Straight-line pickup tests on carpet are conducted in an enclosed area with a mix of potting soil, sand and rayon fibers designed to simulate pet hair. After a set cleaning time, the dustbin is weighed to measure the debris collected.

Shark's IQ robot vacuum is stacked with smarts and collects then deposits debris into its docking station after each cleaning session. This bagless base system holds over a month's worth of dirt. You can use its advanced scheduling feature to set and forget it until it's time to empty out the dock.

Some others we think are very useful are automatic carpet recognition, setting up pelo-go zones through an app and recharge-and-resume capabilities. But, not everyone will need all of these, and deciding which ones are important to you is a big part of choosing a robot for your home.

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The L10s Ultra functions as both a vacuum and a mop. On carpets, it automatically raises its mopping pads, allowing for seamless dry and wet cleaning in one session.

The Freo X Ultra's mopping capabilities are not quite as impressive as its vacuuming, but still good. On test, it cleared up spillages well, but the mop pads couldn't get close to the edges of rooms.

This bot was previously our top pick for hard floors, thanks to hot water mopping that's more than a match for greasy spillages.

✅ You want a hands-off dock: The dock will empty dust (into a larger than usual dock dustbin), refill water, dispense detergent and even wash and dry the mop pads, so there's minimal effort required from you.

Shark AI’s compact design and self-emptying bin make it a standout choice, especially for carpet cleaning (it's our best overall pick in our roundup of the best robot vacuums for carpet).

This Roomba is designed to keep going and is ideal if you prioritise hands-free cleaning on mixed surfaces.

This isn't a cheap bot, and while I think the featureset and performance justify the price, it'll be out of budget for some. We have more affordable options in our roundup of the best robot vacuums for pet hair – although be aware that if you really want something up to the task, you will likely need to spend Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners a bit more.

Once the robot is docked, a vacuum in the docking station automatically sucks the contents from the bin into an enclosed, disposable bag in the base. Like the iRobot Roomba Combo i5 above, this vac has mopping capabilities, though you’ll need to exchange its bin for the mopping bin and mopping pad.

If your robot vacuum has a mopping function, some bases come with water tanks and scrubbing abilities as well, so it can keep the mop cloth clean. However, there are some drawbacks to self-emptying bases. Besides the additional cost, these take up a lot more floor space.

In our tests, it excelled at removing pet hair from carpets, with non-e of the hair tangling in the brush roll or clogging the dustbin — it was all automatically emptied into the dock’s spacious 3-liter dust bag.