 2025, however by far probably the most eye-catching was the Saros Z70. And that is as a result of it has an enormous mechanical pincer arm. This arm stays hidden beneath a mysterious hatch on the highest of the bot till referred to as upon, whereby it emerges to do its proprietor’s bidding. I obtained an early, pre-CES preview, and it was fairly mesmerizing.
At this level, the primary perform of the arm is to tidy away your mess. For instance, you’ll be able to instruct it to select up something it identifies as a sock and deposit it subsequent to the laundry basket. This leaves the ground clearer for more practical vacuuming.
Maybe extra thrilling is that this is not a expertise of the far-flung future – final I heard, the Saros Z70 was as a consequence of go on sale within the first half of this 12 months. Shifting ahead, Roborock appears passionate about including additional performance too – it is engaged on coaching the arm to play together with your cat, as an example.
Whereas Roborock is furthest alongside in its journey, it is not the one model that is experimenting with useful robots. Dreame used CES to demo a robotic vacuum with a ‘Bionic Multi-Joint Robotic Arm’. In contrast to Roborock’s efforts, this arm can pivot in varied instructions, theoretically enabling it to function in tighter areas.
On the SwitchBot occasion homepage, there is a video displaying a bot with two arms ending in human-looking molded fingers. Nonetheless, these aren’t addressed anyplace else, so I am assuming the thought continues to be within the early growth stage.
Learn the complete story: Roborock’s new robovac has a mechanical arm that may choose up your socks and perhaps additionally play together with your cat
2. Robovacs that can be followers, air purifiers, safety cams…
A lot of in the present day’s prime robovacs can mop in addition to vacuum. However what if that is not sufficient? What in order for you your robovac to maintain you cool, or maintain up a pill whilst you make a video name? What in order for you it to ship a sandwich to your grandma? These are points SwitchBot thinks are plaguing most people proper now, and it is provide you with an answer.
By itself, the SwitchBot K20+ Professional appears to be like like a daily, albeit pint-sized, robotic vacuum. Nonetheless, dock it beneath the so-called ‘FusionPlatform’ and an entire world of prospects opens up. SwitchBot has designed a variety of attachments that match onto this wheeled mounting platform, at which level the robovac primarily serves to drive these round.
So, you can pop a tray on prime and use it to ship issues to others in your family, or you can mount a cellphone or pill and switch it right into a cell tripod. It is also suitable with a fan, air air purifier and safety digicam. That is about it for the present choices, however SwitchBot appears eager that you simply experiment additional, highlighting that it may be built-in with custom-made attachments, 3D-printed parts, and third-party gadgets.
Learn the complete story: This robotic vacuum also can convey you a sandwich
3. Tiny little robotic legs
Robovacs are getting ever extra succesful, however they’ve all the time had one final nemesis: stairs. Like The Physician’s biggest foe, robotic vacuums have remained cruelly certain to a single flooring solely. However Dreame goes to vary that. Perhaps.
The brand new Dreame X50 Extremely Full has tiny little ft that it might probably use to hoist itself up over steps. To be clear, it is steps relatively than stairs – it might probably climb over obstacles as much as 4.2cm in a single certain, or 6cm tall in two. Though it will not be climbing the Eiffel Tower any time quickly, it is nonetheless an enormous step up (pun meant) for anybody with a taller-than-usual threshold between rooms.
Bots with ft really feel just like the logical conclusion within the rising pattern for robovac manufacturers making an attempt to determine more practical methods of coping with uneven flooring. Again in September, Roborock launched a robovac with quadbike-like suspension, and Shark has one which’ll form of twerk itself over thresholds – however Dreame’s strategy appears to be like particularly promising.
Learn the complete story: Eat your coronary heart out Daleks – Dreame’s latest robovac can climb stairs
4. Pop-up navigation pucks
Most main robotic vacuums have a raised central puck, which performs a key position in navigation, providing the bot a extra full view of its environment. That is nice, however the draw back is that it additionally provides peak, which suggests the robotic won’t have the ability to enterprise beneath low-lying furnishings, the place mud can shortly acquire.
Roborock has discovered a technique to resolve this problem in its new Saros 10R (an armless sister mannequin to the Saros Z70 I mentioned above). This robovac has a navigation puck that pops up and down like a periscope. Meaning it might probably nonetheless use the model’s tried-and-tested LDS system for mapping, with out limiting the place it might probably clear.
The LDS puck has an additional ToF (time-of-flight) sensor that factors upwards to detect vertical distance. When the robotic senses it is coming into a reduced-height space, the puck will retract, routinely rising once more when the environment enable. It additionally encompasses a wide-angle imaginative and prescient module designed to supply improved mapping, which means the bot is much less more likely to lose its means when its puck is down.
With the puck down, the 10R is slightly below 8cm in peak. That is impressively shallow for a robotic vacuum, and brief sufficient that it will have the ability to boldly go into the dusty depths beneath most individuals’s sofas.
Learn the complete story: Roborock’s new robovacs are decided to get beneath your couch – here is how
5. Moonwalking carpet cleaners
Robotic vacuums are likely to have much less suction energy than guide vacs, which suggests they will wrestle to tug mud from carpets – particularly in the event that they’re of the deep pile selection.
Narwal has provide you with a few methods to deal with this problem and added them to its soon-to-be-released Narwal Circulation robotic vacuum. Upon encountering carpet, the Circulation will begin within the standard means: driving ahead and vacuuming. Then, issues get somewhat extra jazzy, with the bot backing up, Billie Jean-style, alongside the identical part of flooring. In addition to tackling the ingrained grime and hair from the other way, this movement also needs to assist elevate the carpet fibers and launch something trapped deeper down. I have never seen this strategy anyplace else, and it appears to make specific sense for thick carpets.
It is not the one carpet-focused function to grace the Circulation. Discovering itself on carpet, a canopy subsequent to the brushroll will descend, making a slight vacuum (within the non-appliance sense of the phrase) within the space, and enhancing suction.
Learn the complete story: Narwal’s new robovac will moonwalk your flooring to get even the thickest carpets clear
6. Bots with super-vision
Robotic vacuums are getting ever extra clever in the case of appropriately figuring out objects they encounter, and responding appropriately. That is necessary as a result of it means if the bot encounters, say a settee leg, it is aware of to hoover as shut as much as it as attainable, but when comes throughout your sleeping cat, it should give it a large berth relatively than making an attempt its greatest to suck it up.
The Eureka J15 Max Extremely takes issues one step additional as a result of it might probably see issues which can be invisible. Or at the least clear.
Earlier robotic vacuums from this firm used one thing referred to as ‘IntelliView AI’ to intelligently deal with moist cleansing duties. When met with spilled espresso, the bot would rotate, elevate its curler brush to maintain it dry, and prioritize mop cleansing to clear the liquid. The one downside got here if you happen to spilled a transparent liquid as a result of the ambient mild might confuse the robotic’s imaginative and prescient sensors.
Nonetheless, the brand new IntelliView AI 2.0 is designed to acknowledge even clear liquid spills. It creates two forms of views – one utilizing an infrared imaginative and prescient system and one other an FHD imaginative and prescient sensor – concurrently and in real-time. It makes use of these photos to generate a high-definition picture of the realm, which is not as affected by lighting variations. The bot then makes use of AI to establish refined variations in floor texture and reflections, thus highlighting any liquids, together with clear ones. It then is aware of to reply appropriately and clear the spillage.
Learn the complete story: This new robotic vacuum-and-mop is so eagle-eyed it might probably even spy clear liquid spillages