Legend
Every word we
apply to a robot.
52 terms make up every classification on this site. Each one is defined here, and each one carries the number of the 582 published records it currently describes.
The notation
Every mark the site prints, at the size it prints. The figure beside each mark is how many records currently carry it — robots for the first three groups, tracker entries for the fourth, robots again for the last. Each group states its own total.
Autonomy Ladder™
Five levels describing how independently a machine operates. Assigned from documented evidence — owner reports, manufacturer documentation, published footage — never from a marketing claim. Every published robot sits on exactly one rung.
-
I
Manual Automation
Requires continuous human control for every action. It may automate a physical motion — motorized scrubbing, powered cutting — but cannot navigate, plan, or decide. The human is the operator throughout.
6 robots 1.0%
-
II
Assisted Autonomy
Handles basic tasks but needs frequent intervention. It may follow simple paths or a schedule, but it gets stuck, misses areas, or needs repositioning. Effort is reduced, not removed.
176 robots 30.2%
-
III
Conditional Autonomy
Works independently in familiar conditions and needs help with edge cases. It maps, avoids common obstacles, and finishes the job in a known space. New furniture, darkness, or a tangled cord can stop it.
344 robots 59.1%
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IV
Environmental Autonomy
Adapts to its environment with minimal input. It reroutes around new obstacles, adjusts to changing conditions, and recovers from most errors unaided. Human involvement is occasional and mostly maintenance.
56 robots 9.6%
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V
Generalized Autonomy
Operates fully independently across diverse environments and conditions, requiring no intervention for its core function.
No consumer robot has met this definition.
Robovations Score
A 0–100 composite describing how much of its job a machine does on its own, and whether it keeps doing it. Nine inputs, all signed the same way, so a higher number always means more capable, more dependable, or less demanding.
What it is made of
Every figure below is a share of the finished 0–100 score, not a share of its pillar — the nine add up to 100.
What it does without you.
- Task completion16%
- Coverage and navigation10%
- Edge-case recovery10%
- Operating envelope4%
Whether it keeps doing it.
- Field failure rate16%
- Software stability14%
- Support longevity10%
What it asks of you.
- Routine maintenance12%
- Consumables8%
Two things are deliberately missing from that list: price, and what the robot does with your data. We publish both next to the score instead of inside it. A cheap robot earns no points for being cheap. A robot that works without a cloud connection earns none for that either.
What a number means
Five bands across the 0–100 range.
436 robots carry a published score. Range 33–90. A band being small is not a defect — a scarce top mark is the point.
A high score has to be earned in all three parts. An average would let a strong part hide a weak one, so a low part caps the whole score. To reach 85, all three parts must be 70 or above. To reach 70, all three must be 55 or above. Miss a cut-off and the score stops just below it. Two more caps work the same way. A robot heading for abandonment cannot reach the top. And a robot that does very little cannot score well just because there is little to maintain.
Human Readiness
Whether a machine is practically ready for an ordinary household — the gap between what it promises and what a typical home gets. A robot can be highly autonomous and still not be ready, if it takes expert knowledge to set up or keep running.
Drawn to scale across 393 classified robots. Segments are floored at a readable minimum, so read the share from the register below.
- 1
Ready Now
On sale past the first-90-day window, assessed, with no documented issues and no announced successor
345 robots 87.8% - 2
New to Market
On sale inside the first-90-day window, so the ownership record has not had time to form. Assessed, with the failure evidence still thin rather than absent.
23 robots 5.9% - 3
Wait
A successor is announced and has not shipped; re-read the decision when it arrives
2 robots 0.5% - 4
Known Issues
Documented problems stand on the record; read the case before buying
23 robots 5.9%
Tracker vocabulary
Three vocabularies classify every monitoring entry: what kind of event it was, which way it moved, and what it was about.
| each row: entry typeeach column: direction | ↑Major advance285 entries | ↗Incremental576 entries | →Lateral233 entries | ↓Setback162 entries | All types1,256 entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announcement | 11845% | 10941% | 3814% | · | 265 |
| Demo | 3754% | 2943% | 23% | · | 68 |
| Release | 4412% | 29276% | 4612% | · | 382 |
| Update | 2517% | 9768% | 107% | 118% | 143 |
| News | 6115% | 4912% | 13634% | 15138% | 397 |
Every published tracker entry carries one type and one direction. Cells are counts; a blank cell is a combination that has never occurred.
Entry type
- Announcement265 entries
- The manufacturer has publicly stated something — a feature, a timeline, a partnership — that has not been independently verified or shipped.
- Demo68 entries
- A working prototype or demonstration has been shown, but the capability is not available to buy.
- Release382 entries
- A product or major feature has shipped and is available to consumers.
- Update143 entries
- A firmware or software update has changed how the robot behaves. May be positive, neutral, or negative.
- News397 entries
- Industry news affecting a tracked product that fits no other type — recalls, regulatory action, acquisitions, discontinuation.
Direction
- ↑Major advance285 entries
- A significant step forward that meaningfully changes the robot’s capabilities, autonomy, or consumer readiness.
- ↗Incremental576 entries
- A small improvement that refines existing functionality without changing the overall assessment.
- →Lateral233 entries
- Neither clearly positive nor negative. May add features while introducing new issues, or shift capability from one area to another.
- ↓Setback162 entries
- A change that degrades performance, reliability, or the ownership experience. Includes update regressions, feature removals, and newly discovered issues.
Subject
Every entry also records what the change was about. This vocabulary is applied to all 1,256 entries and is not defined on the live glossary.
- Commercial752 entries
- A change in availability, price, market, or the company behind the product.
- Hardware233 entries
- A physical change: components, chassis, sensors, dock, or build.
- Software179 entries
- A change delivered in firmware or the app.
- Autonomy67 entries
- A change in how independently the machine operates — the axis the Autonomy Ladder measures.
- Safety25 entries
- A change bearing on physical, electrical, or data safety, including recalls.
Evidence state
How well corroborated a record is, and where the product sits in its life. This is not a quality judgment — it describes the evidence behind the entry, not the machine.
Drawn to scale across 582 published robots. Counts below are robots.
- Verified88 robots
- Specs and classification corroborated across 5+ independent sources
- Provisional211 robots
- Specs on file from 2-4 independent sources; some gaps in evidence
- Pending117 robots
- Pre-release or fewer than 2 independent sources reviewed
- Pre-Release47 robots
- Announced but not shipping
- Not Consumer-Ready46 robots
- Commercial, industrial, or not suitable for consumers
- Discontinued73 robots
- No longer sold
General terms
Words used throughout the publication that describe what we do rather than what a machine is.
- Classification
- Categorizing a robot by autonomy level, readiness, and product category. Classification is an objective assessment from documented evidence. It is not a recommendation, an endorsement, or a buying guide.
- Evaluation
- A structured assessment of one robot against the published methodology. Produces a Robovations Score and documents what the machine does well, what it does not, and on what evidence.
- Comparison
- A side-by-side reading of two or more robots, structured around an ownership goal rather than a ranking. Comparisons present trade-offs and do not declare a winner.
- Hype vs. reality
- An assessment separating a manufacturer’s marketing claims from documented performance. Recorded where the two materially diverge.
- Unknown
- Printed wherever a value has not been established from evidence. It is a real state, not a missing one, and it is never replaced with an estimate.
Definitions change as the frameworks change. The methodology documents are the authority: see how we classify. For reference pages on autonomy vocabulary, category guides, and claim decoders, see the Robot Autonomy Library. Machine-readable site information is at llms.txt.