There are many things robot vacuums can do and cannot do. In the past years, we’ve witnessed some great advancements in obstacle avoidance and navigation capabilities. But for many reasons, rugs are still one of the main concerns that users have when looking at robot vacuum cleaners.
In this article we’ll see how robot vacuum cleaners fare on rugs and carpets, but more importantly, we will address the main question: can robot vacuums go over rugs.
Yes, all robot vacuums can go over rugs and carpets of all sorts, with some differences of course.
In fact, once the robot has “climbed” the carpet, it’s not like they all fare the same, and there are other issues you haven’t thought about that might come up.
Let’s see what the most common issues are and how to put an end to them.
Table of Contents
- Most common problems with carpets and robot vacuums
- Can robot vacuums deep clean rugs?
- What are the best robot vacuums for carpets
- Conclusion
Most common problems with carpets and robot vacuums
Depending on what robot you’re looking for, or if you want to buy something that can also mop, and depending also on your budget, there are going to be some issues with rugs.
Here are the most common ones.
Rugs with tassels
Rugs with tassels might be a problem for the central brushroll of your robot. If they’re very long they might even get stuck and entangle in the brushroll itself.
Many robot vacuum users see the value in designing they’re houses around the concept of the robot vacuum cleaner. But if your rug with tassels has been in your house for generations and you cannot part from it, there might still be a couple solutions you could consider.
If you have a high end robot, you can set two no go zones, or virtual walls just around the two sides of the carpet that have the tassels. Given that the tassels are on two sides only.
If your robot doesn’t have an app that enables no go lines, you can prep the rug by folding the tassels under the rug. But of course you can see how this doesn’t work if you want to set a cleaning schedule and you’re not home to prep the room.
Read also: Best Robot Vacuum Cleaners for Rugs and Carpets 2022
Another smaller but worth mentioning issue might come if you choose a robot that mops on hardfloor. Normally, vacuums that do the mopping as well can avoid climbing on rugs while they’re mopping. This is because they have sensors that tell them that there is a rug underneath. But there’s no such sensor for tassels. So they might get wet, definitely not a big deal.
Robot vacuums on black rugs
What’s the deal with black rugs? Every robot vacuum cleaner has a cliff sensor that prevents it from falling downstairs when they’re working close to a stairway. The sensor sends an infrared light beam, if this light beam doesn’t come back in a certain time, the algorithm will tell the robot to stay away.
Since black carpets absorb the infrared light of the cliff sensor, it is common to see vacuum robot cleaners not to venture on em.
To fix this issue, you could cover the cliff sensor with tape, but beware that if you live in a house with multiple floors and with a stairway that the robot can have access to, it won’t be able to avoid the stair cliff.
Can robot vacuums avoid carpets when mopping?
Many robot vacuum cleaners combine mopping capabilities to vacuuming. This feature has many advantages, but not all robots that mop are the same.
If you have many rugs in your house, you should make sure that your robot can autonomously recognize them in order to avoid them when mopping. Unfortunately not all robots have this ability, but nowadays even if your budget is around $250 you should be able to get one.
Be it as it may, going from hardfloor to carpets is still not a flawless process. In fact, even if your robot does recognize carpets, the promise of autonomous cleaning is still not as perfect in mopping as it is in vacuuming.
This is because, if you have both carpets and hardfloor, you’ll have to attach the mop everytime you want the robot to mop, disattach it, and make it run a second time to clean the carpets.
And that’s why the innovation recently introduced by Roborock with their new S7 model is much welcome. In fact their robot is now able to lift its mopping pad in order to go over rugs even when it’s mopping. An innovation that we’ll probably see on many robots in the near future.
Read also: Can Robot Vacuums Climb Over High Thresholds
Can robot vacuums deep clean rugs?
Rugs have always been a challenge for robot vacuums. Mainly because the engineers have to combine a great amount of suction power in a small device that can move freely under sofas and all sorts of furniture.
As far as suction power goes, there are many robots that with 2500 / 3000 Pa manage to do a good job in deep cleaning carpets. If you’re looking for robot vacuums for carpets with high suction power, Ecovacs proposes devices with suction power that range between 5000 and 8000 Pa, for the latest X2 Omni.
But it’s a known fact that iRobot’s Roombas are the best in the market for carpet deep cleaning capabilities. And that’s because they went around the suction power problem, and equipped all their robots with a two brushrolls combination that lets them reach higher performances.
Roombas rely on mechanics to be good at carpet deep cleaning, Ecovacs robots, and in general all the robots that aren’t Roombas, rely on suction power. An interesting innovation in this sense comes again from the recently released Roborock S7. In fact, with its new brush housing system that moves up and down, it can create an isolated chamber depending on the surface it’s working on, which allows for better cleaning even on carpets.
What are the best robot vacuums for carpets
There are many different robots that do well on carpets.
The best robot for carpets is any Roomba you can get hold of, but depending on how many rugs you have, you might want to consider other options to get yourself a more flexible robot.
In fact, if it’s true that with carpet deep cleaning even the cheapest Roomba can beat a high end robot of another company, it is also true that not all Roombas are great on hardfloor.
Read also: Can Robot Vacuums Clean Multiple Rooms?
So, if you’re looking for something that fares well both on carpets and hardfloor, you might want to get a Roborock S7, S6 Max V or S5 Max. Even the new Deebot N8 Pro is a great robot in many aspects, including carpet cleaning.
Conclusion
So, yes. Robot vacuums can go over rugs. There might be other problems that you can face with rugs, but depending on what your budget is, you can easily overcome them.
