The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

best robot self emptying vacuum vacuums remove pet hair, lint and dust from the floor before they can settle. They can also stay clear of stairs and other obstacles, including tippy furniture.

Most robotic vacuums require maintenance, like emptying (and occasionally rinsing) the bin, and wiping sensors and cameras. They also require to be plugged in. Many come with smartphone apps to schedule, adjust settings, and more.

Roomba 980 from iRobot

The iRobot Roomba 980, the most recent in a line of top-of-the-line robot vacuums, is a must for every modern home. This model comes with a HEPA-filter to help those who are allergic. Additionally it also has a powerful battery that can clean for up to two hours and it automatically returns to its dock when it is full.

Smart mapping is a different feature that assists in identifying areas in your home that require attention, and then creates a cleaning path to get around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does a good job of moving around toys that are left scattered on the floor, or furniture legs that stick out from under things. It also has a sensor that snaps Roomba back to reality when it begins to move away from its original location.

iRobot has also added a set of rollers underneath the Roomba that do not have bristles, which makes them more likely to resist knots than earlier models. They're also a bit higher than the older rollers and are able to fit under beds and couches that are low and are designed to help this model navigate more easily across different flooring types.

What sets the Roomba 980 apart from other models with a higher-end price tag, though, is its inclusion of a new dirt detection feature, which uses cameras to detect particles of dirt embedded. This is a significant improvement over the previous version, that relied on the sensor-driven pseudorandom coverage technique to bounce around a room and clean everything at minimum three times from various angles.

The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on carpets and hard floors. It scored extremely well on carpets with low pile and on mid-pile. It did a good job collecting pet hair, but struggled with thick and long pet hair that was stuck together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the best automatic vacuum mop Combo performing robots on our list despite the minor drawbacks. It's also not as expensive as other top-of the-line models. It's still packed with a variety of features that we'd like to see in a flagship model, but it doesn't have all the fancy apps or smart home integration you'll find in other top contenders.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up in a matter of minutes and is ready to use immediately. After you have removed the pull tab for the battery and the yellow bin insert from its undercarriage, Best vacuum mop for pets all you have to connect it to its Home Base docking station or an outlet on the wall, press its big "Clean" button and let it go to work. It will return to docking station when it is running out of batteries or is full of sand. There are also indicators on top that show when the bin is empty, when it is in need of recharging or when it loses Wi-Fi.