GoKawiil
Tech News
Roborock is marking its 12th anniversary with a sitewide sale running through September 6, discounting robot vacuums and bundles by 25% to over 50%. The flagship Saros 20, which uses dual LiDAR navigation, leg-lifting chassis and carpet-adaptive suction, drops from $1,599.99 to $1,199.99. The sale also introduces the new pet-focused Qrevo 2 Pro to the U.S. market.
Amazon is selling the Roborock Q7 M5 Plus Robot Vacuum and Mop for $279.99, a $150 cut from its $429.99 list price, marking a 35% discount. The device combines vacuuming and mopping with a self-emptying dock that can go 7 to 9 weeks between bag changes under normal use.
Harvard researchers surveyed over 100 blind and low-vision people and identified turn-by-turn directions, continuous path guidance, and obstacle detection as top needs. They responded by creating Mobilio, a standalone smartphone app that combines the camera, GPS, motion sensors, and LiDAR (when available) to steer users safely along sidewalks and paths.
Pollen Robotics, owned by Hugging Face, has opened pre-orders for Microduck, a 25cm, sub-800g bipedal robot priced at $399. Unlike the stationary Reachy Mini, Microduck is built for mobility, packing 15 motors, a camera, LiDAR, two IMUs and an articulated beak so it can walk, sit, crouch, recover from falls and even roller-skate.
Waymo's VP of Onboard Software, Srikanth Thirumalai, published a blog post arguing that cameras alone cannot achieve safe full autonomy, citing over 200 million autonomous miles as evidence. Though he never names Tesla, the post is widely seen as a direct rebuttal to Elon Musk's camera-only strategy, which Waymo contrasts with its own use of lidar, radar and cameras together.
Dreame has launched the A3 AWD Pro, a robotic lawn mower that relies on LiDAR sensors rather than satellite positioning to navigate yards. The review finds the device largely effective despite some flaws, noting it arrives at a pivotal moment for the robomower category.