Roborock Saros Z70 Robot Vacuum Flexes An Arm To Pick Up Your Dirty Socks

Roborock, a global leader of robot vacuums, has created a new vacuum with a stowable mechanical arm to move things out of the way plus the ability to raise its chassis to clear small steps. These are fresh ideas that will probably take a few generations to truly nail down the practicality and speed, but as it is, the claw-equipped Roborock Saros Z70 can move errant socks or shoes out of its cleaning path (and even place them in a bin if needed). Could this be the future of robot vacuums?


Many have dreamt of the day a real-life Rosey the Robot (from the Jetsons) that could race around the house cleaning up after your mess. Roborock has brought that dream a little closer to fruition with the Saros Z70 that not only sucks and mops with the best of them, but also can pick up dirty socks and shoes left behind by your absent-minded teen. Roborock says that more items beyond socks and shoes will be recognizable in the future, which possibly means the end of picking up stinky drawers or snack wrappers.

Marketed as the first mass-produced robot vacuum with a foldable five-axis mechanical arm, the machine is designed to pick up and move certain debris as it cleans. The arm and claw at the end of it is impressively compact when stowed, being able to keep the machine under 8.0 cm thick, while still including a powerful 22,000 Pa suction motor and mopping mechanism. The OmniGrip claw and arm have a limited lifting capacity of 300 grams (10.5 ounces), so the Z70 won't be lifting your cat or groceries out of the way just yet.


Like a car with adaptive dampers, the chassis of the Satos Z70 can be raised up to 4.0 cm to clear taller thresholds; even the twin mops and side brush lift to give the vacuum greater ground clearance. Speaking of mops, when the Z70 is paired with the optional dock, users can activate the mop auto-detach function. This allows the vacuum to work in vacuum-only floors without dragging potentially damp pads around.

Roborock figures that the Satos Z70 will go on sale within the first half of the year. Pricing has not been revealed, but with their previous models coming in around $1,500 a pop, expect the armed Z70 to sport a significant mark up.