is a senior reviewer with over twenty years of experience. She covers smart home, IoT, and connected tech, and has written previously for Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, BBC, and US News.
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Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well and — thanks to bigger batteries and better robot brains — rarely get tired of doing their job. Over the last few years, these floor-sweeping bots have gone from utilitarian devices to full-fledged home robots that vacuum and mop your home, clean themselves, and trundle off to prepare themselves for the next run.
I’ve been testing robot vacuums for over 7 years and have run more than 80 of them throughout my house. This guide features my top picks if you’re looking for the best: a robot vacuum that can do it all with limited intervention from you.
Along with my top picks, I have options to fit specific needs, such as mopping, besting pet hair, shopping on a budget, and bots for small spaces. The good news is that there are many great robot vacs out there, so whether you have a 3,000-square-foot home and three shaggy dogs or a small, stylish apartment you share with a goldfish, there’s a robot vacuum to suit your needs.
What I look for Cleaning power Collapse It’s not all about suction (see FAQ for my thoughts on suction power). In my testing, the brush is also a big factor in how well a robot will clean your floors. A large rubber roller brush is much better than a small bristle brush at picking up debris. It’s also less prone to tangling with hair. Two brushes are generally better than one, and a brush housing that is flexible — so it can move with the contours of the floor — is more effective. Mopping prowess Collapse It’s hard to find a robot vac that doesn’t have some form of mopping, but not all mops are created equal. I look for mopping bots that could get up dried-on stains, like milk and ketchup, and scrub up small wet spills without messing themselves up. Oscillating, spinning, or vibrating mop pads clean better than bots that just drag a wet rag around, but the new self-cleaning roller mops that are emerging are even more effective. Auto-carpet sensing is also important since it prevents the robot from accidentally mopping your rug. Convenience Collapse A robot that can empty its own bin and refill and clean its mopping system makes robo vac use even more hands-free. Multifunctional docks with auto-emptying and mop washing (for mopping bots) are becoming standard. This turns your robot’s charging base into a motorized emptying station that sucks out the dirt from its bin (warning: this process can be loud!), saving you from having to pull out the bin after every few runs and empty it. Instead, you’ll have to replace the bag (and buy new ones) when it gets full, generally about once a month. However, these docks are generally big, and if you prefer your robot to be out of sight (living under your bed or sofa), you’ll want one with a big bin (anything over 500ml is decent) and a small charging base dock. How smart they are Collapse AI-powered obstacle detection is becoming standard on higher-end robots and is a big upgrade. This helps your robot “intelligently” detect and avoid clutter (and a potential poop apocalypse if it encounters pet waste). These models use cameras (worth noting) to see objects in their path and onboard processors to “decide” how to approach them based on what they see. All AI is not created equal, however, and some are much better at this than others. The end result is that robot vacuums with AI detection are less likely to get stuck when cleaning, so you’re more likely to come home to a clean floor rather than a beached bot. How they navigate Collapse A robot that maps your house will get into every nook and cranny better than one that bumps and rolls around. Mapping also lets you send the robot to clean specific rooms rather than the whole space and add virtual walls to prevent your bot from going where you don’t want it to. These are crucial if you have delicate objects or areas in your home that regularly trap robots. Most robots use variations on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology, such as lidar or vSLAM; some rely solely on camera navigation. An easy-to-use app Collapse A good app has easy controls to stop and start your vacuum, scheduling options (including do-not-disturb hours), plus good mapping features. Nice-to-have features are room-specific cleaning and settings (so you can tell your vacuum to clean the kitchen or have it mop and vacuum the kitchen but only vacuum the living room). My biggest frustration with apps is maps that are fiddly to update and / or crash and must be rebuilt constantly. Most vacuums now have voice control (see FAQs), but some offer more in-depth control, such as telling Alexa to have the robot clean twice under the dining room table. Good battery life and repairability Collapse Nearly all robot vacuums can “recharge and resume” — take themselves back to their dock when they’re low and recharge before picking up where they left off. But a vacuum with at least 120 minutes of runtime (180 is ideal) will clean the whole house in one go. If it takes too long, noisy robots that are constantly running will get shut off by annoyed family members who aren’t about to clean the room for you. Robot vacuums are also quite an investment, and it’s important to be able to buy replacement parts to keep them going for longer and have access to good support in case your robot has a serious issue.
Best robot vacuum
9 Verge Score Matic $ 1245 $ 1245 The Good Excellent mapping and navigation
Kept my floors spotless
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