iRobot’s ongoing financial crisis, the world of robot vacuums is still moving forward. At CES Sunday, Roborock announced the Saros Z70. Roomba’s competitor is showcasing what the company believes will be the next big step in the robovac’s evolution: an arm. The idea of mounting aa manipulator is no doubt as old as the vacuum robot itself. However, robotic weapons have proven too expensive and/or finicky for this level of mass production. Manufacturing and sensor costs have come down – although the products remain expensive for most. I’d be happy to withhold judgment until I get a chance to spend some time with the system at home, but questions remain about the feature’s efficacy – and repairability. The five-axis robot arm opens from the top of the vacuum. Can extend and twist, in a bid to remove obstacles from the road and pick up laundry items weighing less than 300 grams. This system is designed to make a standard vacuum just pass on the floor, before moving around to interact with objects as necessary. The arm sports an on-board camera and other sensors to orient itself in space “The Roborock app will play an important role in how OmniGrip operates,” the company said. “OmniGrip will be disabled out of the box, and the user will have to activate it through the app, where he can choose different settings for the behavior. The app will allow the user to decide what objects interact with the OmniGrip, the area to be placed. To increase peace of mind, the vacuum also includes a child lock and safety stop button, so it can be turned off immediately in any scenario. The S70 starts shipping on February 10, for a low price of $1,600.
