The list of things that robot vacuums can do right now continues to grow. They can make an accurate map of your home so they don’t bump into things. They can empty themselves and recharge themselves. They can reach under your couch to clean up crud. Many have dual mopping-vacuuming functionalities to wipe up your dog’s muddy footprints.
One thing most robot vacuums cannot currently do is pick stuff up off your floor. Running a robot vacuum can save you a lot of time and energy, but it often requires spending 10 to 20 minutes frantically running around trying to defuse robovac booby traps by moving or picking up cables, shoelaces, and stray hair ties.
This year, Roborock won the race to launch a commercial robot vacuum that has an extendable arm that can pick up small bits of clutter in its way, thus becoming the robot butler of your dreams. The Roborock Saros Z70 has this extendable arm with grasping pincers that the company calls the Omnigrip. I screamed when I saw it.
Courtesy of Roborock
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In my testing, a robot vacuum is only as useful as its navigation system is accurate; all the suction power in the world won’t help you if it can’t find its way out from under your couch. I’ve found Roborock’s navigation systems to be consistently pretty accurate. The Saros Z70 uses a combination of sensors for navigation. There’s an array of 3D Time-of-Flight sensors to measure the distances between objects, and AI-powered RGB cameras to identify obstacles and to decide when to deploy Omnigrip. (The arm stays folded and stowed in a small bay on top of the vacuum when it’s not in use.)
Omnigrip has five separate axes, so it can twist and turn itself both horizontally and vertically to grip items delicately in its tiny pincer grips. Right now, it can pick up anything that’s under 300 grams, or slightly less than a pound—so, items like tissues, socks, or even a sandal.
To use Omnigrip, Roborock customers activate it through the app. When the Saros Z70 moves through your house, it identifies potential objects that it can lift while it’s cleaning, and then circles back 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 operates, how it should behave, and where it should place things it picks up.
