Petteri Pyyny
20 Oct 2025 6:13
Robotic vacuum development has been interesting to follow over the past few years. The leap in progress began around 2018, when tighter competition between Chinese manufacturers and long-time market leader iRobot started producing real innovations.
First came self-emptying dustbins. Then smarter maps, rotating mop plates, self-cleaning mops, obstacle avoidance, and more recently the ability to climb over thresholds.
So in that context, the new model from the industry giant Roborock feels in many ways a logical continuation of the ongoing development.
We got our hands on the spring 2025 release, the Roborock Saros Z70 robot vacuum, whose most unusual characteristic is the built-in arm.
Yes. An arm.
The robo uses its emerging hand as a cleaning aid - essentially to move forgotten socks and toys out of the way of the cleaning path.
But is the Roborock actually a good vacuum - or a jaw-dropping tech demo? We subjected the Saros Z70 to our usual multi-month test, where the robot was tasked with cleaning a very ordinary Nordic home for about three months. During that time it was the only floor-cleaning tool in the residence.
So let's see how the Saros Z70 ultimately fared...
We always try to relate our star-rating to what other products in the tested price class deliver. And the Roborock Saros Z70, with its ~€1800/$1400 price tag, sits well within the most expensive robot-vacuum category - a category where the robot is expected to deliver near-perfect performance in every area.
Roborock stumbles a bit in that its obstacle avoidance is still not quite as perfect as its best rivals. And its arm - in its current form - was more a cool technology demo than a cleaning-revolution innovation.
And at that price I would have hoped for near-perfect performance. That goal wasn't quite achieved, so we had to remove half a star from our rating.