It turns out that Roborock isn’t the only company that brought a robot vacuum with a mechanical arm to CES 2025. Rival company Dreame, which unveiled its stair-climbing robot vacuum earlier in the week, is also working on a robot vacuum with an arm for picking up objects.
The device is still a prototype, according to the company, but the as yet unnamed robo vac was on full display at Dreame’s CES booth. Considering it’s still a prototype, the actual arm looked far more substantial compared to the one on Roborock’s Saros Z70. It was much thicker and had a bigger “claw” that looked like it might be able to pick up slightly heavier objects. (Roborock says its vac can pick up object that weigh up to 300 grams.)
Plot Twist: Dreame also brought a robo vac with an retractable arm to CES pic.twitter.com/dLPGC135k5
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) January 8, 2025
Unfortunately, Dreame wasn’t showing it actually grab anything, but I was able to watch the arm extend and retract several times. It appeared to be on a similar device as the X50 as the prototype vacuum also rocked up onto “legs,” much like Dreame’s stair-stepping X50.
A Dreame rep at the booth told me that the company has been working on the prototype for a while, but decided to accelerate its plans for the vacuum at CES. After a quick glance up, I knew exactly what he was referring to: Dreame’s booth is positioned directly across from Roborock, which was displaying a massive replica of its arm-wielding Saros Z70 on top of its booth.
Maybe next year we’ll see the two robot vacuum arm wrestle.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/more-than-one-company-brought-a-robot-vacuum-with-a-mechanical-arm-to-ces-2025-014056459.html?src=rss