Ecovacs (科沃斯, 603486.SH), one of China’s largest cleaning robot manufacturers, has unveiled a new robot vacuum, a window cleaning robot and a mobile air purifier, extending its product line and turning up the heat on its opponents.
At a strategy new product launch event on August 17 in Shanghai, Qian Cheng, CEO of Ecovacs, presented the new releases to a global audience.
The Suzhou-headquartered home appliance giant rolled out a square-shaped Deebot X2, a huge departure from the invariably circular appearance of its Deebot robot vacuum and mop series.
A square-shaped robot can reach and clean the corners of rooms with higher efficiency, said Qian.
Aside from this ground-breaking design, Ecovacs also overhauled the internal structure of Deebot X2, equipping it with longer side and roller brushes and bigger spinning pads, with the effect of cleaning hard-to-reach edges of a room.
Deebot X2 features a powerful 8,000Pa suction and a bigger dust case and water tank than its predecessors, which makes vacuuming easier.
To enable the device to enter narrow space close to the floor, such as under the couch or bed, Ecovacs swapped the top-mounted mechanical lidar on its previous models for a built-in semi-solid state lidar developed in-house.
This change reduces the height of the vacuum to a record 95 mm, which is the thinnest of its kind in Ecovacs’s product portfolio.
The new lidar has a 210° field of view. Coupled with a fusion of optical and motion algorithms, Deebot X2 is capable of faster response and higher detection accuracy.
Winbot W2
Window cleaning robots currently in the market often draw complaints. For instance, they are difficult to use, cannot clean sufficiently and carry a risk of falling from the windows.
To solve these pain points, Ecovacs came up with a new window scrubber Winbot W2.
Unlike its predecessor, Winbot W2 for the first time comes with a multi-purpose independent base station.
The station contains a lithium battery that gives the scrubber a battery life of 80 minutes on a charge.
Besides, Ecovacs joins the safety cord and electricity wire attached to the Winbot, to prevent them from getting entangled in operation.
W2 also is programmed to reel and trail the cable on its own.
Upgraded safety features and a suction cup at the bottom of the base station combine to minimize the risk for the robot to fall off the window.
Ecovacs equips W2 with a doubled-sided, triple-nozzle high-pressure spray system, which can evenly clean up a designated spot.
Winbot has a 60% market share in China and an 80% share in Germany.
Ecovacs says that through hardware and software iterations, W2’s locomotion has improved, delivering a 30% increase in cleaning efficiency.
Airbot Z2
The third new release from Ecovacs is its Airbot Z2 air purifier. It moves at 0.7 m/s in a complex home environment, equivalent to the speed of an adult.
Through a multi-sensor system, which consists of a 3D time-of-flight sensor, an indirect time-of-flight sensor and cameras, the air purifier can avoid obstacles autonomously as it navigates the environment in which it operates.
Compared to fixed air purifiers, Airbot Z2 cleans up the indoor air as it moves around.
In view of consumers’ diversified demands for air quality management, Airbot Z2’s functions include formaldehyde removal, sterilization, humidification, scent spray and breeze.
