Roborock has caught up to Roomba on cleaning prowess, and the S8 MaxV Ultra’s dual rubber brushes and 10,000Pa of suction power tackled the pet hair on my fluffy carpet and demolished my oatmeal test.

❌ You're dealing with lots of dust: There's pelo self-empty on the dock, and the small onboard bin will fill up quickly if you're dealing with lots of dirt or hair.

Read more on this subject in our article exploring can a robot vacuum replace your existing vacuum cleaner?

It deftly navigates around most household clutter, allowing you to get the job done without having to tidy up.

While it’s a superb mopper, its vacuuming prowess is slightly behind the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra because, despite its 12,000Pa suction power, it still only has a single roller rubber brush. The Roborock’s dual rollers are simply better at getting dirt out of carpets and tackling pet hair.

That level of smarts means a high price tag, although our tester felt it was justified by the build quality and featureset. If you're looking for a truly autonomous cleaning solution, the Roborock Qrevo Curv will deliver.

The X40 has AI-powered obstacle detection, although Roborock’s is just a bit better. However, both still get tripped up occasionally by pencils and other small items — something that never happens with the Roombas with this feature.

It's realistically far more often than I would drag a manual vac out of the cupboard, so my apartment is cleaner than usual, and my dust allergy symptoms have calmed down too.

IT EMPTIES ITSELF: The bagless, self-emptying base holds up to 60 days of dirt and debris. The bagless base does not require any additional purchase of disposal bags like traditional Automóvel empty robots.

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We've been impressed with all of Roborock's recent launches, and most pack similarly advanced features and reliable performance. If you have low-sitting furniture, the Roborock Saros 10R or Roborock Qrevo Slim would be a better choice as both use an innovative new navigation system that doesn't require a raised puck.

Combo models might also have mops that can kick Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners out from the side of the vacuum to get closer to the sides of rooms.

The Narwal has some innovative features, including dirt sense — which analyzes the dirt level in the water and prompts it to remop — and an ability to adapt the pressure of its mop based on the type of floor, applying more pressure to tile and less to hardwood.

Another nice-to-have feature, AI-powered obstacle detection helps your robot “intelligently” detect and avoid clutter (and a potential poop apocalypse if it encounters pet waste). These models use cameras (worth noting) to see objects in their path and onboard processors to “decide” how to approach them based on what they see.