Chinese robotic vacuum cleaner Roborock unveils AI robotic arm

EMBARGO UNTIL 1:00 AM MON, JANUARY 6 / 9:00 AM PST, VAT JANUARY 5, 2025.

BEIJING — Chinese vacuum cleaner company Roborock on Monday unveiled a new model that comes with a folding lever to remove socks and other obstacles, a feature powered by artificial intelligence.

It’s the latest step in what Roborock president Quan Gang believes will be inevitable: robot vacuum cleaners becoming as necessary as washing machines.

That’s something that could happen as soon as three years from now, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, Quan said in an interview with CNBC in late November. “When the era of artificial intelligence really arrives, I’m sure that robot vacuum cleaners will be the first category in which artificial intelligence will be applied,” he said in Chinese, as translated by CNBC.

Using artificial intelligence developed by the company, the Roborock Saros Z70 can detect and remove obstacles such as socks, small towels, napkins and sandals weighing less than 300 grams (10.58 ounces), according to the company.

The Saros Z70 should be released in major global markets in the first half of the year, but Roborock has yet to announce pricing. The product was unveiled ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Since Massachusetts iRobot released the Roomba floor vacuum 2002 robotcircular machines have evolved to include washing and the ability to automatically return to the charging base. Many companies, including several from China, now sell robot vacuum cleaners.

Beijing-based Roborock began selling in the U.S. in 2018, Quan said, noting that sales in the country did not start growing until 2023. Roborock also sells its robotic vacuum cleaners in countries such as Germany, China and South Korea, and manufacturers are required to follow local data privacy regulations, Quan said.

But robot vacuum penetration remains low, at just over 10% in developed countries and single digits in developing countries, Quan said. He said this is both a challenge and a potential for growth, which he expects could get a boost from the integration of artificial intelligence.

Edge and Wired late last year, both named various Roborock models as the best robot vacuums. But cars are not cheap.

“Roborock’s S8 MaxV Ultra ($1,799.99) is an exceptional vacuum cleaner,” The Verge told The Verge , noting that it’s “the top model in the relatively new category of hands-free robot vacuums, bots that do pretty much everything for you : empty bins, fill mop bins, clean and dry their mop pads.’

“Roborock invented the category with the S7 MaxV Ultra and has been steadily improving it,” reports The Verge.

Wired chose Roborock’s Qrevo S, which sells for $800 on Amazon. The review highlighted the Qrevo’s lidar-based navigation and AI functionality, which allow the device to distinguish between carpets and tiles to vacuum or mop, respectively.

The competition is fierce. CNET reported that robot vacuum cleaners from two other companies are related the best in 2025The $900 Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo — which also has a self-emptying trash can — and the $359 iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus.

Shares of Shanghai-listed Roborock rose 2.6% on Friday following reports of the Saros Z70 and its robotic arm. In 2024, the shares rose by 10.3%.

Operating income rose 23.2% in the first three quarters of 2024 to 7 billion yuan ($960 million), with a profit of 1.47 billion yuan. Roborock does not break down revenue by region.

Quan said that shortly after Roborock was founded in July 2014, the company realized the importance of artificial intelligence and set up a dedicated laboratory in Shanghai and a research institute in Shenzhen. Each location has about 30 researchers who need to focus only on the technology, unlike the product development team, which has to meet deadlines and think about the bottom line, Quan said.

The next challenge is to increase the number of researchers to about 300, Quan said, noting that it is difficult to find qualified talent.

The company spent 9.1% of its operating income in the first three quarters of 2024 on research and development, according to calculations by CNBC public figures. That’s up slightly more than 7% in each of the past three years, the data show.

Roborock on Monday also announced an update to its washing machines that can dry clothes in one unit.

— CNBC’s Sonia Heng contributed to this report.