From 180℃ steam to “building climbing” robots, what technical undercards will the pursuit of IFA 2026 reveal?

The Zhitong Finance App learned that IFA 2026 will be held in Berlin, Germany from September 4 to 8. Looking for the exhibition under the theme “EMPOWER YOUR DREAM LIFE”, it will focus on showcasing more than 100 products covering more than 16 categories and a number of pioneering technologies, covering various home scenarios such as smart cleaning, living environment appliances, personal care, window cleaning, and small kitchen appliances.

The highlight of this exhibition is not just the quantity of products. For the first time, Chase will also focus on presenting the three major physical AI technology platforms composed of a global sensing system, a general household model, and an intelligent control system, and will also showcase the ECHO series home service robot, which is in the development stage.

More than 100 products are indicative, and the three major technical bases are the main technical lines displayed by IFA this time.

Highlight 1:180℃, 42°, 10cm. Hard technical indicators point directly to real problems

Smart cleaning is still the focus of the current IFA search. Looking for sweepers will launch 180℃ steam technology, which has recently been certified by Euromonitor; the floor scrubber will be exhibiting products such as the T16 Pro Steam, T16 Pro Heat series, and tri-shape floor washing robots, and showcasing many of the world's first technologies, such as external scrubber scrubber technology and automatic switching technology; vacuum cleaners will display V40 and Z40 series products, which are continuously iterated around specific usage aspects such as floor brush structure, hair treatment, and wet and dry cleaning.

More topical is cross-floor cleaning. The CyberX climbing machine is equipped with a bionic six-legged three-stage crawler climbing system and 3D ToF sensing technology. It can recognize staircase structures and complete movement across floors. It supports climbing at a maximum slope of 42°, extending the working range of cleaning equipment from single-story spaces to multi-storey houses.

Quest will also present the X60 Pro Ultra Complete. The product is equipped with an LDS lift, binocular obstacle avoidance and bionic structure. The fuselage height is 8.9cm, and has a 10cm obstacle crossing capability. It is mainly aimed at complex home environments such as low spaces and thresholds. 80℃, 42°, and 10cm are not simply “heap parameters,” but correspond to actual usage scenarios such as heavy pollution, multi-storey houses, and complex floor structures, respectively.

Highlight 2: The three major technical foundations allow different products to share perception, understanding and execution

Behind more than 100 products, there is a search for further integration of common technical capabilities. The global sensing system is responsible for continuously obtaining the state of space, objects, and equipment; the general household model understands user needs and task goals and generates corresponding strategies; the intelligent control system then completes actions through motors, joints, mechanical structures, and control algorithms. The three work together to make the machine form a complete closed loop from sensing the real world and understanding the real world to acting on the real world.

This technical system did not start from scratch. An AI algorithm team was established in 2021 to conduct research on positioning, path planning, and environmental perception; since 2023, reinforcement learning algorithms have been applied to sweeper robots, and products such as the X60 Pro have used RLPP scene reinforcement learning engines. Long-term accumulation of high-speed digital motors, intelligent algorithms, and bionic robotic arms is being further integrated from individual capabilities to platforms that can be reused across categories.

Highlight 3: From single actions to continuous tasks, ECHO explores home service robots

In addition to the existing product categories, the search will also display the ECHO S1 single-arm wheeled service robot and the ECHO P1 wheeled humanoid service robot, which are in the development stage. Among them, the ECHO S1 is positioned as a home washing and drying service robot, which explores continuous tasks such as clothing recognition, sorting, washing, and storage around washing scenarios; the ECHO P1 targets home and commercial space service scenarios and explores tasks such as item handling, storage and organization, intelligent care and safety protection.

Home service robots need to continuously complete environmental perception, task understanding, motion planning, and execution feedback, which places higher demands on collaboration between perception, model, and control systems. The presentation of the ECHO series will present phased progress in the development of home service robots in the pursuit of further application of perception, algorithms, and motion control capabilities in existing products.

Highlight 4: The global market determines whether technology can actually be established

At present, the search products have covered more than 190 countries and regions around the world, and have served more than 42 million households. Housing structures, cleaning habits, and lifestyles in different regions provided plenty of real feedback for product definition and algorithm tuning. Cross-floor cleaning for multi-storey homes in south-west Europe is an example of a global scenario driving product innovation in reverse.

The advantages of globalization are not only market coverage, but also allow more than 100 products, three major technology bases, and home service robots to be verified and iterated in more real scenarios.