Our robot vacuums are lifesavers, saving us hours of housework and keeping our floors consistently clean. But when they keep getting stuck, robots suddenly aren’t the hands-free experience we once hoped they would be.
Most of the time, there are simple steps you can take to ensure that even the best robot vacuums don’t get stuck on every little obstacle and can consistently clean your floors with minimal intervention from the person at home.
I spoke to robotics and home experts to find out all the common reasons and quick steps you can take to get your robot back to full functionality.
Why Your Robot Vacuum Keeps Getting Stuck
1. Navigation Issues
Robot vacuums rely on sensors to navigate, and if any of those sensors are dirty, damaged, or have design flaws, the robot won’t be able to find its way. This is one of the common robot vacuum failures that can be avoided with a little maintenance and regular cleaning.
Hrishikesh Gopal Tawade, a robotics engineer at Ample who worked on the robot vacuum’s perception system, explains that “dusty cliffs or bumper sensors can mistakenly detect a flat floor as a drop, causing the robot to stop or spin aimlessly.”
To avoid this from happening, you just need to clean your robot vacuum regularly. Wiping the sensors with a soft microfiber cloth that’s lint-free and non-abrasive, like this Eyliden Microfiber Cloth Set from Walmart, is enough.
“Similarly, mapping glitches, poor lighting conditions for camera-based robots, or stuck wheel sensors can all trick the vacuum into thinking it’s stuck, causing it to stop cleaning,” Hrishikesh says.
In these cases, simply making your house brighter can improve the robot’s navigation, but if that doesn’t work, you may have to take the robot to a technician to see if any electrical issues can be fixed.
2. Obstacles and hair wraps
Sometimes, a robot vacuum stops working because of an obstruction, such as something in the way or stuck in the wheels. Keeping your floors clean is a good idea, in fact, one of the major and often unexpected benefits of owning a robot vacuum is that it keeps your floors tidy as you clean them every day.
“Everyday objects like cables, socks or toys can easily get tangled in the brushes or get stuck in the wheels,” Hrishikesh explains.
Similarly, unless your robot vacuum cleaner is designed specifically to clean up pet hair and comes with an anti-tangle brush, you’re likely all too familiar with the age-old problem of hair getting tangled in the brush roll. This is also an often-overlooked issue that can affect the robot’s navigation and cleaning if you forget to clean it up regularly.
“Excessive hair tangling can also cause a robot vacuum cleaner to get stuck,” explains James Zhao, product manager at robot vacuum cleaner brand Narwal. “Both the main brush and the side brushes can easily get tangled in hair, which can cause the robot to get stuck and stop working.”
Hrishikesh agrees, adding that this problem is easily fixed. “Most of the time, fixing a stuck robot vacuum is simple. Clean a dirty sensor, remove hair that’s tangled in the brush, or clear debris from the floor,” he adds.
Cutting tangled hair or thread from thick carpets and rugs may seem like a task, but with a gentle cutting tool like this Ortarco Thread Remover Kit from Amazon, you can remove it in seconds without damaging your robot.
3. Tricky Surfaces
Mark Sanchez, real estate expert and founder of Tropic Residential, explains that a home’s flooring and layout can lead to poor navigation, making it difficult for a robot to find its way.
“From what I’ve seen from countless homes I’ve visited, layout is often the cause of problems. Issues start when carpets are too thick, furniture space is too small, or thresholds are too high,” he explains.
While changing the layout of your home isn’t always a viable option, making sure you haven’t added any uneven surfaces will help your robot navigate boundaries more smoothly.
“These vacuums don’t just move across the floor. They have to figure out the shape of the room and obstacles without much guidance,” he continues.
Or, if you feel it’s time to upgrade, the new Dreame X50 Ultra comes with a robotic arm that can automatically cross thresholds. It’s a pricey upgrade, but as someone who has already reviewed the Dreame H14 Pro wet floor cleaner and loved it, I believe it’s well worth the money.
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