These are the silliest robot cleaners at CES – including one that carries drinks

I’m a great fan of robot cleaners, and they’ve grown more capable over the years. They started with vacuuming, then added mopping, then auto-emptying.

But this year’s CES announcements go further, and I can’t help feeling like companies are now just adding capabilities purely to have something to talk about …

A stair-climbing cleaner that can’t climb real stairs

Dreame kicked off the contest with the latest X50 Ultra, whose claim to fame is that it can climb stairs. Don’t get me wrong – that could be a very useful feature, solving one of the key problems with existing cleaners: you either need one for each floor of your home, or have to carry it up and downstairs each time you want to use it.

But as Engadget notes, it’s a rather academic benefit as it can’t get remotely close to being able to climb actual stairs. Its maximum step height is just 2.4 inches, while the average real-life stair is 7-8 inches.

Picking up socks

Then there’s the Saroz Z70, a robot cleaner with an arm which the company says can pick up small objects like socks, to move them out of the way.

Say goodbye to the pre-cleaning hassle. During its first cleaning session, the Saros Z70 detects and marks objects it can lift, then circles back to clean missed areas in the second session. Let it handle the mess effortlessly. It also moves obstacles out of the way, enabling access to previously blocked spaces and ensuring thorough cleaning with minimal effort […]

Socks? Toward the closet. Sandals? Toward the entrance rug. Crumpled tissues? Toward the trash can. The Saros Z70 identifies and relocates household items to their designated spots, as programmed in its software.

I mean, maybe that will be useful on occasion, but aside from not being in the habit of leaving socks in the middle of the floor, it’s not like it has either the smarts or the reach to actually open the sock drawer and put it away. This feature adds a lot of cost and mechanical complexity for an almost pointless feature.

Carrying drinks because, sure, why not?

But the winner has to be the SwitchBot K20+ Pro (top photo). This also has an arm for those in the habit of dropping their footwear in random parts of their home, but that’s just the start.

Too hot? It can bring you a fan. Provided someone else realized you were too hot and lifted the (expensive and bespoke, obviously) fan onto the carrying platform. It can follow you around with an iPad, for those FaceTime calls that can only be made while wandering around your home with arms too weak to hold one. You can attach a security camera and send it on mobile patrol. And, of course …

… it can bring you a drink. If you have someone in the kitchen to take the drink out of the fridge, add the table attachment to the K20+ and put the drink on top. Oh, and the table is also an air purifier, just so you don’t get any dust in your drink.

Make sure you already have a stiff drink in hand before watching the promo video. If you want one, both pricing and availability are as yet unknown (and please also contact my bridge sales representative).

Photo: Saroz and SwitchBot