Robot vacuums are still very popular among those who can afford them. But there are some significant limitations to their abilities. The biggest of these is the question of can robot vacuums can go over bumps. Recent advances in the terrain capability of robot vacuums are centered on wheels and motors robust enough to traverse carpets. But when it comes to crossing thresholds, reaching spots narrower than the vacuum, and even dealing with a sock on the floor, nothing on the market is quite there yet.
So we asked ourselves whether or not there are any solutions currently on the market, and if not, which robot vacuums come closest to being an all-terrain cleaner?
Can Robot Vacuums Go Over Threshold Barriers
Robot vacuums can go over bumps, but they have limits. Those limits are defined by the strength of their onboard motors and the size of their wheels. But there are other reasons their ability to traverse terrain is so limited.
Read our full-on discussion here.
Will Robot Vacuums Go Over Thresholds?
Vacuum robots run a grid pattern by which they map out your home. They work in two dimensions because working in three dimensions is hard. Once you give the robot the ability to overcome rough terrain that requires lifting its vacuum up away from the floor, at that point, it needs complex object recognition and articulation to maneuver its vacuum in three dimensions. You’ve probably seen Darpa robots that perform amazingly well in three dimensions, but those cost tens of millions of dollars, which is slightly beyond the average homeowner’s budget.
- Efficient cleaning on various floor types.
- Dual functionality as a vacuum and a mop.
- Smart navigation and mapping technology.
- No virtual boundaries feature in the app.
- Limited functionality without Wi-Fi.
- The dustbin could be larger considering the vacuum's cleaning capacity.
The other way to deal with this problem is to increase the power of the vacuum itself to overcome the gap created by a beefy suspension system. Of course, if you’ve ever run a vacuum, you know they lose effectiveness when they move even an inch from the surface to be cleaned. Overcoming the gap with suction would require a massive power boost, which makes the robot bigger, heavier, and more expensive.
What Solutions are Currently Available?
According to AI Time Journal, in 2021, the highest obstacle a robot vacuum can overcome is three-quarters of an inch or 19 millimeters. We’ll call that the Roomba threshold. In most cases, this will allow the robot to move easily from one room to another. It’s also more than sufficient to get over the edge of most rugs.
If you want your robot to cover more ground, you can do a few things to help.
Provide a robot vacuum ramp
If your robot doesn’t quite make it over thresholds, you can help it out by throwing a rug over the barrier. Make sure the carpet doesn’t have tassels that can cause damage to your vacuum.
Clear up clutter
Clear up cluttered corners, pick up clothing, and get cords out of the way. This will make it easier for robots to move around.
Strike a No-Cord Accord
Cords are just more clutter, but they have a tendency to catch in the wheel wells of vacuum robots and burn out motors. So be especially vigilant about getting cords out of their way.
Robot Vacuum That Can Go Over Threshold
At the time of this writing, if you’re looking for the best robot vacuum for uneven floors, you’ll find it on this list. Every robot on this list can traverse 0.78-inch barriers. That’s the industry standard for all-terrain capability.
Roborock E25
The E25 is the mid-range option among our picks. It has a nice feature set, a reasonable run time, and six modes of operation.
Roborock E20
The E20 has everything the E25 has, but with a little extra run time for a modestly more throughout cleaning. It also matches the E25 in suction power at 1800 Pa.
Roborock S5
One of the champion brands, the S5 delivers 2000 Pa and will clean a 3200 square foot area for up to 150 minutes. It also has the most sophisticated navigation capabilities of the three listed so far.
Irobot Roomba 880
Finally, we have the Roomba 880. It is far less feature-rich than the others, but it is reasonably priced and will get the job done.
One day, we hope to get vacuum robots that are as capable as Rosy from the Jetsons, but that’s still a ways off. Until then, today’s robot clean-up crews will need a little help from us.
