UPDATE: May. 11, 2024, 5:00 a.m. EDT Two top picks in this story have shifted after senior shopping reporter Leah Stodart was able to hands-on test CES 2024 releases from Roborock and Eufy in her own home.
Nearly any robot vacuum can sufficiently clear a tile or hardwood floor of the hair and crumbs blowing across it like tumbleweeds. But for a robot vacuum to work on carpet, much more suction power and concentrated airflow is required to uproot the debris embedded in those fibers.
Do robot vacuums work on carpet?
Yes, several robot vacuum cleaners do a pretty phenomenal job on carpet and rugs. In fact, the best robot vacuum brands like iRobot, Roborock, Eufy, and Shark have been mastering the art for several years, particularly honing in on pet hair pickup and combatting hair tangling in the brush.
For homes with varying floor types and a notable amount of foot traffic, buying the cheapest robot vacuum you can find will likely create more hassle than it’s worth. Every time that bot gets stuck on a rug corner or welcomes you home to pet hair still visibly clinging to the living room carpet, you’d probably rather just do the job yourself — but rest assured that that’s not an inevitable experience with every robot vacuum.
The best robot vacuums for carpet have powerful suction, of course, aided by brush roll systems designed to dig into multiple pile heights to pinch hair and large chunks while simultaneously inhaling fine debris that a weaker robot vac would pass right over. A majority of our top picks also use automatic suction adjustment to customize cleaning based on floor type, and all current picks either come with a self-emptying dock (or at least offer the option) to mitigate the frequency of trips to the trash bin.
And if a robot vacuum has mastered carpet — the hardest floor type to tackle — these models will undoubtedly ace the hard floors in your home. In 2024, most of the robot vacuums with market-leading carpet cleaning are just as advanced at mopping.
The Mashable team is on a continuous mission to narrow down those options for you. We’ve hands-on tested dozens of robot vacuums on several pile lengths of carpets, rugs, and bath mats in a variety of home layouts. Here are our favorites for every carpeted situation in 2024.
