Robot vacuums for Japanese homes

The robot vacuums that sell most on Amazon are Roborock, iRobot's Roomba and Eufy. Most Japanese homes have wood floors, which suit robot vacuums quite well, but measure a few things before you buy.

First, measure the thresholds at your doors and the sills (敷居) in any tatami room. Typical models are rated to climb about 2cm and high-end ones around 4cm; anything taller needs a small ramp. Measure the gap under your bed and sofa too. Models with LiDAR have a bump on top and mostly stand around 10cm tall, so they may not fit under the low beds common in Japan. Some newer models have a LiDAR unit that retracts.

A fully automatic dock empties the dustbin, washes the mop and changes the water on its own, but it's big and needs to sit near an outlet, so it may not fit in a studio apartment. If your place is small, a dock that only empties the dustbin is enough, or skip the dock altogether and empty the bin by hand every day or two.

If you have tatami, remember to set the tatami room to no-mop in the app; mopping it with water makes it prone to mold. Apartment walls aren't very soundproof, so it's better to schedule runs for the daytime while you're out.