The 3 Best Robot Vacuums For Pet Hair - Fall 2024

The best automatic vacuum for pet hair we've tested is the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra. This vacuum sits at the top of the Roborock line-up, and it excels at picking up pet hair from floors. Its twin rubber brushrolls significantly improve pet hair pickup on most surface types compared to the single roller setup found in the older Roborock S7 MaxV. Its multifunction dock is its standout feature, though. Compared to the standard Roborock S8+'s dock, it not only empties out its dustbin but also refills its water tank from a reservoir and washes and dries its mop pad. The dock also includes a fast-charging system, so even if your mischievous pet likes to traipse in the dirt a few times a day, there'll never be too much downtime between cleaning sessions.

This vacuum's other major feature is its dual-sensor navigation system; combining a LIDAR sensor that maps out your home with a structured light sensor, it can identify and avoid common obstacles in real-time, like power cords, furniture legs, or even pet waste. It also stores up to four floor maps and uses its sensors to spot landmarks and determine which room it's working in. You can even specify cleaning settings for different rooms. Unfortunately, as good as the performance is, you might need to manually clean finer debris piled up against walls or in corners; also, its mopping system isn't particularly effective and will require many passes for stubborn stains. Finally, while the multifunction dock makes for an excellent hands-off ownership experience, it's simply enormous—it may not fit in smaller living spaces.

If you're looking for a robot vacuum with many great features for dealing with pet hair but at a more affordable price point, the Roborock Q5 Max+ is a great choice. For pet hair in particular, its redesigned dual-roller cleaning head offers performance on par with the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra. However, you lose the mopping function and the real-time hazard avoidance, and its dock isn't capable of fast charging, so you can expect to wait multiple hours between cleans. Nevertheless, this vacuum has a decently sized internal dustbin, so it won't need to return to its self-empty station too often, and it boasts impressive battery life (but again, shorter than the Pro Ultra's), so it's able to cover quite a bit of ground during each clean.

It also manages to pack in many of its pricier stablemate's automation features, like multi-floor mapping capability and a 'Smart Recognition' feature that automatically determines which of its stored maps it's working in. Using the companion app, you can also view and customize the 3D representation of your home after it's mapped out, label specific rooms, and send the vacuum wherever you'd like using the 'Pin n Go' function. That said, like the S8 Pro Ultra, it does a poor job of sealing fine allergens like pet dander, which can escape from gaps in its top cover.

The Wyze Robot Vacuum is a great option if you're looking for the best automatic vacuum for pet hair on a budget. Unlike the pricier Roborock Q5 Max+, it isn't compatible with a self-emptying dock station, so you must empty its dustbin manually at the end of almost every cleaning session, as the internal dirt compartment is quite small. And while it's not quite as effective as the more expensive Roborock for dealing with pet hair on bare floors and carpets, it still offers great performance overall. Its companion app provides functionality similar to Roborock's, with support for multi-floor mapping, room labeling, and no-go zones. It does a pretty good job of sealing in fine allergens like pet dander, and it runs very quietly, which is good if your pet is sensitive to loud noises.