Start from your house, not the spec sheet

Robot mowers

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  Half acre, no wire

  The best robot lawn mower with no perimeter wire, for a half-acre yard

  A half-acre lawn, one continuous piece, a slope you notice when you push a mower up it, and no wire you are willing to bury. Every robot mower we track, judged against that yard from the limits its own maker publishes.

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  Small yard

  The best robot lawn mower for a small yard

  A small suburban lawn, a gentle grade, and a couple of beds to steer around. Almost every robot mower we track clears a yard this size, so the question stops being which one is big enough and starts being which one is worth what it costs.

Pool robots

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  Inground pool

  The best robotic pool cleaner for an inground pool

  An inground pool of ordinary size, with walls that need scrubbing as much as the floor does. Every robotic cleaner we track, judged against it on the pool length and wall climbing the makers publish, and then on what independent testers found when they ran the machines.

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  Above-ground pool

  The best robotic pool cleaner for an above-ground pool

  An above-ground pool 24 feet across, on a soft liner, with a wall you can reach over. The maker's own pool-type rating decides this page before anything else gets a say: it rules out 5 of the 13 cleaners judged here on its own.

• Recall-checked

  Best cordless robotic pool cleaners, checked for recalls

  Cordless pool robots no CPSC recall names, how long they really run, how you get them out, and the four that were recalled.

• Sized to your pool

  Best robot pool cleaner for a large pool, by pool length

  Which robot each maker rates for a 40 or 50 foot pool, whether a cordless one can keep up, and how to tell if your pool counts as large.

Litter robots

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  Three cats

  The best automatic litter box for multiple cats

  3 cats, one of them big and one of them small, and one box that has to serve all of them. Two published limits decide it: the number of cats the maker rates the box for, and the weight range its sensors were built around.

Robot vacuums

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  Pet hair, hardwood floors

  The best robot vacuum for pet hair on hardwood and hard floors

  Dog hair or cat hair from a shedding dog or two cats, hardwood or other hard floors through most of the house, low thresholds between the rooms, and a wish that the bin emptied itself. Two robot vacuums come out of that house as picks, judged from the limits their makers publish rather than from a lab's dust-pickup score.

Every model on one question

• Census

  Automatic litter boxes for kittens and small cats

  Every box we track by the maker's stated minimum cat weight, with its safety sensors and our recall screen.

• Census

  The best robot vacuum under $500

  Four picks by home, and what you get and give up as the price goes up to $500.

• Census

  Roomba alternatives: the cheaper robot that matches each Roomba

  For each Roomba on Amazon, the robots from other brands that have every feature iRobot lists and cost less.

• Census

  Litter-Robot alternatives on Amazon, judged on their limits

  Every non-Whisker automatic litter box we track, judged for a 2-cat home, with refill cost a year.

• Census

  The best automatic litter box for your cats

  One pick each for one cat, several cats, large cats, kittens and a budget, from the makers' own limits.

• Census

  Best litter for the Litter-Robot 4

  The litter to buy, what Whisker says to avoid, and the cheapest drawer bags that work, with prices.

• Census

  The best robot vacuum for carpet and hardwood

  For a home with both carpet and hard floors: the cheapest robot that passes every check, from the makers' figures.

• Census

  The best robot vacuum for a small, cluttered apartment

  For a small apartment with things on the floor: the cheapest robot that passes every check, from the makers' figures.