(Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)
There's no shortage of robot vacuums on the market, but not all of them are equally effective. To help you pick the best one for your needs and budget, we test dozens of robot vacuums each year, in our actual homes, and evaluate them on criteria such as battery life, design, ease of setup and use, navigation, obstacle avoidance, suction power, and performance. We use those results to determine the strongest options at every price point to highlight in our highly competitive roundups of the best robot vacuums and robot mops.
With countless robot vacuum reviews under our belt, we know exactly what makes a model worth buying. To better understand how and why we perform our tests, here is what we look for when evaluating.
Setup, Controls, and App Features
The testing process begins from the minute we unbox a new robot vacuum. We start by evaluating how easy it is to set up, program, and control. Most of the time, the setup process is fairly easy: You install the side brushes, turn the robot on, and place it on a charging station to juice up before its first run.
Some robots require just a few inches of free space around the charging station, while others need several feet of clearance to the left, right, and front of the base to successfully dock after cleaning or to recharge. If you live in a small home or apartment or want to keep the docking station out of sight, pay close attention to these space requirements; we include these details in each review.
If the vacuum supports Bluetooth or Wi-Fi (most new models do), we also evaluate its app experience and other smart features, such as home mapping, area cleaning, virtual boundaries, and scheduling. For connected robots, the app design and reliability of the Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection can have a major impact on your experience.
If supported, we create a cleaning schedule in the app and make sure the robot adheres to it. The same goes for virtual or physical boundaries: We set them up and verify that the robot stays out of any no-go zones. We also check whether robots that support area cleaning accurately navigate to the spot we designate in the app.
Navigation, Mapping, and Obstacle Avoidance
You don't want to babysit your vacuum, so we helicopter-parent each model we test to make sure you won't have to worry about whether it's doing its job.
Over several days, we send a robot vacuum on multiple whole-home test runs to assess its performance across a variety of surfaces, including laminate, tile, area rugs, and low- and medium-height carpeting. We pay close attention to whether it can easily traverse different floor types, maneuver around furniture, and wiggle its way out of a jam without human intervention, then note any strengths and deficiencies in our reviews.
We also check whether the robot cleans in a random or methodical pattern. Many new models feature a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) laser (the same technology used by self-driving cars) to map your home and plan an efficient cleaning route. Inexpensive models often haphazardly ping-pong from wall to wall, inefficiently crossing over the same space multiple times as they clean.
Some models boast advanced navigation and obstacle-avoidance technologies, such as cameras that work in conjunction with AI algorithms to identify and help the robot steer clear of common pitfalls, such as socks, shoes, power cords, and pet toys. We test this by intentionally scattering these objects on the floor and checking that the robot successfully routes around them.
Finally, we note whether the robot successfully navigates back to its base station before its battery runs out. After the robot completes a whole-home test run, we walk around and examine its work, checking for any missed spots, especially along corners, edges, and high-traffic areas. We make sure the robot sufficiently removes standard household detritus such as dust bunnies, dirt, and hair (from both pets and humans).
Controlled Cleaning Performance Tests
To quantify cleaning performance metrics, we break out bags of rice and sand to evaluate how powerful and effective the vacuum is in a controlled environment.
To test a vacuum’s ability to pick up large particles, we use uncooked long-grain white rice. To evaluate small particle pickup, we use dry sand. We run the sand tests separately, on both wall-to-wall carpeting and hardwood, in closed rooms measuring roughly 100 square feet. We previously ran our rice tests on both carpet and hardwood, but recently phased out the former (rice on carpet), which generally yielded strong results for all models evaluated, with no differentiation.
Before starting our formal testing, we move the robot and its base station into the test environment and let it run for an untimed period to get accustomed to the space. Before and in between each test, we thoroughly clean the floor of our test environment with a separate vacuum. Next, we weigh out a specific amount of debris using a scientifically calibrated Uline Balance scale and disperse it on the floor.
For carpeting tests, we use 1 ounce of each type of debris. Since we’re mostly looking for raw suction power numbers, we spread the debris in the middle of the floor.
For tests on hardwood, we use 0.5 ounces of each type of debris, distributing it in a single row along a wall to evaluate edge cleaning and whether or not the robot spreads particles to other parts of the room.
We weigh the robot's dustbin before and after each test run, then calculate the difference to quantify pickup performance for each type of debris on each type of flooring. These tests allow us to accurately compare suction power and cleaning performance across models.
For all our tests, we use the vacuum's physical controls and run it with the default cleaning settings. We perform each test at least twice, ensuring the results align within 5% to account for anomalies in performance or user error. If the results fall outside that range, we run a third test; if we get a match to one result, we dismiss the anomalous result from the data while noting it in the review. If the third test doesn’t match either of the other two, we average all three results and note the variability in the review.
During our testing, we also note how long it takes the robot to complete each run and report its average pace.
Design, Maintenance, and Battery Life
A robot vacuum's size and shape can also affect its performance. Most models are round; they typically measure at least 12 inches in diameter and between 3 and 3.5 inches in height. Depending on its size, a robot vacuum might be too tall to pass under your low-profile furniture, or too wide to clean under your dining chairs. In our reviews, we always note a robot's dimensions and whether it got stuck under furniture during whole-home test runs.
Some models are shaped like the letter D, with one flat edge that manufacturers claim allows them to clean deeper into corners. When testing a D-shaped model, we pay special attention to its performance in tough-to-reach areas.
Many newer robot vacuums can automatically transfer the contents of their internal dustbin into a bag or a larger dustbin in the base station that can hold around 30 to 60 days' worth of debris. Self-emptying functionality generally comes at a premium, but models with this feature are easier to maintain and significantly reduce your exposure to dust, a big plus for allergy sufferers. If the model supports self-emptying, we verify that the feature works as intended by checking for any remaining debris in the internal bin or clogs in the system after several whole-home test runs.
Battery life is also an important factor to consider, especially if your home is large. Most robot vacuums can run for at least 60 to 70 minutes, which should be enough to tackle smaller homes and apartments. If you have a bigger living area, make sure to choose a robot vacuum that lasts at least 90 minutes.
To test a robot's battery life, we fully charge it, start a whole-home cleaning cycle, and record how long it runs before it needs to dock. We then note the approximate square footage it cleaned. Some robot vacuums can automatically pick up where they left off if they're unable to complete a full pass, a useful feature for large homes.
Testing Robot Mopping Performance
Modern floor cleaning robots can do more than just vacuum. A robot mop can help you keep your hard floors looking shiny and new without exerting any of your own elbow grease. The best robot mops support cleaning solutions, not just water, allowing them to sanitize your floors while removing grime and smudges. Some models can avoid carpeting while mopping, so they won't accidentally get your rugs wet. Many high-end hybrids can automatically lift their mopping pads out of the way when they detect carpeting, allowing them to vacuum and mop in a single cleaning run.
We test robot mops much the same way we test vacuums, though we're looking for different results in terms of cleaning performance. In addition to battery life, ease of use, navigation, and obstacle avoidance, we evaluate factors such as scrubbing power, residue removal, and self-maintenance functions. When evaluating robot mops, we also check whether they scuff tile, wood, or furniture and note any observed scratching in our reviews.
For our formal mop testing, we spread 0.25 ounces of raspberry jelly in a single spot on a hardwood floor. We then close the robot in that room and start a cleaning run in its default mop mode. We observe how well the robot mops up the jelly, whether it spreads any residue around the room, and whether seeds and gunk get stuck in its wheels and brushes. After the run, we evaluate the effectiveness of any self-cleaning capabilities, including mop washing, drying, and refilling. This helps us determine whether or not you can rely on the robot when things get really messy in your home.
Ultimately, the best robot for you depends on your budget, home size, flooring type, and cleaning needs. For the lowest-maintenance option, consider one of the best self-emptying robot vacuums. If you're on a tight budget, we have a list of the best sub-$300 models. If you have a dog or cat, check out the best robot vacuums for pet hair.
About Our Expert
I’m PCMag’s senior writer covering smart home and wearable devices. I’ve been reporting on tech professionally for nearly a decade and have been obsessing about it for much longer than that. Prior to joining PCMag, I made educational videos for an electronics store called Abt Electronics in Illinois, and before that, I spent eight years covering the smart home market for CNET.
I foster many flavors of nerdom in my personal life. I’m an avid board gamer and video gamer. I love fantasy football, which I view as a combination of role-playing games and sports. Plus, I can talk to you about craft beer for hours and am on a personal quest to have a flight of beer at each microbrewery in my home city of Chicago.
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