and Cheerios onto the rug to represent common household messes. To test cleaning abilities for each vacuum, I sprinkled set volumes of baking soda, coffee grounds. Once the robots were finished, I checked the contents of the dust bin to inspect how much they had collected from the floors, and took note of how difficult or easy it was to locate and empty the dust bin. Then I ran them through two to three full cleaning cycles through my entire 750 square foot apartment, not making an effort to pick up dog toys, lift curtains out of the way or hide stray cords-I wanted to see how the robots would perform in difficult conditions.Īs they went, I recorded several important factors: how many times they got stuck or required human assistance, the noise level during cleaning, their mapping abilities, and in general, how maneuverable they were (Were they able to get over rugs? Under furniture?). Some robots require a mapping run, but others use the first few cleans to fully map the space. My tests began by sending each robot on a mapping run, during which the robot methodically maps out the entire space, noting walls, furniture and separate rooms to create a comprehensive map along the way. Suffice it to say: there are countless obstacles and surfaces for a robot vacuum to encounter. I also have a decent amount of furniture, curtains in both rooms and a French bulldog who has a tendency to leave toys strewn about and relieve himself on the floor from time to time (we’re working on it). I’ll preface my testing overview by setting the scene for my at-home lab: I live in a one bedroom apartment that has parquet wood flooring, medium-pile carpet, several low-pile area rugs (some are from Ruggable, so they’re two separate pieces) and two different types of tile.

I also reached out to iRobot Director of Product Management, Brent Hild, and Wyze Product Manager, Hongfei Ning, to learn about all things technical when it comes to engineering top-of-the-line robot vacuums. For this piece, I spent approximately a month testing seven robot vacuums, recording their quirks, benefits, and differences.

Black marble transition strip