Tiny feet, bionic arms, and bots that can deliver a sandwich – 6 weird and wonderful robot vacuum innovations from CES 2025

CES just proved that robot vacuums can be exciting

News By Ruth Hamilton published 11 January 2025

(Image credit: Dreame / SwitchBot)

As one of TechRadar's Homes Editors, I've been following the robot vacuum market closely for some time now. While I'm enthusiastic about efficient home cleaning, it's rare I'll get wind of any robovac news that will make me do a double-take at the press release. Today's best robot vacuums are very impressive but rarely exciting.

As CES 2025 – the world's largest consumer tech event – approached, I was expecting more of the same: robot vacuums that are more capable, efficient and intelligent than their predecessors, but nothing overly dramatic. I was wrong. The robovac brands are going truly off-piste this year, and I am here for it.

It started with a call about a robot vacuum with a giant mechanical pincer arm attached, and it just escalated from there. Next thing I knew, I was hearing about a bot that could hoist itself up on stilts to climb over doorways. Then there was a robot vacuum that wasn't content with cleaning your floors, it also wanted to be able to deliver your granny a sandwich. Whether these innovations will turn out to be useful remains to be seen, but they're certainly interesting.

Now CES has wrapped up for another year, here's my pick of the most weird and wonderful robot vacuum innovations to debut at this year's event.

1. Bionic arms

Roborock launched three new robot vacuums at CES 2025, but by far the most eye-catching was the Saros Z70. And that's because it has a big mechanical pincer arm. This arm remains hidden beneath a mysterious hatch on the top of the bot until called upon, whereby it emerges to do its owner's bidding. I got an early, pre-CES preview, and it was pretty mesmerizing.

At this point, the main function of the arm is to tidy away your mess. For example, you can instruct it to pick up anything it identifies as a sock and deposit it next to the laundry basket. This leaves the floor clearer for more effective vacuuming.

Perhaps more exciting is that this isn't a technology of the far-flung future – last I heard, the Saros Z70 was due to go on sale in the first half of this year. Moving forward, Roborock seems enthusiastic about adding further functionality too – it's working on training the arm to play with your cat, for instance.

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