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CES is known for splashy TV and laptop launches, but in 2025, there were more than a few companies trying to make waves with robot vacuums, too. After years where it seemed like vacuuming, mopping, and self-emptying might be the peak of a robot vacuums abilities, this years show introduced home robots with whole new functionality and appendages. Heres the robot vacuums that caught our eye at CES 2025, many of which you could invite to clean your living room later this year. Roborock Saros Z70 Karissa Bell for Engadget Roborock's flagship vacuum for 2025 is the Roborock Saros Z70, a circular robot vacuum on the outside, that hides a retractable "OmniGrip" arm that can pick up and move objects on the inside. The arm is capable of five axis movement and is only able to carry around 300 grams, which makes it better at moving clothes and cables than anything truly heavy. Roborock claims the Saros Z70's precision sensors, LEDs, and camera will be able to identify 108 objects that it can move or avoid, with the ability to learn up to 50 custom objects, too. The only missing pieces are a price and launch date. Roborock plans to start selling the Roborock Saros Z70 later this year, but hasn't shared what the price of the new robot will be. It might turn out that a robot arms don't come cheap. Dreame X50 Ultra Karissa Bell for Engadget Dreame is one of Roborock's rivals, and it had its own new flagship robot vacuum at CES. Rather than an arm, the Dreame X50 Ultra has tiny wheeled legs for climbing (admittedly shallow) stairs. Dreame calls the feature its "ProLeap System" and it currently says that the X50 Ultra can handle stairs that are 6cm (around 2.4 inches) tall. That's a lot shorter than the average household stairs, but it does still mean Dreame's robot vacuum can reach places competitors can't. The Dreame X50 Ultra is available to be reserved now for $39, which locks you in to a lower $1310 price and secures a longer warranty and free accessories. The robot vacuum will officially go on sale on February 4 for $1700. Eufy E20 Eufy Robot vacuums are convenient, but they're not yet great at reaching every corner of your home, which usually means you have to also own some kind of handheld vacuum. The Eufy E20 could eliminate that two-vacuum conundrum. It's a 3-in-1 robot vacuum that you can program to clean your house on its own, or pop out its vacuum component and use as a stick or handheld vacuum for hard to reach spots. The goal is owning one vacuum that can adapt to all of your needs, while still offering the benefits of a robot vacuum, like a base station for automatically dumping debris. It seems like Eufy might have pulled it off, and at a relatively affordable price, too. The Eufy 3-in-1 E20 Vacuum will be available on February 10 and start at $550, with all of its accessories included. Switchbot K20+ Pro Switchbot Swithcbot is known for smart home accessories like robotic curtain movers and button pushers, but the company has also been offering its own affordable robot vacuum for the lastfew years. The Switchbot K20+ Pro is its latest model, but also a whole new way to combine the Switchbot products you might already own. The K20+ Pro looks a bit like normal robot vacuum, just with a rolling platform mounted on top. It can hold up to 18 lbs and you can connect Switchbot's air purifier, security camera or fan to the top and get a vacuum that doubles as a more of a general home robot. Switchbot says it's also designed to be easy to mod if you want to create your own weird attachment to go on top. The K20+ Pro is definitely equal parts goofy and clever, but it still has plenty of unknowns. There's no price or launch date beyond later this year. Switchbot plans to sell the K20+ Pro solo, and in bundles with some of the compatible accessories. Dreame Retractable Arm Prototype Karissa Bell for Engadget Roborock wasn't alone in showing off a robot vacuum with an arm. Dreame's unnamed prototype robot vacuum isn't ready to go on sale, but does includes its own claw-shaped arm for grabbing things, and wheeled "legs" for getting over ledges like the Dreame X50 Ultra. It's not clear when this prototype will become a real product or how much it'll cost when it does, but it serves as a good example that if Roborock can pull off the Saros Z70, others will certainly follow.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/the-new-robot-vacuums-that-caught-our-eye-at-ces-2025-210358124.html?src=rss
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At CES last year, Sony teased an AR/VR headset prototype focused on spatial content creation. And at the same time, Siemens announced it was working with Sony to use that same hardware, including the two new controllers it developed, for something it was calling the industrial metaverse. Thats a lot of buzzwords, but at CES 2025 both Siemens and Sony showed the headsets and associated software in action which helped clear up a lot of what the companies are trying to do here. During Sonys CES press conference, it announced its XYN brand of software and hardware solutions, with the headset being a key part of the equation. The XYN spatial capture solution uses mirrorless cameras to scan and make photorealistic 3D objects. Using the XYN headset, you can see those objects in 3D production software for animation, video games and other potential uses. I got a chance to try the XYN headset on, as well as see some samples of the 3D objects that were scanned and manipulated. The demo itself was a little rocky, as so many VR demos can be, but essentially I was placed inside an animated world that had already been constructed. From there, I was able to import a geode / crystal-like object that had been scanned using the spatial capture tools. I could move it all around the virtual space, scaling it up to massive size or shrinking it down to a tiny pebble. Sony The headset itself felt well-constructed and sturdy for a prototype the display flips up so you can get back into the real world quickly, and the headband was pretty comfortable and secure. As usual, though, its hard to evaluate how itll feel after an hour or two around your noggin. The controller wand felt a little fiddly to me its somewhat unusual shape makes it well-suited to pointing, but figuring out how to grab down on things took me a bit. I cant say how steep the learning curve is, but at least everything felt responsive and well-made. While the demo itself wasnt ground-breaking, it was a good example of showing the whole XYN pipeline, from capturing a 3D object to manipulating and using it to build out a virtual environment. Sony says the XYN headset and its controllers are still in the prototype phase, but it wouldnt surprise me if we find out more about public availability sooner than later. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Thats because Siemens announced this week that what appears to be the exact same headset and controllers are now on sale, albeit with a very different focus. Siemens coined the industrial metaverse phrase last year, and I got a chance to learn more about just what that means. It turns out that Sony originally built the headset for internal use for designers and engineers to build things in 3D space. They were already using Siemens software, so the companies started working together to optimize both sides of the experience and now Siemens thinks theyre at a point where they can sell the headset and software bundles to enterprise customers. Siemens highlighted its AR capabilities a bit more, showing off how you could pin its NX Immersive Designer and use the headset as a virtual workspace but one that lets you enlarge and manipulate the 3D objects youre designing. You can also jump into VR mode and see the objects at full size and move around them using the headsets controller. In this demo, I got to fly around massive 3D reproductions of a few airplanes, and while they werent the most detailed objects, the utility was clear. Sony I also used the second controller Sony developed in the Siemens demo. In addition to the pointer-style device, I had a ring over my index finger on my left hand. I used that to move around the virtual space; holding and turning my hand a specific direction moved me forwards and backwards or up and down. As always, it took a minute to get my bearings, but I was getting right up close to the virtual planes and flying up to check out their details before long. Siemens is definitely further along in the quest to bring this product to end users: the XR HMD is up for pre-order now for $4,750, and the company says itll begin shipping next month. So the hardware is definitely beyond the prototype phase in Sonys case, its probably more a matter of making sure the whole pipeline of XYN software and hardware works together before making it widely available. Sony and Siemens definitely face a challenge showing people how these tools can be useful a four-minute demo doesnt really do the trick, and Im neither an engineer nor a content creator who might use the XYN tools. But what I find most intriguing about this strategy is that Sony is recognizing that its headset isnt a broad consumer product; instead, theyre finding different places and industries where it might be useful. At this point, thats probably a smart strategy, given that consumer-grade AR and VR remains very niche outside of the gaming sphere. But assuming Sonys headset hardware is up to snuff, it wouldnt surprise me to see other companies adopt it for their specific needs.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/sonys-xyn-xr-headset-is-being-used-in-very-different-ways-at-ces-2025-204020872.html?src=rss
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TripAdvisor has entered into a partnership with Perplexity to offer a human touch to the AI company's hotel information. Through this deal, listings for hotel searches on Perplexity will now include summaries of information from TripAdvisor explaining why they were included in the results. Ratings, perks and images from TripAdvisor will also appear on Perplexity. "From the Tripadvisor side, they provide an up-to-date trustworthy source of information that we sync regularly," Perplexity cofounder Johnny Ho told The Verge. "On the fly, well index and retrieve the right results depending on the user intent of the query." The results of this partnership are live now on Perplexity's website and will roll out soon to the company's mobile apps. According to the press release, the pair of businesses will continue to make improvements to their collaboration over the next three years. A lot of money probably changed hands for this deal, but no financial details were shared. Last summer, Perplexity announced plans to add an ad revenue program to its AI-powered search engine. The company has drawn accusations of plagiarism and copyright infringement from several publishers, including The New York Times, Condé Nast, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexity-will-now-show-hotel-information-from-tripadvisor-202923788.html?src=rss
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