While the best robot vacuums can get nearly every inch of your floors, there's one place they can't reach: Your couch cushions. That's why the Ecovacs Deebot T30s Combo is a great option for those who want to clean their upholstery, but don't want to buy a second vacuum just for the task.

Prior to joining GH, she graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in forensic science and spent two years as an analyst in an environmental lab in Queens.

You can simply set and forget the Shark IQ robot vacuum for over a month thanks to its advanced scheduling capabilities and self-emptying dustbin.

Pet owners might want to look for a model that is able to recognize their pet and either avoid it (if it's spooked by the addition of a sentient appliance to the household) or seek it out to check up on it while you're out of the house.

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.

The LiDAR turret quickly scanned our home's main floor plan in a single passthrough. You can use Shark's app to name rooms, set no-go zones, and send the robot out to spot-clean a 5x5 area just by dropping a pin on the map.

Alistair is a London-based journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. He has tested numerous robovacs over the years for TechRadar, from brands like iRobot, Eufy and Roborock. His favourites match intelligent navigation with smart design.

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.

Who it's best for: If you're Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners tired of cleaning the dust bin of a bagless vacuum and you're willing to spend big bucks on a vacuum, you'll love this self-emptying model with high-tech features.

At an overall cleaning score of 95 percent, this robot vacuum deep-cleans hard floors and carpet. We found that its side brush was really effective in sweeping debris forward and into the vacuum's bin.

This is so that it has adequate space to start cleaning and dock on re-entry, without any furniture getting in the way. Don’t forget that it needs access to a power socket as well.

You are looking for a lightweight, quick picker-upper for bare floors and low-pile rugs. The cleaning performance of this type of vacuum is getting better and better, and it may be the only vac some homes require.

cem% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more. The best robot vacuums complement regular vacuuming and require little attention, though their built-in smarts raise privacy concerns.

Navigation is excellent and this bot can also be relied upon to identify and avoid obstacles as required, meaning you can leave it to do its own thing without having to worry about it getting stuck or trying to suction up something it shouldn't. On test we also found it was great at hosting itself over tall thresholds.