(Yicai Global) March 9 -- Shenzhen Zhiyi Technology Co. has unveiled a new smart floor cleaner, dubbed the Ilife W400, as it looks to push past speakers and wearables and delves deeper into smart home technologies to exploit vast market potential.

The firm unveiled the bot at the Appliance & Electronics World Expo. As well as vacuuming up dust, the W400 can brush and clean floors and soak up spillages to help get to the bottom of stubborn stains.

The robot has separate tanks for clean and dirty water so it can prevent contamination and clean more effectively, said Yu Kan, global marketing director. He hopes the product will start a new trend in China's home-cleaning sector.

Smart cleaning robots have a penetration rate of about 20 percent in the United States, their most developed market. The figure dives to around 5 percent in China's coastal areas and 0.5 percent inland, suggesting the domestic landscape is still in its infancy and has huge room for improvement.

Zhiyi Tech sells to dozens of countries around the world and pumps a tenth of its annual sales revenue back into research and development. It has a core technology team boasting 300 employees, around 30 percent of its total workforce.