Roomba Grows an Arm

Hey Robot fans,

This week we’re spotlighting Roborock’s newest vacuum, the Z70. It’s small, non-humanoid, and secretly a Transformer. Let’s dig in.

🤨 Remember Roomba?

That little disc-shaped dust-hockey puck that was supposed to make vacuuming a thing of the past? It bumbled around in a random pattern, got tangled in every cord, and left you with a dustbunny casserole wrapped in dental floss. The dream was glorious. The reality? An epic Roomba-shaped disappointment.

However these little devices have gotten a lot better in the last 15 years and this summer Roborock introduced a game changing device that fixes one of primary problems to vacuuming - socks.

🧹 The Pre-Clean Era is Ending

Fast forward to now: The Z70 has arrived, and it’s got an arm. That’s right, the Z70 sprouts a little appendage, picks up objects in its path, and drops them in a designated bin before going back to vacuuming. No more picking up your kid’s socks just so your robot can clean.

This is a big deal. Because anyone who’s ever tried to robot-proof a living room knows that step one of vacuuming is clearing the battlefield of shoes, toys, and sock grenades. This bot? It does that first. Then it vacuums. Like a grown-up.

The arm can only lift objects under 300 grams. Socks? Yes. Flip-flops? Maybe. My kid’s size-9 Jordans? Absolutely not. And while it’s supposed to return items to a bin, sometimes it gets... creative. You might be hunting for your left slipper in the laundry basket, BUT it won’t be in the robots way!

Here’s what we love: this robot learns. It catalogs objects and gets better over time. Today it’s socks. Tomorrow it’s backpacks, lunchboxes, maybe even stray Legos Lego bricks.

The Roborock Saros Z70* is on sale right now (through 9/4) for $1,600 through their website. My ordering finger is getting twitchy 😉 .

⏱️ Why Now?

Why are we writing about this now? It came out at CES earlier this summer, but Roborock’s marketing department has been working overtime. They have a times-square billboard, and, based on the the total amount of vertical videos with virtually the same story arc, they have been reaching out aggressively to content creators. Well, it worked, because this little one-armed bot caught our attention.

🤔 Our Take

We’re slowly falling in love with bots that don’t look like us. The humble vacuum disc has a mission, and now it’s grown a brain and a limb. Is it perfect? Nope. But it's for sale, and it does the thing you have always wanted. While we’re still drooling over the unavailable 6 figure humanoids, this little guy ships right now.

🎥 Video Corner

This section is where we round up the best robot vids from around the web.

Until next time.

The future is bright,
Ferol

*I don’t get commission on anything I write about right now. If I ever do, I’ll let you know about it.

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