Roborock's flagship robot mower, sold as the X120H Lidar in the US and Z120 Lidar in the UK, uses Lidar and AI vision instead of satellite navigation, paired with 4G connectivity and a three-year data plan. It offers four-wheel drive with independently pivoting front wheels, a 9.5-inch cutting deck, coverage up to 21,500 square feet, and the ability to mow slopes as steep as 39 degrees, running 110 minutes per charge.
wired.com
· 2026-09-10
LiDAR on iPhone Pro models works by emitting light pulses and timing their return to measure distances to nearby surfaces, giving the device a sense of depth alongside camera imagery. Apple's ARKit uses this data to build a 3D mesh of a room's floors and walls, which apps like RoomPlan use to map furniture, doors and windows into a full 3D model. The sensor also boosts photography, enabling faster autofocus and Night mode portraits in dim lighting.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-08
Director Romain Thomassin is raising $40,000 on Kickstarter to produce 'Road Rage,' a short film pitting a human ridehail driver against 'Roboride,' a menacing autonomous vehicle that turns a minor traffic spat into a deadly chase. The villain car is built from a modified Prius with cold LED lighting, fake cameras, a spinning lidar-style rig, and blinking red lights meant to evoke a 'nasty Waymo,' while the chase itself will use practical stunts rather than CGI.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-05
iRobot showed off a concept robot called the Roomba Duo at IFA in Berlin, pairing a powerful floor-washing base unit with a smaller Roomba Plus 757 that lowers via a mechanical arm to clean tight spots like under tables. The base handles vacuuming, steam-mopping with 46 newtons of pressure, and holds clean and dirty water tanks plus a dust bag, using lidar and cameras to navigate and map homes.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-04
DJI has introduced the ROMO 2 lineup, including the ROMO P2 and ROMO A2, at IFA 2026 as successors to last year's ROMO. The new models use an upgraded drone-derived perception system for millimeter-level obstacle detection, a LiDAR-guided mopping arm, up to 36,000 Pa suction, and leg mechanisms that step over ledges up to 8.5cm tall.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-03
Mammotion has introduced two new robotic mower lineups: the LUBA 4 AWD series for residential lawns and the Maston series aimed at professional users like golf courses. The three LUBA 4 AWD models handle lawns from roughly 0.75 to 3 acres and use a four-camera array, 360-degree LiDAR, and free lifetime NetRTK positioning alongside all-wheel drive capable of climbing steep 80% slopes. The Maston series adds fleet management tools for operators overseeing multiple machines across larger commercial properties.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-03
Roborock unveiled the RockAqua P1, its debut robotic pool-cleaning device that scrubs floors, walls, and shallow ledges while filtering roughly 6,800 gallons of water per hour and running up to 3.5 hours per charge. The company also announced the RockNeo Q2 LiDAR, an upgraded robotic lawnmower using LiDAR navigation instead of GPS/RTK, alongside new home vacuum models including a Saros 2o with a roller mop. Pricing and availability for the pool robot in the US have not yet been disclosed.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-03
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.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-08-31
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.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-08-28
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.
seas.harvard.edu
· 2026-08-27
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.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-27
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.
theverge.com
· 2026-08-27
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