At the just-concluded “CES 2025” (2025 International Consumer Electronics Show), the sweeping robot with a “mechanical arm” became one of the focus products for exhibitors at home and abroad.
When participating in the exhibition in Las Vegas, the reporter of “Daily Economic News” saw that in the exhibition area of Roborock Technology, three or four sweeping robots were lined up in a row, “uniformly” extending their mechanical arms and flexibly simulating the joint movements of human hands. In front of these “dancing” sweeping robots, there were a large number of exhibitors who took out their mobile phones to take pictures of this fresh scene. In the exhibition area of Zhuimi, the reporter also saw a sweeping robot with a “bionic multi-jointed mechanical arm”.
In a written interview with reporters, Quan Gang, president of Roborock Technology (SH688169), said that the new product with a mechanical arm released by Roborock Technology at this year’s CES represents the possibility of sweeping robots that could only do 2D floor cleaning in the past to move towards 3D space cleaning.
A sweeping robot developer told the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that at CES 2025, the competition direction of sweeping robot’s intelligent cleaning technology is mainly concentrated on the AI application level and the improvement of cleaning depth. The person said that sweeping robots are a huge market of 100 billion yuan, and Chinese manufacturers’ share in the global sweeping robot market continues to increase.
The “Global Smart Home Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report, Q3 2024” released by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that in the third quarter, global smart sweeping robot shipments reached 5.014 million units, an increase of 11.1% year-on-year, and the total share of Chinese manufacturers increased year-on-year. Another report released by IDC shows that in the first quarter of 2024, in the global smart sweeping robot market, Chinese manufacturers’ shipment share has accumulated to more than 60%.
The competition of sweeping robots has moved from 2D to 3D
During CES 2025, the second floor of the Venetian Convention and Exhibition Center in Las Vegas is the main exhibition area for cleaning appliance brands at home and abroad. The reporter of “Daily Economic News” saw here that Roborock Technology and “Dream” company both displayed brand-new sweeping robots equipped with manipulators. At the booth of Roborock Technology, the reporter saw that if a robot vacuum cleaner with a manipulator encounters a sock while cleaning the floor, it will stop, extend the “manipulator” to pick up the sock and put it into the basket, and then continue to clean the floor.
In addition to the “manipulator”, Roborock Technology and Dreame also brought chassis lifting and bionic wheel foot technology innovations, allowing the vacuum cleaner to have a maximum obstacle crossing ability of 6 cm. The vacuum cleaner of the high-end smart home appliance brand “MOVA” also has triple lifting technology, bionic mechanical arms and track expansion technology, which is said to be able to thoroughly clean corner stains. It is reported that MOVA’s current sales area covers more than 30 countries and regions.
An analyst from AVC said in an interview with the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that compared with the products already on the market in China, the new technological progress of the vacuum cleaner at this year’s CES is mainly reflected in the emergence of “manipulators”. The analyst also said that the leading companies in the industry had already explored AI technology last year – including voice, obstacle recognition and other aspects. This year, with the launch of “manipulators”, the requirements for AI technology will be higher.
Quan Gang told reporters that Roborock released a new product with a “robot arm” at CES 2025, leading the competition of sweeping robots from 2D to 3D. “‘G30 Space’ solves the pain point that previous sweeping robots need to bypass obstacles such as socks, data cables and large paper balls during cleaning, forming blind spots for cleaning.”
Quan Gang believes: “Looking to the future, the robot arm can continue to evolve, and can realize functions such as assisting obstacle crossing, going up and down stairs, and the types of objects returned to their original positions can be expanded to objects with larger weight and volume. In the longer term, the sweeping robot can also evolve into a home service robot, realizing more diverse functions such as folding clothes and cutting vegetables, so that our quality of life can be further improved.”
“Leading overseas in all aspects”
The reporter learned that in China, sweeping robots are a rare sub-category in the home appliance category that has not been developed for too long but has a high brand concentration.
Against this background, “going overseas” has become the direction that major brands have focused on in recent years.
According to Stone Technology’s 2024 semi-annual report, the company’s overseas revenue accounted for more than domestic revenue in the first half of 2024, accounting for about 52% of total revenue. Ecovacs’ financial report also revealed that in the first half of 2024, the company’s sales revenue in the European market increased significantly by 42% year-on-year, and overseas market revenue accounted for 39.3% of total revenue.
The aforementioned Aowei Cloud Network analyst told reporters: “From the perspective of the global market, the overseas market is larger, and in regions such as Europe and North America, the (per capita) income is higher, and the penetration rate of sweepers is also higher… The advantage of domestic brands lies in products, and the products are ahead of overseas in all aspects. This is an absolute advantage.”
Quan Gang told reporters: “Stone Technology has always maintained its technological leadership in the process of going overseas, at least one iteration cycle ahead of foreign competitors.”
Another sweeping robot R&D personnel also mentioned in an interview with the “Daily Economic News” reporter that Chinese brands are technologically advanced in the field of smart cleaning. In addition, Chinese brands also have the world’s most complete manufacturing supply chain, which can quickly respond to market demand and ensure stable product supply.
The above-mentioned person revealed: “Chinese brand manufacturers no longer rely on cost-effectiveness to win through technological innovation and differentiated products, but instead transform to the mid-to-high-end market, enhance brand influence, and expand to more countries and regions.”
The “Global Smart Home Device Market Quarterly Tracking Report, Q1 2024” released by IDC shows that in the first quarter of 2024, the cumulative shipment share of Chinese manufacturers in the global smart sweeping robot market exceeded 60%. According to statistics from Chaodian Think Tank, among the top 10 brands of sweeping robots in the current Japanese e-commerce market, domestic brands such as Roborock Technology and “Anker” account for 8 seats.
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