This Robovac robot arm is swinging and missed

But of course, the key point of the distinction between the Z70 and any other Robovac we see is Roborock's arm called Omnigrip. When the robot encounters an object that can be removed, it announces “sorted items” and then the plastic panel at the top opens, while an articulated arm with pliers pops up. The arm should then grab the object and sort it. The Saros Z70 comes with a small cardboard box with a QR code printed on it. You can set the position of the box inside the companion app, and Robovac should bring small items (such as balls of paper or socks) to the box and put them in. For the moment, it is limited to identifying paper, socks and paper balls, but Roborock says it will add these features in future updates.

You will notice how many times I say “should”. That was intentional. Unfortunately, the performance of the Saros Z70 is absolutely terrible when it comes to special tricks. In fact, it does a really good job of recognizing and picking up paper balls (although it often doesn't see them on my patterned carpet), and in the weird situations that you miss, it will make a second attempt and grab it. The problem is classification. I tested it over 40 times with paper balls and occasional socks and it could only put the paper balls into the sorting box. once! I worked with Roborock to do different box placement, put the app area in different places, and then renovated my entire apartment. It's progressing so badly, Roborock sent me an alternative unit just to make sure I'm not wrong. No. Each time, the robot picks up a piece of paper ball, takes it somewhere near the box, and places it on the floor within 18 inches of the box. It looks right at the box and then turns it on the floor at the last minute. This is crazy.

The performance of slippers is even worse. In most of my tests, even though I could see in the app that the Z70 correctly recognizes them as slippers/footwear, Robovac hits them and pushes them. A few times, the arm will appear and it will pick up the slippers, but then it will look around and then put the slippers back in place. I tried three types of slippers and one shoe on both hardwood floors and carpets and had zero success rate.

This is very disappointing. Roborock seems to be aware of these issues and has issued a statement about fixes for the June and July firmware update plans, but I can only review the product when testing it, and unfortunately I have a range of reservations for the Z70 (no puns required).

One of the main differences between our favorite Z70 and the previous Roborock is a new vacuum brush design. Units like the Saros 10R, Saros 10, and Qrevo Curv all feature roller brushes with two points in the middle, and the system does a great job of picking up sized debris, keeping them free of tangles even when dealing with long hair. The Saros Z70's brush only has a single roller with a smaller diameter, and I guess it leaves more room for the arms that live inside the robot. Unfortunately, the new brush simply doesn't work properly. In my snack glove test (apply for application!), it's easier to crush goldfish cookies and Cheerios while leaving the crumbs behind, with the previous unit barely having difficulty. The pistachio shells are even worse. While this is a more difficult challenge, units with split brush designs still manage to kill them. With the Z70, they simply fix it between the brush and the floor, thus completely preventing the drum from spinning. It just dragged them around and made a horrible noise until I came to rescue it. I also found that the Z70's mop drips and stripes are easier than the Roborocks I've tested previously.

The Saros Z70 also seems to be more difficult in navigation than the Roborock we've tested. It usually takes a slow, inexplicable route. Once, I used voice commands (with Google Home, Alexa, and Apple Home, but also had my own microphone and worked independently), “Hello Rocky, Clean the Kitchen”, which cleaned only two-thirds of the front of my kitchen. When I tried again using the app, it also only cleaned the front. Over the past two weeks, it's no problem cleaning my kitchen more than twelve times. I had to order it to clean a special area behind it, and even then it wasn't as close to the wall or the edge of the wall as it was scheduled. The Z70 is also popular when it comes to avoiding power cords.

This is a personal preference, but I think the dock is more of a dazzling thing than the one on the Qrevo Curv or Saros 10 (although actually the same as the 10R). The tank on the top is not covered and is more visually shocking. I also noticed that the Z70 tends to hit the wall and grind a little bit, which creates some white marking on its front bumper where the paint has wiped it off – I don't like that one. The Z70 should have a “smart dirt detection” which causes it to return and re-clean its particularly dirty areas, but I've never seen this, and it often leaves messy in its ending, then returns to the base and announces itself to be done.

There is a first-person view remote mode that you can use to manually pick up items and move around, which is fun, but ultimately feels like it’s new. It's so slow that you won't really use something when you get home.

The real nail in the coffin is the price. The Z70 is scheduled to debut at $2,000, which has made it the most expensive Robovac on the planet. But between the initial announcement and actual availability, Trump’s tariffs hit a blow, and so did the boy. In response, Roborock raised the Saros Z70 price to a staggering $2,600. That's a thousand dollars more than the Saros 10R, and according to my tests, it won't completely clean basic cleansing. I have a hunch that the engineering team spent so much time trying to get Omnigrip to work that there were no dedicated resources to ensure its correct fundamentals.

If it sounds like I'm disappointed, it's just because I'm really disappointed. Robots are suffering the same. These days they are actually clones of each other, so I'm glad to see something so different finally pass. The Saros Z70 is a huge swing and I love it when the company does it, especially when it can bring more convenience to consumers. Unfortunately, Robert Roc's first attempt was swing and missed. If the robot can indeed be improved with software updates, I hope it does have potential (although I still have concerns about the new roller brush), but as for the moment, I can only say the Saros Z70 promises about it.