Historically, robovacs aren't great at cleaning up to the edges of rooms, but today's best robot vacuums add spinning side brushes designed to flick debris into the robot's suction path.

✅ You have carpet in your home: We were very impressed with this model's suction powers, which is great news if you need something that can pull dust from carpet.

Not all robovacs can handle the Em excesso challenge posed by lots of pet hair, but one that really impressed on this front was the Dreame L40 Ultra. This bot was put through its paces in a home filled with furry, four-legged friends, and really rose to the occasion.

Bagged vacuums are easier and neater to maintain and are great for allergy sufferers since all dust and allergens remain sealed in the dust bag. All you do is toss the bag when it’s about ⅔ full. You do need to keep a supply of replacement bags on hand.

While upright and canister vacuums are better at deep-cleaning hardwood and carpets, a robot vacuum—often controlled by a smartphone app—can be useful for regular touch-ups.

Who it's best for: If you have a busy schedule and no time to clean your floors, this is our favorite robot vacuum. It can suck up dry debris, spot clean small areas and pick up pet hair, all while remembering floor layouts.

We even have a separate machine to clean the carpets between test runs so one result won't influence the next.

Why we love it: It maps and remembers multiple rooms and floor plans and it beat all other robot vacuums in our test at quickly and effectively spot-cleaning a small area. This robot vac is pricey but has high-end features like carpet detection to automatically ramp up suction when needed and dual rubber roller brushes that don’t clog with pet hair.

Because maneuverability can be different from one consumer to the next, we have consumer testers rate the vacuums’ maneuverability by running them on a bare floor and carpet, around corners and under furniture.

It can also offer alternative cleaning patterns, so you can choose the route you want it to take. At 4.75 inches, it's taller than many other robot vacuums — it could just reach under our kitchen baseboards, but failed to get under the dishwasher, which the majority of others models could clear.

Why we love it: Its Em excesso-large dust cup is super easy to remove and the HEPA filter minimizes allergens emitted while vacuuming.

James has tested robot vacuums of all sorts from the most basic models to the ones so feature-packed that they can be used as a security camera. He appreciates models that can suck up all sorts of debris, clean the edges of rooms, and allow easy room partitioning in-app.

✅ Your priority is mopping: The star of the show here is the innovative and effective roller mop, which continuously siphons dirty water off the mop pad and adds fresh water as it cleans.

The PowerDetect even offers more than the pricier competition with an ActiveLift leg. This helps it crawl over obstacles. It effortlessly popped the floor cleaning bot over my home's raised saddles and onto carpets in Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners my living and dining room.