Most people with robot vacuums need to supplement them with a manual vacuum – even if your robovac is great at corners and edges, it still won't be able to tackle stairs or upholstery. Ecovacs has taken the effort out of that by bundling a mini handheld vacuum in with the T30S Combo (and if you get the Complete version, there's a full stick vacuum thrown in!

Premium, but there are very few alternatives with this roller mop system. Plus you're paying for the comprehensive dock.

The iRobot Roomba j7+ stands out for its intelligent mess recognition. It learns from each object it encounters and offers excellent obstacle avoidance. Plus, it’s guaranteed to avoid pet waste. There’s a handy cleaning base as well.

❌ You're short on space: The dock is pretty massive, and the styling won't be to everyone's taste.

Of course, coughing up the heavy sum of cash can be daunting at first, but the efficiency, speed and basically zero effort, means you can spend more time doing the things you love instead of hoovering.

Most smart robot vacuums can map-out your home using sensors, so they can remember any obstacles, such as the stairs, and let you identify specific rooms/multiple floors.

Two of the newer picks in this story were tested by Carolyn personally and by our panel of consumer testers in consideration for the most recent Good Housekeeping

Using the companion app, you can schedule cleanings for specific rooms, set boundaries to restrict the robot’s movement and track its cleaning route in real time.

Their built-in, app-enabled smarts allow them to find their way out of tight spots and around some obstacles, though that brings up some privacy concerns.

Human hair is embedded into the same section of the test carpet. Technicians time how long it takes for the vacuum to pick up the hair and weigh the amount that’s in the dustbin and the brush roll.

Our ratings take into account these test results as well as reliability and owner satisfaction data from CR’s member surveys of thousands of robot vacuums purchased since 2013.

How big is your home? If your robot vacuum will have a lot of ground to cover, look for a model with a long battery life and a large dust bin.

The automatic vacuum cleaner robot is also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing users to make the robot start and stop the clean by voice commands. Use a robot vacuum to save you time and energy!

Any special features such as app Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners control, mopping functions, and self-emptying bases are factored in too. This all adds up to days of testing; it takes time, but helps ensure we're evaluating them all properly. After extensive testing, we’ve compiled several buying guides to showcase our results, including the best Roombas, the best cheap robot vacuums and the best robot mops. We can even tell you what it's like when you use a robot vacuum in your home for the first time. So if you want to know more about robot vacuums so you can decide if one is right for you, you’ve come to the right place.