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.

If your home requires both dry dust removal and wet mopping, this combo unit streamlines your cleaning routine.

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The mopping is also so basic as to be not really worth bothering with; the robovac just drags a wet wipe across your floor. On test it also sometimes struggled to clear thresholds of over 2cm.

Not all robovacs can handle the Em excesso challenge posed by lots of pet hair, but one that really impressed on this front was the Dreame L40 Ultra. This bot was put through its paces in a home filled with furry, four-legged friends, and really rose to the occasion.

Our reviews are underpinned by specific, standardized tests. Here's a rundown of our review process.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra aces nearly all of the cleaning tests we’ve thrown at it. It’s excellent at cleaning bare floors, picking up pet hair, and navigating through spaces. It’s also one of the few robotic vacuums to earn a top-notch score for cleaning carpets. This model works as a mopping system as well and is self-washing and self-drying, though we haven’t tested those features.

The one other—minor—critique we have is that there was some occasional hair wrap on the vacuum's roller, and we took to checking it weekly. Overall, however, this is a great Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners option for households that want both their robot to vacuum and mop, and who want to take advantage of the bells and whistles available through the app, too. Mapping: Yes

iRobot’s app is also a bit of a pain point. While I appreciate its simplicity, I miss the deeper cleaning customization options that most other high-end robot vacuum apps offer.

Its signature feature is its ability to automatically remove and reattach its mop pads, depending on whether it’s vacuuming or mopping.

Alistair is a London-based journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. He has tested numerous robovacs over the years for TechRadar, from brands like iRobot, Eufy and Roborock. His favourites match intelligent navigation with smart design.

Thanks to lidar navigation, the RV30 did an excellent job of navigating my house, cleaning the perimeters of the rooms, and then using a mesh grid to clean inside the rooms.

Through smart navigation, the robot moves methodically in neat rows to maximize coverage, with built-in sensors to avoid furniture and prevent falls.

A standout feature is its bagless, self-emptying XL base, which holds up to 60 days’ worth of debris, reducing the need for frequent emptying or the ongoing purchase of disposal bags.