Roborock Mows the Lawn, Dreame Dives into the Pool, and KuMA Unveils Cutting-Edge Tech: Chinese Manufacturers Battle it Out in the European and American Garden Equipment Market | Hardcore Krypton Reports from IFA 2025

Editor's Note: At the IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) in 2025, Chinese manufacturers once again dominated the exhibition. With the world's most comprehensive and complex supply chain and the largest number of the most experienced hardware engineers, these companies are well - prepared to offer the world the most unique products. From audio - visual equipment to energy storage, from laptops to smart home appliances, Chinese manufacturers have demonstrated their unforgettable technological strength. As a technology media that has long focused on the hardware industry, we will track this largest European technology exhibition throughout the next five days, explore new products and new market segments, and seek future trends.

Author | Huang Nan

Editor | Yuan Silai

As the core battlefield in the field of garden robots, the European and American markets have always been crowded with brands and highly competitive. Therefore, at the IFA, a globally - watched consumer technology product exhibition, there is naturally no shortage of heavy - weight players and product confrontations.

Due to the effective market education of traditional buried - wire lawn mowers in the past, European users have a relatively mature mindset and show a high degree of acceptance of intelligent lawn mowing robots. In the past year, in Western European countries represented by Germany, France, and Switzerland, the penetration rate of intelligent lawn mowers has been rapidly climbing from below 15% to the range of 30% - 40%.

Throughout the IFA exhibition, the lawn mowing robot booths remained the highlights. Manufacturers such as KuaMa, Dreame, Ecovacs, and MOVA all showcased their products and demonstrated their technological breakthroughs in hardware structure, navigation algorithms, obstacle avoidance, and adaptive cutting on various lawn terrains.

Meanwhile, Roborock, which the industry has been paying attention to for a long time, finally entered the market officially, launching its first intelligent lawn mowing robot, which may add more variables to the already highly competitive market.

In the field of pool robots, in addition to leading manufacturers like Aiper of Yuanding Intelligence releasing new products, many lawn mowing robot manufacturers have also started to expand their product portfolios and entered this niche market across industries. The pool robot products of brands such as KuaMa, which announced its entry into this market segment in June, as well as Dreame and MOVA, were also on display this time.

It can be seen that at this year's IFA, more players are accelerating their entry, product iteration is continuously speeding up, and large manufacturers are nervously eyeing each other's markets and engaging in "cross - border" activities, desperately showing off their technological strength. The entire garden equipment market is full of fierce competition. We have sorted out the product and technology releases of each company at this IFA and summarized four key highlights.

Roborock Enters the Market

The long - rumored Roborock lawn mowing robot finally made its debut at the IFA exhibition.

Among the CR4 (Concentration Ratio of the top four companies in the industry) of intelligent cleaning enterprises, Ecovacs and Dreame have already deployed in the lawn mowing robot market, and the market feedback has been good in terms of shipment volume. Therefore, the industry has high expectations for Roborock. Its vacuum cleaner products have a solid user reputation, and many users have formed the perception that "Roborock represents reliable algorithms + high - quality experience". There is a general expectation that its lawn mowers can continue to provide high - quality product experiences.

In terms of products, Roborock released three models of lawn mowing robots this time: RockNeo Q1, RockMow S1, and RockMow Z1, which cover the entire price range from entry - level to high - end flagship products.

Roborock RockMow Z1 lawn mowing robot (Source/Enterprise)

The RockNeo Q1 is positioned as an entry - level product, focusing on "simplicity, reliability, and cost - effectiveness". It is targeted at users with simple lawn structures and sensitive budgets who are trying lawn mowing robots for the first time and is suitable for small and medium - sized flat lawns. Its design is relatively streamlined and practical, retaining the basic intelligent experience to lower the usage threshold of intelligent lawn mowers.

The RockMow S1 is aimed at household users with medium - sized lawns and can mow up to 1000 square meters within 12 hours. In terms of core functions, it is comparable to high - end flagship models. In terms of structure, it adopts a more cost - effective two - wheel drive system, which offers high cost - performance but has basic terrain adaptability. It is more suitable for families with relatively flat terrains who pursue intelligent and precise lawn trimming.

The RockMow Z1 is a high - end flagship lawn mower targeting the high - end market and focusing on all - terrain performance. It uses a combined RTK + vision solution and can cover an area of up to 5000 square meters in a single - day operation. Based on an efficient cutting system and a heavy - duty motor drive, compared with two - wheel drive, its four - wheel drive system with four wheels has stronger climbing ability. At the same time, its active steering system and all - wheel suspension system can effectively improve the equipment's terrain adaptability, operational stability, and cutting accuracy in complex garden environments.

Internal test data shows that the RockMow Z1 can handle slopes of up to 80% and climb over obstacles up to 6 centimeters, meeting the lawn mowing needs of users in hilly areas with complex terrains.

For a long time, trimming the lawn edges has been a pain point for users. Due to safety restrictions, the cutterhead cannot extend, and many lawn mowers always leave an untrimmed grass strip of more than 7 centimeters or even wider at the lawn edges. Users have to manually trim the edges frequently, which is time - consuming and labor - intensive. The RockMow Z1 can reduce the cutting blind spot to only 3 centimeters, significantly reducing the need for manual trimming. At the same time, it uses an edge - following and cross - border strategy, enabling the device to cut partially beyond the boundary and complete the full trimming of open boundaries.

KuaMa Launches a Three - in - One System of Lidar, RTK, and Vision

Currently, the difference in underlying algorithm technologies remains one of the core factors determining the intelligence level and user experience of lawn mowing robots. From an overall trend perspective, different technology routes correspond to different niche markets and user scenarios. Therefore, launching multi - SKU product lines has gradually become a consensus.

For example, for gardens with an area of less than 1000 square meters, a pure vision or vision + RTK solution is sufficient to meet the cost - performance and basic intelligence requirements. The lidar solution, with its advantages of accurate mapping, stable obstacle avoidance, and convenient deployment, is becoming the optimal solution for small and medium - sized grasslands.

Dreame A3 AWD series lawn mowing robot, equipped with 3D lidar

For large - scale high - end lawns with complex terrains and precise operation requirements, the integrated system of vision + lidar has become the direction that many manufacturers are focusing on.

Of course, these technology routes still have their limitations. In lawns smaller than 1500 square meters, lidar is prone to inaccuracy in open areas, RTK is greatly affected by obstructions, and the pure vision solution has poor performance in low - light conditions.

In large lawns of over 1500 square meters, lidar may experience a decline in accuracy due to sparse point clouds, that is, the number of laser points reflected back from objects is too small and too scattered, and RTK faces problems with the accuracy of satellite positioning.

Due to the shortcomings of each technology route, multi - sensor fusion has become the key to product differentiation.

At the IFA exhibition this time, MAMMOTION of KuaMa Technology officially launched its self - developed Tri - Fusion triple - integrated positioning system, which is also the world's first three - in - one positioning and navigation solution integrating lidar, RTK, and vision.

Through multi - sensor fusion algorithms, lidar, RTK, and vision cooperate in real - time and complement each other dynamically. It has the ability to adapt to the environment and switch modules autonomously. It can select the optimal positioning module autonomously according to actual conditions and lawn conditions such as changes in lighting, obstacle density, and terrain undulations, and achieve an ultra - high positioning accuracy of ±1 centimeter.

At the same time, this solution does not require users to deploy physical boundary lines or additional base stations, providing a convenient "plug - and - play" experience.

According to Hard Krypton, the Tri - Fusion triple - integrated positioning system has currently been applied in MAMMOTION's LUBA mini AWD LiDAR, the world's first lawn mower with a solid - state lidar, and old users can upgrade for free.

KuaMa lawn mowers. The left one is LUBA mini AWD LiDAR, and the right one is LUBA 2 AWD (Source/Enterprise)

A Lawn Mowing Robot with a Mechanical Arm Appears

Interestingly, at this year's IFA, a lawn mowing robot with a mechanical arm appeared.

This robot is from NexLawn, an intelligent tools and garden technology brand under MOVA. This brand released three products this time: the first garden care robot Master X equipped with a mechanical arm, as well as the VIDAR series and VIDAR AWD series of intelligent lawn mowers.

In terms of appearance, the Master X consists of a lawn mowing robot and a mechanical arm. The folded size of the mechanical arm is 44.5 centimeters, and the extended arm length can reach 77 centimeters, with the farthest reach of over 1 meter. This enables it to not only complete cleaning tasks in open areas but also perform delicate operations in narrow spaces or areas with complex vegetation.

If we regard the mechanical arm as a human hand, it can complete tasks in different scenarios by changing the end - effectors.

For example, it can use a multi - functional gripper to pick up and remove debris such as branches, toys, and stones in the garden, quickly tidying up the lawn. After changing to a grass - trimming head or a cutterhead, it can trim complex areas such as lawn edges, corners, and flower beds. It can also be equipped with more special tools to perform more garden operations such as precise watering and fruit picking.

In addition to its tool - based functions, the Master X also adds a "companion" function. Its mechanical arm can pick up toys such as balls and interact with pets by throwing and catching.

NexLawn Master X garden care robot (Source/Enterprise)

Of course, whether it is the previous vacuum cleaning robots or today's garden robots, there is still significant controversy in the industry regarding the mechanical arm solution. Its advantages are very obvious, as it can expand the functional boundaries of the robot and handle more complex task scenarios.

However, introducing a mechanical arm also means multiple challenges. On the one hand, it places extremely high requirements on the accuracy and real - time performance of visual recognition algorithms. On the other hand, hardware integration is difficult, which not only drives up R & D and manufacturing costs but also requires ensuring operational safety, posing considerable risks for manufacturers.

Cross - Border Confrontation in Pool Robots

This time, the pool robot market has become the front line of confrontation between new and old manufacturers.

Aiper of Yuanding Intelligence, an established player in the industry, released its latest model, the Scuba V3, at the IFA exhibition, mainly targeting users' needs for more intelligent and efficient cleaning and the pain point of the previous models being too bulky.

The Scuba V3 introduces AI visual recognition technology, which can identify more than 20 common types of underwater garbage. At the same time, the combination of AI visual recognition hunting and scanning and fixed - path supplementary scanning modes can achieve comprehensive cleaning coverage and autonomous obstacle avoidance.

When the system detects obstacles such as stairs and drainage outlets, the Scuba V3's automatic obstacle - avoidance ability can intelligently identify and automatically bypass them, reducing the risk of the machine getting stuck.

Aiper Scuba V3 pool robot (Source/Enterprise)

In terms of user experience, the Scuba V3 controls the overall weight of the machine to 7.5 kilograms and is equipped with a wireless charging function, solving the operational difficulties of traditional equipment being heavy and restricted by wires.

In terms of price, the price of Aiper's Scuba X series of pool cleaning robots launched this year has exceeded $1000. According to Hard Krypton, the price of the Scuba V3 may continue in this price range. This price change not only reflects its investment in core technologies such as AI vision and wireless cleaning but also marks the brand's continuous progress towards a high - end positioning.

In addition to pool robot manufacturers, Dreame, KuaMa, etc. also displayed their pool robot products at the exhibition.

The Dreame Z2 Pro pool robot displayed this time is equipped with high - precision sensors and self - developed intelligent algorithms and can also identify different pool shapes and automatically generate multiple cleaning paths such as S - shaped and N - shaped paths.

In terms of ease of use, Dreame has developed an intelligent cleaning system, providing five cleaning modes such as standard mode, pool bottom mode, and pool wall mode. At the same time, users can also remotely control the movement or perform fixed - point cleaning through their mobile phones. When the Z2 Pro completes its task, the robot will automatically float to the surface and stay there.