Hands On With Roborock's Zeo One Washing Machine and Dryer Combo

pcmag.com:

BERLIN—Roborock makes some of the best robot vacuums, and now the brand has its sights set on disrupting the large home appliances market. 

At IFA Berlin, Europe's biggest consumer electronics trade show, Roborock this week unveiled the Zeo One, a laundry machine that can both wash and dry your clothes in one sleek unit. I got a chance to spend some time with the Zeo One on the IFA show floor here in Berlin and was impressed by its compact design and colorful touch-screen with presets for bedding, cotton, synthetics, wool, and more. I can see this being the perfect-sized laundry machine for NYC apartment-dwellers, as I was in a former life, but Americans shouldn't get too excited about the Zeo One because it's only expected to launch in Germany for the time being. 

Roborock claims that the machine's big innovation is its Zeo-cycle moderate temperature drying system. It consists of a honeycomb-shaped disc with more than 20,000 holes offering an absorption surface equivalent to "40 football soccer fields," executives said during a press conference at IFA. Controlled by an AI algorithm and monitored via smart sensors, the dryer's temperature stays low enough to safely handle delicate fabrics like wool and silk that would typically be ruined in a traditional condenser dryer, they said.  

"We don't need excessive heat," Roborock executives said. "Instead, we are using just a little bit more than body temperature. And we're checking the temperature 100 times a minute" 

The machine also promises to cut down on manual labor with a self-cleaning system that automatically removes lint buildup and reservoirs for detergent and fabric softener that should only need to be topped off every 30 days. Its companion app lets you select the