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On the navigation front, we'll also test the robot vacuum's edge cleaning abilities – does it get right up to the edges of rooms, or leave a margin that needs manual cleaning.

Some still use that method, but our favorite robot vacuums use smart mapping features to make a map of your home before the first cleaning so they can clean more methodically. Mapping also allows them to avoid running into permanent obstacles, such as couches or door frames. Your robot vacuum will likely learn your space a little better each time it cleans your home. too. You can also direct the robot vacuum from your smartphone to only vacuum your kitchen or bedroom, if you need it to do a quick clean before guests come over or after a messy meal. Most of our picks have smart mapping, including our best overall pick (the one exception is our best value pick).   Can Robot Vacuums Clean Around Clutter? One of the biggest pain points of using a robot vacuum is pre-cleaning your floor before running your device. The latest technology allows for object avoidance, so they require less work on your part. If your vacuum has this feature, it will have a camera on the front that can identify objects, like a sock or a pack of crayons on the floor, and coach the vacuum to go around it. Obstacle avoidance is an especially great feature for pet owners, especially if their pets like to nap in a common, yet unpredictable area or are accident-prone. We love it because it keeps the robot from getting plugged up with socks or running over other objects and possibly making a bigger mess. This feature is a work in progress for many robot vacuums and will likely get better (and more precise) in the years to come. It's currently offered on four of our picks, but we've found performance will vary from model to model and object to object.

Many of today's best robot vacuums are also able to mop floors. This can be useful if you have a mix of hard floors and carpet, but be aware that robovac mopping tends not to clean as well as good old manual mopping.

We look at whether there's any remnants left after a single pass from the robot vacuum, and if it catches them on a second run. We repeat these tests for both hard floor and carpet.

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Our testers have noted that it’s quite easy to remove pet hair from this vacuum’s brush rolls, making for a better cleaning experience. Another plus is that it has a longer run time compared with many other robotic vacs. See our full robotic Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners vacuum ratings for more choices.

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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 brands will address this by tapering their brushrolls or breaking them in the middle, with the aim of quickly directing hair towards the bin inlet. Dreame even has an alternative brushroll attachment that has little blades to chop up hair so it can be more easily managed.

✅ You have tall thresholds: The Curv is great at scaling tall steps, and on test it very rarely got stuck.

We see the ILife V3s Pro Robot Vacuum as an excellent starter robot vacuum, and an especially great choice if you (or someone you love) want to dip your toe into the robot vacuum world without having to download apps or navigate smart mapping features. The sleek and simplistic design makes it easy to use out of the box, and there’s no app or voice control features that would make it “smart.”  We love that it has an obvious power switch and easy-to-use remote control—it takes just a couple minutes to set up.

5 seconds when the system detects more stubborn debris or moves onto carpeted surfaces. This adaptive suction ensures optimal performance across hard floors and medium-pile carpets, efficiently picking up dirt, pet hair, and crumbs.