The vacuum for each robot we consider for recommendation passes through the pace of our test lab in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to the test floor where you run controlled pickup tests, you can also monitor the vacuum of each robot in a special test room filled with mock furniture to measure how well it navigates around common obstacles. Passing that, we check each robot’s ability to devour pet hair without the vacuum clogging or leaving behind slow strands. We consider our wipe-down ability and see how well it navigates the confusion of fake dogs.
Let’s start with performance testing and dig a little deeper into the main considerations.
Robot Vacuum Scoring Metrics
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| Regulation Categories | Weight | What we looked for | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| performance | 30% | Performance scores extrapolated from AVG (avg_sand + avg_blackrice) | |||||
| Value/Price | twenty five% | Retail price rating taking into account all other features. That is, does this price seem fair to the value offered? Is it justified by performance, functionality, and NAV efficiency? | |||||
| Features | 15% | What features does vacuum offer? Self-service station? Multiple batteries? NAV Technology? Mopping? | |||||
| runtime | 20% | Consider the navigation efficiency score (1-10) based on the time to complete the full cleaning cycle in the CNET lab. | |||||
| Ease of use | 10% | UX-How easy was the setup experience? Did you come with a smart home feature? Smartphone app? Audio assist? |
Robot Vacuum Pickup Power
When you’re proficiency, you’ll want to know how effective each robot is against common bread crumbs and other debris, and how it has a fare for much smaller particles like dust, dirt, and sand. To investigate, I use dried, uncooked black rice as a substitute for bread crumbs and sand, and as an analogue of finer particles.
In either case, you will scatter control over three test floors: low-piled carpet, mid-piled carpet and hardwood floors. Low-pile carpets are short and there are fewer gorgeous carpets with short fibers, so robot vacuums are usually easier (but not always) to pick up from them. Midpile has softer, more luxurious carpets and taller fibers. It tends to be more difficult for robot vacuums (but not always). Next, take the robot vacuum, completely empty the dust bin, clean the affected area, and measure the weight of what was finally able to pick up. This will give you a full pick-up rate. From there, repeat twice each and average the results.
In the last few months, we’ve eliminated the black rice test on hardwood floors as all the robots we tested scored at nearly 100%. We currently use sand testing as our primary benchmark when evaluating cleaning performance. We consider that 50% or more is a good score for sand.
Hardwood floor test
Low Pile Carpet Test
Midpile Carpet Test
Each of these overhead long exposure shots shows the trail of the RoboRock S7 MAXV Ultra when cleaning up the test room. Attach a glow stick to the top of the cleaner just above the vacuum intake to feel how much coverage the vacuum provides and how intelligently navigate. In this case, the S7 MAXV Ultra is as thorough and consistent as it gives the robot vacuum.
Robot Vacuum Navigation Skills
Your robot vacuum will only thoroughly clean your home as thoroughly as it can navigate. The ideal cleaner will find your way from room to room and do simple tasks that automatically avoid obstacles along the way.
How well you navigate by making sure each robot’s vacuum is clean, but for the best comparison from cleaner to cleaner, clean the glow sticks on top of the vacuum to clean the long exposed shots over each head. The resulting image shows a bright trail that reveals the robot’s path as you navigate the room and clean around the mock furniture.
Next, compare it with the following GIF: This shows three runs from the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus. Have you noticed the difference? Roomba wasn’t very effective at covering the entire room and it was difficult enough to provide proper coverage around the legs of that mock dining table as it missed the lower left corner on two of the three runs.
Mainly, it comes down to the skills you are playing. Over the years, we have consistently pointed out that robotic vacuum cleaners using laser-guided lidar navigation tend to be extremely good at mapping the environment and finding a way. Meanwhile, 3D mapping cameras with object recognition smart can provide the ability to identify and adapt path obstacles to the robot’s vacuum. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra uses both technologies, so it helps explain why it performs so well here. Meanwhile, Roomba relies solely on cameras and sensors, leaving the lasers behind from the mix.
The iRobot Roomba J7 Plus has fulfilled its promise to avoid dog poop (fake or anything else).
Still, those cameras are definitely useful. Take a look at the GIF above. This shows what happened when I put the Irobot Roomba J7 Plus in my tests. With various (fake) dog poops scattered across small, enclosed test floors, Roomva did his best to clean the area without touching any of them. It was a success and never hit any of our seemingly nasty test shit.
Samsung Jetbot AI Plus has consistently failed solid pet waste tests. In each run, you will eventually run or push one of the dog poop models.
Next, compare it to the Samsung Jetbot Ai Plus. It also promises to use a camera to find and avoid pet poop. The results were not great. Each test run will ultimately hit one of the test piles. Thank you for not being authentic.
