September 2025, Gizmodo revealed Anker's latest product and strategic direction: beyond its traditional chargers and accessories business, the company is advancing deep integration of home robot hardware and AI capabilities. The article's first concrete highlight is a stair‑climbing Robovac system prototype — not merely an improvement in suction or path planning, but a hardware‑level breakthrough enabling "cross‑floor cleaning".
Gizmodo describes the Robovac as using a variable‑structure locomotion module combined with multi‑sensor fusion to detect steps and perform climbing actions. Unlike conventional vacuum robots that only avoid obstacles laterally, this device measures depth and angle when encountering single or multiple steps, then switches to a "climb mode" to traverse stairs using composite drive and support mechanisms. The report notes Anker tested sensor fusion on prototypes including vision cameras, ultrasonic/infrared ranging and an IMU to ensure stability under different lighting conditions and complex step geometries.
Beyond mechanical details, the article also emphasizes Anker's investment in AI. The company is moving past treating AI as a simple cloud‑call service and is pursuing stronger on‑device inference: local map building, semantic recognition (such as identifying furniture and floor materials), and smarter task scheduling. Gizmodo points out Anker is interfacing hardware sensor data with larger AI models, whether internally developed compact models or larger‑scale models accessed through partnerships, to achieve more complex understanding and decision‑making.
The report additionally says Anker's global expansion ambitions are not empty rhetoric: the company is tying its consumer ecosystem to robotics and AI capabilities, aiming to transform from a single accessories maker into a "home intelligent terminal supplier." This strategy involves integrating AI capabilities into products as well as more aggressive supply chain and market expansion plans. Gizmodo believes the transition presents technical challenges (such as balancing local AI compute and battery life) but could open new competitive spaces for Anker, such as the mid‑to‑low‑price smart home robot market.
The article concludes that, although prototype demonstrations look impressive, combining stair‑climbing functionality with mass production will still take time: hardware reliability testing, firmware stability, local AI model optimization, and regulatory and safety inspections are hurdles that must be overcome. Gizmodo did not provide a specific launch date, but observing Anker's product lines and R&D direction shows the company is positioning AI and robotics as the core drivers of its next stage.
Overall, the report sketches a roadmap for younger consumers of a familiar brand moving toward a "smart hardware + AI" fusion: from chargers and outlets to home robots that can climb stairs, Anker is trying to demonstrate the feasibility of its transformation with technical details and visible prototypes.