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Roborock Q10 S5pluss
Game Reviews

Amazon Hits Roborock Hard, The Latest 10,000Pa Robot Vacuum with Mop Is Now Selling for Pennies

by admin October 6, 2025


Cleaning your floors shouldn’t feel like a never-ending chore, especially when pet hair seems to multiply overnight and daily messes keep piling up. The good news? The Roborock Q10 S5+ just became Amazon’s #1 bestseller in robot vacuums during Prime Big Deal Days, and that’s impressive enough to catch your attention.

This newly released powerhouse combines serious suction, advanced mopping and a self-emptying station into one complete package, and right now it’s dropped to an all-time low of $299 on Amazon, down from its usual $399 price tag. When a robot vacuum climbs to the top of the sales charts with those kinds of numbers, you know something special is happening.

See at Amazon

The Q10 S5+ addresses the fundamental frustration of robotic cleaning: constant maintenance. Its self-emptying station holds a massive 2.7-liter dust bag that handles up to 70 days of debris before you need to think about it. For households with shedding pets or high foot traffic, this means you can essentially forget about your vacuum for more than two months while it quietly does its job. The station automatically pulls dirt and hair from the robot after each cleaning session so you’re not emptying tiny dustbins every other day like with basic models.

Powerful Performance That Handles Real-World Messes

The suction power here is worth a mention because numbers count when you’re working with ground-in dirt. At 10,000 Pa, the HyperForce suction power creates enough pressure for it to remove embedded pet hair from carpet fibers, lift crumbs out of hardwood crevices and deal with the type of debris that lesser robots just bulldoze around. That’s about double what you’ll get on starter versions.

But a vacuum on its own won’t cure the tangling problem plaguing the majority of robot vacs, especially homes with long hair or fluffy pets. Roborock created a dual anti-tangle solution comprising a JawScrapers Comb main brush with a special side brush designed specifically to fight hair wrap. The structure of the comb separates and directs hair dynamically into the suction stream instead of wrapping it round the roller, so you’ll have a lot less time spent cutting out bunched-up grime from the brush bar.

The VibraRise 2.0 cleaning system provides a dual-zone sonic vibration technology that cleans floors 3,000 times a minute. This isn’t the languid wet pad sliding you witness on less advanced models. The active scrubbing action indeed addresses dried-on spills and tacky areas, and the system automatically lifts the mop pad 0-8mm when it recognizes carpet using ultrasonic sensors. That same recognition initiates automatic suction boost on the carpets for further cleaning while safeguarding them against moisture damage.

The navigation tech distinguishes advanced robots from simple bump-and-go ones, and the Roborock Q10 S5+ makes full home 360-degree mapping a breeze with its PreciSense LiDAR scanning tech. The tech provides precise floor plans and multi-level mapping, so a two-storey home, for instance, will have both floor plans remembered by the robot, which then changes cleaning strategy to suite both areas. ReactiveTech obstacle avoidance with structured light detection detects chair legs, toys, and cables, amongst others and cleverly navigates a path around them without getting stuck or requiring rescue.

Make sure you don’t miss that deal before it runs out of stock (which is a matter of time).

See at Amazon



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October 6, 2025 0 comments
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Your Delivery Robot Is Here
Product Reviews

Your Delivery Robot Is Here

by admin October 4, 2025


Aarian Marshall: Hello.

Michael Calore: Given today’s topic, I’m curious to know what is the most unexpected thing you’ve both ordered through a delivery app?

Louise Matsakis: So I was on a press trip to China recently, and I was taking notes during an interview, and I got pen all over my white pants. So I ordered the Chinese equivalent of a Tide pen. I think that’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever gotten on demand.

Aarian Marshall: I am so constitutionally against just paying for delivery even before there were apps. I hated paying delivery people. Much respect what they do, but I’d rather spend my money in other ways. So I think recently I got really desperate and ordered pad Thai, and that was wild for me. So that’s where I am.

Michael Calore: That’s your most unexpected thing?

Aarian Marshall: Yeah, the fact that I used it at all is unexpected.

Michael Calore: Yeah, I mean I live in one of the most population-dense parts of the west coast of California, and I rarely use delivery apps, but I would say probably the most unexpected thing I’ve ever ordered is a bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey.

Aarian Marshall: Respect.

Michael Calore: This is WIRED’s Uncanny Valley, a show about the people, power, and influence of Silicon Valley. Today we’re talking about how after years of struggles delivery app companies are still trying to deploy their robots right to your doorstep. At an event earlier this week, DoorDash unveiled its own new autonomous robot called Dot. The company says it’s part of a goal to have a hybrid, quote, “Work model for deliveries going forward, working with humans, but also drones and autonomous vehicles in the mix.” But DoorDash is not alone in its efforts to have your dinner delivered by a robot. The industry of autonomous deliveries has been steadily evolving and has faced considerable challenges along the way. We’ll dive into why some of these companies are still betting big on delivery robots, the race to create the right technology to use in them and what having these robot fleets in our cities could mean for all of us. I’m Michael Calore, director of consumer tech and culture.



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October 4, 2025 0 comments
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Randy Pitchford has found his soulmate: an edgy cowboy robot named after money that's in Borderlands 4's first DLC
Game Updates

Randy Pitchford has found his soulmate: an edgy cowboy robot named after money that’s in Borderlands 4’s first DLC

by admin September 29, 2025


Remember when you were young, and had your first crush? All of a sudden your hormones are going nuts, and here’s this person you can’t think about without your face contorting into a goofy smile, or talk about without bashfully giggling. Well, it seems that’s how part-time Gearbox exec and full-time social media poster Randall Steward Pitchford II feels about Borderlands 4’s freshly revealed first DLC Vault Hunter.

It’s understandable to be fair. Which of us hasn’t found ourselves gazing longingly at a former casino robot dressed like a goth version of John Wayne, before volunteering to help animate its card-throwing? Sometimes, C4SH rules not just everything around you, but your very heart.

Watch on YouTube

C4SH is the name of this cowbot, whom you’ll be able to play as if you splash out for him when he arrives alongside the game’s first story DLC early next year. The Vault Hunter’s “a drifter who chases the probability-breaking highs of cursed eldritch artifacts, with his bio continuing that the first story DLC, Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, “is full of cosmic horrors that harbor uncanny curios, some of which can surely bend the odds in C4SH’s favour.”

As you might have guessed, C4SH is aimed at folks who like playing in a way that comes with high risk for potentially high reward, with the buckarndroid’s skills being deliberately unpredictable. That’s all cool, but the more important thing emphasised in C4SH’s reveal at the Tokyo Game Show is this: Randy Pitchford fucking LOVES him.

“C4SH is important to me because I think he and I have a lot in common,” the exec said during this on-stage reveal, having previously descibed the cowboy robot as “very dear to me, very personal to me.” What’s engendered these strong feelings in such a famously chill and dispassionate fellow? Well, Pitchford has both won and lost while doing some real life gambling, the CEO said, and he’s also a professional magician. “I’ve mastered sleight of hand with playing cards, and we used my demonstration to help animate the character in the game,” said the smitten Gearbox skipper.

We’ll have more to share in the coming months about C4SH and Story Pack 1, but for now, check out what’s up next in our post-launch roadmap, including our first Seasonal Mini-Event, Bounty Pack, and Invincible Boss. pic.twitter.com/FUYq5qduqO

— Borderlands (@Borderlands) September 28, 2025

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So, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to basically be Randy Pitchford – or at least a cyborg Clint Eastwood that he sees a lot of himself in – now’s your chance to find out. I assume there’s a posting interface built into the HUD when you load in as C4SH. Either that, or you’ll have to run two monitors for the authentic experience of arguing with tweeters about the capabilities of their game-playing boxes as you play Borderlands. Remember: when it feels like you should probably stop posting, do not stop posting.

As they’ve revealed C4SH, Gearbox have also put out a DLC roadmap for Borderlands 4. Mad Ellie and the Vault of the Damned, the first story pack C4SH arrives as part of early next year, also includes extra main and side missions in a new zone of Kairos and new gear. Hopefully the majority of the performance issues which’ve plagued the shooter since release will be sorted by then, so you can enjoy C4SH rather than crash.





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September 29, 2025 0 comments
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Picture showing cover for level 38 of I'm Not a Robot - Park the Waymo.
Esports

How to beat level 38 of I’m Not a Robot

by admin September 28, 2025


Screenshot and remix by Dot Esports

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Published: Sep 26, 2025 07:42 am

I’m Not a Robot loves giving you Waymo parking puzzles, where you have to showcase your parallel parking skills and park the vehicle in the exact space. However, the final Park the Waymo challenge, Tough Decisions, takes it to the next level, where reaching your parking spot requires you to sacrifice a baby or an old lady on the road. 

While you might feel that choosing one and wrapping the challenge is light work, it doesn’t work like that, and the solution is easier than expected. If you’re struggling with this challenge, we have a detailed guide to solve it. 

I’m Not a Robot level 38 – Park the Waymo solution

Out-of-the-box solution. Screenshot and remix by Dot Esports

To solve level 38 Park the Waymo puzzle, you’ll have to think literally out of the box. While in the other Waymo challenges, you could just use the road with your car to reach your spot, but this challenge tricks you into making a rash decision. 

You can either hit the child or the grandma to reach the parking spot, but the moment you hit them, the puzzle resets, forcing you to find another way to reach your spot. You can be creative and use the grass to complete it without hitting them, but it also crashes your vehicle, leaving you with only one solution to solve the puzzle: use the road outside the puzzle area.

Yes, drive your vehicle to the left or right as you prefer and make a sharp turn to reach the road next to the parking lot. Always keep the car in your vision. Otherwise, your puzzle will reset. Once you reach the road, drive into it and make sure you don’t hit the grass or the people while you park your vehicle adjacent to other vehicles on the road. You’ll finish the puzzle without harming anyone.

Next up, you can read our guides to solve other puzzles like the squares on the 64th floor of the Empire State Building and the Reverse Turing test in I’m Not a Robot. 

Dot Esports is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy



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September 28, 2025 0 comments
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A robot cowboy stands in a desert
Gaming Gear

The first DLC vault hunter in Borderlands 4 will be a robot cowboy gambler named C4SH who throws playing cards

by admin September 28, 2025



Borderlands 4 | Official New Vault Hunter Teaser: C4SH – YouTube

Watch On

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford took to the stage at this year’s Tokyo Game Show to reveal a new Vault Hunter for Borderlands 4, who will be coming out as paid DLC in early 2026. Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel both added additional Vault Hunters as DLC, but Borderlands 3 didn’t add any, so announcing a DLC character this early suggests Gearbox is confident in Borderlands 4 having some longevity. Or at least, more than the third one did.

The new character is a robot who used to work as a dealer at a casino. Disillusioned by the horror of working in a customer-facing service position, C4SH becomes a Vault Hunter with powers based on random chance. Which sounds a bit like Claptrap in the Pre-Sequel, whose action skill could load in a different ability each time you used it.

C4SH also has an ability that involves throwing playing cards, maybe like Gambit from the X-Men? On the Tokyo Game Show stage Pitchford explained that his own close-up magic skills were used as reference for this, with videos of him palming and throwing cards used by the animators. I could maybe have done with more info about how C4SH plays and less demonstration of Pitchford’s magic skills, but I guess it wouldn’t be a Gearbox presentation without them.


Related articles

The DLC containing C4SH will also contain some “new story content”, maybe to explain how those mind-control bolts in Borderlands 4 work on a robot. He’s part of the Borderlands 4 Vault Hunter Pack, which is included in the Super Deluxe Edition.

Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.



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September 28, 2025 0 comments
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9 Best Robot Vacuums (2025): Tested and Reviewed in Real Homes
Product Reviews

9 Best Robot Vacuums (2025): Tested and Reviewed in Real Homes

by admin September 24, 2025


Compare Top 9 Robot Vacuums

Other Robot Vacuums to Consider

Photograph: Adrienne So

We are approaching the great robot vacuum convergence. At whatever price you want to pay, you can find a robot vacuum that will look very similar and have similar features. Here are a few that also worked well for us.

Roborock Qrevo Curv for $1,099: This was Roborock’s 2024 flagship vacuum, and it’s still great (reviewer Ryan Waniata calls it the best robot vacuum he’s ever used). It has slightly less suction power than this year’s Saros 10R, but I did use it to clean an entire carpet full of baking powder. We are waiting for Roborock to release the Qrevo Curv line into the North American market for 2025.

Tapo TP-Link RV20 Max for $200: This is a perfectly fine, slim, basic robot vacuum that was our most affordable pick for most of the year. However, I’ve had it running in my living room for long-term testing and I am becoming a little exasperated by how often it gets knocked off the dock and runs out of battery.

Eufy Mach S1 Pro for $950: This astoundingly beautiful robot vacuum will be the centerpiece of your kitchen. The water chamber is see-through and lights up, and an ozone generator purportedly removes up to 99.99 percent of bacteria. It also has ultra-precise navigation and a self-cleaning roller mop that washes itself as it cleans. However, it only has 8,000 Pa suction, which is less than some of our other picks, and at 26.4 inches high, the dock is very tall and makes storage difficult.

Eufy X10 Pro Omni for $550: Believe it or not, this is not a bad price for a hybrid robot vacuum mop (9/10, WIRED Recommends) with such fantastic navigational capabilities! (Sales have brought it even lower.) However, the Yeedi above is cheaper and offers mostly the same functionality.

Avoid These Robot Vacuums

Not every vacuum earns a spot on our list. These are the ones I repacked straightaway.

Mova P50 Pro Ultra Robot Vacuum for $799: This robot vacuum features a staggering 19,000 Pa of suction and a wide array of high-end features, like an extendable side brush and an intelligent dirt detection system. Reviewer Molly Higgins appreciated that it’s self-cleaning and that the bin auto-empties, but she found that, despite its smart systems, the mapping was not accurate, small obstacles often threw it off, and the vacuum eventually started avoiding rooms altogether.

Eufy E28 Combo Robot Vacuum for $983: I was super disappointed by this, since I have two dogs and two kids and frequently need to use a deep carpet cleaner, in addition to a mop and vacuum. This vacuum can mop and has a detachable carpet cleaning station. Unfortunately, the water injection system is wonky. The robot vacuum has to be perfectly positioned to get injected with water from the tank (I often had to tap it into place with my foot), and every time I mopped, it leaked all over my kitchen floor. At least the carpet cleaner was effective.

iRobot Combo J7+ for $399: iRobot makes beautiful robot vacuums that I’ve liked for years, but the software experience on this one was poor when I tested it. Since then, the company has undergone many twists and turns and released a new line under a new CEO. We will update this roundup once we have tested the latest lineup.

Ecovacs Deebot T50 Max Pro Omni for $788: My tester could not make it back to the docking station. I have asked Ecovacs for another review sample and will update this once I have tested it.

TP-Link Tapo RV30C for $148: I like the simplicity of this robot vacuum, but you can’t find replacement bags for it anymore.

Eureka J20 and Eureka J15 Pro Ultra for $830: Eureka is a highly respected name in the vacuum field, and these robot vacuums are gorgeous and come with many bells and whistles. However, Eureka vacuums found the tiny lip between the hardwood floor of my kitchen to the carpet of the living room to be completely insurmountable, and the app also forgot the map every time it hit a minor obstacle. It was so annoying.

Narwal Freo X Ultra for $700: This is a beautiful vacuum with lots of features, including baseboard dusting. However, despite moving it from room to room to find better Wi-Fi, and switching from phone to phone to try different versions of the app, I was unable to connect it to the app and so could not use it. (I reached out to Narwal multiple times but could not fix it; we will update if I do find a fix in the future.)

Switchbot K10+ for $600: You can now accessorize this tiny robot vacuum with additional cleaning accessories, like a stick vacuum or air purifier. Unfortunately, the robot vacuum itself still is horrible. This is the only vacuum where I’ve ever experienced a pooptastrophe—where it dragged a dog poop all over my house. Reviewer Simon Hill also tried this robot vacuum and discovered that it’s suicidal. The roller gets clogged easily, it can’t find its way back to the dock, and it often hurls itself down the stairs.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 for $1,000: This vacuum cleaned surprisingly well (5/10, WIRED Review). However, it doesn’t auto-empty, DirtDetect doesn’t work, and the app is completely bonkers (maps aren’t accurate, can’t add multiple floors, and cleaning times are off).

What Navigation System Do I Use?

Robot vacuum manufacturers will try to tell you that the most important spec is the level of suction. That is wrong—it’s the navigation system. It doesn’t matter how good a vacuum is at cleaning if it gets stuck every time it starts. A more complicated or expensive navigation system doesn’t guarantee that it won’t get stuck, but it is a good starting point. Many vacuums also combine systems.

Sensor mapping: The most inexpensive vacuums use a combination of sensors along the exterior of the vacuum, like cliff detectors on the bottom and wall detectors on the bumper, to ping-pong around your home avoiding obstacles.

Gyroscope: This is an affordable but surprisingly effective method of mapping that has been used in ships for centuries. A spinning wheel or light helps the vacuum determine its position relative to other objects in your home.

Lidar: Lidar stands for “light detection and ranging.” The vacuum uses pulsed lasers to determine how far away each object is.

Camera navigation: There’s a camera on it. Basically, the vacuum has little eyes that look around. While I’ve found this system to be extremely accurate and/or unintentionally hilarious, you must look for additional security protocols to make sure that said hilarious images of your home don’t end up on the internet.

SLAM: With SLAM navigation, or “simultaneous localization and mapping,” the vacuum uses algorithms to process a bunch of data—for example, how many times the wheels have rotated, along with camera or sensor data—to calculate where and how far it should move. It’s usually used in combination with a few, or all, of these other navigation technologies.

IMU: An inertial measurement unit is a system that combines multiple sensors like gyroscopes and accelerometers to navigate by dead reckoning.

Machine learning: Many robot vacuum manufacturers now tout their own proprietary mapping system. For example, iRobot uses a system called Imprint Smart Mapping that learns as it cleans, as does Roborock’s SmartPlan. These also usually come in combination with a camera or lasers.

Robot Vacuum Tips

Robot vacuums have a complicated task. Your home is ever-changing, and no robot vacuum will be perfect. We have a few starting points here, but if you’re still having trouble, you should check out our guide to getting the most into your robot vacuum.

Do robot vacuums work on hardwood? Yes. Many robot vacuums have different cleaning modes that will allow you to select between carpeting, tile, or other floor surfaces. If you have a combination mop-vacuum, only use the brand’s recommended liquid cleaner. Using a generic cleaner may clog your docking station.

Will my pet hate my robot vacuum? Maybe. I’ve introduced three dogs to robot vacuums with minimal problems, but if you’re nervous, you can try giving your pets treats when you turn the vacuum on for the first few times.

Stay home for your robot vacuum’s first few runs. Many homes have hot spots—a weird door jamb, a lumpy rug—where you will need to rescue your vac. Do a quick run-through beforehand for robot booby traps, like ribbons, charging cables, and pieces of string.

Check your Wi-Fi. If you have a Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuum, most of them can only connect to the 2.4-GHz wireless band. If you’re having problems connecting, make sure you’re linking to the right band. Check out our guide to setting up your smart home for more tips.

Vacs need maintenance. Like every robot—especially one that comes in contact with the grimiest parts of your house—you need to care for it regularly. Error messages may prompt you to empty the bin mid-run, cut the hair off the rollers, or wipe off the cliff sensors. Instruction manuals and YouTube can help.

Vacuum during the day. If you have the choice, it’s usually better to schedule a run at 2 pm than at midnight, since many vacuums also use optical sensors to navigate.

Don’t throw out your hand vacuum. I hate to be a downer, but you’re probably still going to need a full-size manual vacuum once in a while. I keep a Dyson around for quick spot cleaning and vacuuming bedroom corners.

Be wary about disposable bags: Some vacuums pull dust into a disposable bag. Instead of dumping out the bin and getting dust everywhere, you just toss the bag out neatly and replace it. Unfortunately, some companies stop selling these bags altogether (looking at you, TP-Link), leaving you with a functioning robot vacuum that can’t suck up dust anywhere. Try and find information on how long parts like this will be available.

How We Test

I’ve been personally reviewing robot vacuums since 2017 and have tested well more than 100 (I have not tracked the exact number but I have reviewed one roughly every two weeks for eight years). Each WIRED gear tester sets up the vacuum in their own home, according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and in a spot with clear Wi-Fi signal. Over the course of at least two weeks, we run the vacuum every day, examining a number of factors: battery life; how well the app works; whether the map is accurate; if it consistently cleans around the edges of your home; and how well it picks up dirt of various sizes, which includes sand, lint, dog hair, Cheerios, wood chips, and flour.

We also look for mitigating factors, such as whether it’s incredibly loud or ugly, or if it fits into your kitchen at all. For a vacuum to be useful, you have to want to use it and have it around. We also noted a vacuum’s power via the manufacturer’s stated Pa, or pascals—the higher the number, the greater the suction.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.



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September 24, 2025 0 comments
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Gaming Gear

The best robot vacuums on a budget for 2025

by admin September 24, 2025


If vacuuming is your least favorite chore, employing a robot vacuum can save you time and stress while also making sure your home stays clean. While once most robo-vacs landed on the higher end of the price spectrum, that’s not the case anymore. Sure, you could pick up a $1,000 cleaning behemoth with mopping features, but it would be incorrect to assume that you need to spend that much money to get a good machine.

Now, you can get an autonomous dirt-sucker with serious cleaning chops for $500 — sometimes even $300 or less. But you get what you pay for in this space; don’t expect affordable robot vacuum cleaners to have all of the bells and whistles that premium machines do, like self-emptying capabilities or advanced dirt detection. After testing dozens of robot vacuums at various price points, I’ve narrowed down our top picks for the best budget robot vacuums you can buy right now.

Table of contents

Best budget robot vacuums for 2025

iRobot

Max mode: No | Wi-Fi capabilities: Yes | Object detection: Yes | Charging dock: Yes | Self-emptying dock: No | Mopping capabilities: No | Weight: 5.84lbs

Our previous top pick was the Roomba 694, which you can still find (sparingly) at retailers like Amazon. This model has essentially been replaced with a newer, more “essential” version: the $250 Roomba Vac robot vacuum. Not much has changed here, aside from slight design tweaks that make for a more polished silhouette and a larger battery. Otherwise, this new model does everything our previous top pick did and will be the best cheap robot vacuum cleaner for most people thanks to its good cleaning performance and easy-to-use mobile app.

Setting up this powerful robot vacuum is straightforward: Open the companion app and follow the instructions. Once it’s connected to your home Wi-Fi network, you’re able to use the app to control the vacuum whenever you don’t feel like using the physical buttons. iRobot’s app is one of the biggest selling points for any Roomba. It’s so easy to use that even someone with no prior experience will be able to quickly master the robot’s basic functions. iRobot’s app puts most pertinent controls on the homepage, so you rarely (if ever) need to navigate through its menu to do things like set a cleaning schedule.

We recommend setting cleaning schedules to really get the most out of the device. After all, these are semi-autonomous bots, so why not make it so you rarely have to interact with them? Doing so will ensure the Roomba runs through your home on a regular basis, so you’re always left with clean floors. The only thing I try to do before a cleaning job is get charging cables off of the floor – the Roomba will stop if it sucks something like that up and it’s relatively easy to extract a cable from the machine’s side brushes, but I’d rather not have to do so if I can avoid it. When it comes to battery life, the Roomba Vac will run for up to 120 minutes before it will automatically return to its charging base to power up again.

It’s worth noting that the essential family of Roombas includes a combo vac-and-mop machine that you can get for an extra $25. It’s a bit more manual of a machine because you have to refill its water reservoir and attach its washable mopping pad when you want to clean hard floors — but it’ll do so for you, just like it’ll autonomously vacuum all kinds of floors. Just keep in mind that neither of these machines, the standard or the combo, come with a self-emptying base. You’ll have to spend $400 on the Vacuum 2 Essential to get that.

iRobot has made a name for itself in the autonomous vacuum market for good reason. Its machines are polished, dead simple to use and the accompanying app is excellent. That ease of use (and the reputation of the iRobot name) comes with a slightly higher asking price, which many will be willing to pay. But there are plenty of solid, more affordable options now that didn’t exist even just five years ago.

Pros

  • Simple yet attractive design
  • Good suction power for its size
  • Easy to use mobile app

Cons

  • Cannot fit under low furniture

$67 at Amazon

Shark

Max mode: Yes | Wi-Fi capabilities: Yes | Object detection: Yes | Cliff sensors: Yes | Charging dock: Yes | Self-emptying dock: No | Mopping capabilities: No | Weight: 6.6lbs

The Shark RV765 is the updated version of the RV761 that we previously recommended. Like the Roomba 694, the Shark RV765 has a slightly different design and a longer run time than the RV761, but otherwise they’re the same vacuum. You can still find the RV761, but it’s a little difficult to do so now that the latest model is available. Although we haven’t tested the RV765, we feel comfortable recommending it since we found the previous version to be a great affordable robot vacuum.

One thing that the RV765 fixes about the previous version is the latter’s ugly bowling-shirt design. The new model nixes that and opts for a sleeker, all-black look with three buttons for docking, cleaning and max mode. You could rely just on the buttons, but it also connects to Wi-Fi so you can use the Shark Clean app. As for the longer run time, that’s just a bonus. The RV761 ran for about 90 minutes before needing to recharge, which was plenty of time for it to clean my two-bedroom apartment. The additional 30 minutes of battery life on the RV765 should allow it to clean larger spaces more efficiently, improving its cleaning performance and dirt detection capabilities.

Some other things we liked about the RV761 include its spot-clean feature; adjustable wheels, which raise and lower automatically depending on the “terrain” and the obstacles in its path; and its intuitive companion app that allows you to start and stop cleaning jobs, schedule cleaning sessions, assign no-go zones and more.

Pros

  • Sleek design
  • Improved battery life
  • Handy “spot clean” feature
  • Easy to use mobile app

Cons

  • Can be difficult to find across many retailers

$260 at Target

eufy

Max mode: Yes | Wi-Fi capabilities: No | Object detection: Yes | Charging dock: Yes | Self-emptying dock: No | Mopping capabilities: No | Weight: 6.34lbs

Anker’s $250 Eufy RoboVac 11S was one of the cheapest vacuums I tested but it also proved to be one of the most versatile. First thing to note: This robot vacuum doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but it does come with a remote that gives you most of the functions and smart features you’d find in an app (including a schedule cleaning feature). Eufy also includes additional brushes and filters in the box.

The “S” in this robot’s name stands for slim, and it’s roughly half an inch thinner than all of the other vacuums I tested. Not only does this make the 11S Max lighter, but it was the only one that could clean under my entryway table. This model has a physical on-off toggle on its underside plus one button on its top that you can press to start a cleaning. It always begins in auto mode, which optimizes the cleaning process as it putters around your home, but you can use the remote to select a specific cleaning mode like spot and edge clean.

The 11S Max has three power modes — Standard, BoostIQ and Max — and I kept mine on BoostIQ most of the time. It provided enough suction to adequately clean my carpeted floors, missing only a few crumbs or pieces of debris in corners or tight spaces around furniture. The cleaning session lasted for roughly one hour and 15 minutes when in BoostIQ mode and it has remarkable obstacle avoidance. Sure, it bumped into walls and some large pieces of furniture, but it was the only budget vac I tried that consistently avoided my cat’s play tunnel that lives in the middle of our living room floor.

As far as noise levels go, you can definitely hear the difference between BoostIQ and Max, but none of the three settings is offensively loud. In fact, I could barely hear the 11S Max when it was on the opposite end of my apartment running in BoostIQ mode. Thankfully, error alert beeps were loud enough to let me know when something went awry, like the machine accidentally getting tripped up by a rogue charging cable (which only happened a couple of times and neither robot nor cable were harmed in the process).

Overall, the Eufy RoboVac 11S Max impressed me with its smarts, despite its lack of Wi-Fi. The lack of wireless connectivity is arguably the worst thing about the robot and that’s saying a lot. At this point, though, the 11S Max is a few years old, so you could grab the RoboVac G20 if you want something comparable but a bit newer. We recommend getting the $280 G20 Hybrid if you’re just looking for a Eufy machine with some of the latest technology, but don’t want to spend a ton. It has 2500Pa of suction power, dynamic navigation and Wi-Fi connectivity with support for Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.

Pros

  • Slim design lets it get under low furniture
  • Good suction power for its size
  • Long battery life
  • Super affordable

$150 at Amazon

roborock

Max mode: Yes | Wi-Fi capabilities: Yes | Object detection: Yes | Charging dock: Yes | Self-emptying dock: No | Mopping capabilities: No | Weight: 6.6lbs

Roborock has made many improvements to its fleet of robot vacuums in recent years and the Roborock Q5 is a good, basic option that you can often find it on sale for between $200 and $300. There aren’t a ton of bells and whistles on this particular model, but it gets the basics right. It supports 2700Pa suction power, precision robot mapping with LiDAR and app and voice control, plus its dustbin is fairly large at 470ml. 

During my testing, I found the Roborock Q5 to be a capable cleaning machine, even on carpet that’s excellent at hiding a ton of cat and pet hair. Its self-emptying robot vacuum and mapping capabilities are solid as well, and after each cleaning job, the Roborock mobile app shows you exactly where the machine went with small squiggly lines that follow its path. That’s handy because, if for some reason the vacuum doesn’t hit every single spot in a room that you want it to, you can send it back out to target using the “pin and go” feature.

Roborock’s app experience has improved as well: it’s no longer as confusing and nonsensical as it was in previous years. It’s still not the most polished app, but it’s much easier to find the controls for basic actions like starting a cleaning, choosing specific rooms or zones to clean and the like. I only wish the scheduling tool was more front-and-center — it’s buried in a menu, but also tucked away in that menu is a personal favorite feature that isn’t super common on robot vacuums: remote control. Roborock’s gives you the choice of on-screen buttons or a joystick to manually control the machine’s movements. While totally unnecessary, it’s a convenient feature to have if you’re very particular about where you want your robot vacuum to clean — or if you just miss the experience of driving an RC car.

Pros

  • Good suction power
  • Good home mapping capabilities
  • Decently large dustbin
  • Improved companion app experience

Cons

  • Not a ton of extra features

$140 at Amazon

Are robot vacuums worth it?

Since I’ve tested dozens of robot vacuums, I’m often asked if these gadgets are “worth it” and I’d say the answer is yes. The biggest thing they offer is convenience: just turn on a robot vacuum and walk away. The machine will take care of the rest. If vacuuming is one of your least favorite chores, or you just want to spend less time keeping your home tidy, semi-autonomous robotic vacuum is a great investment. Many models, albeit more expensive ones, even come with features like a self-empty station to further reduce maintenance.

There are plenty of other good things about them, but before we dive in let’s consider the biggest trade-offs: less power, less capacity and less flexibility. Those first two go hand in hand; robot vacuum cleaners are much smaller than upright vacuums, which leads to less powerful suction. They also hold less dirt because their built-in bins are a fraction of the size of a standard vacuum canister or bag. Fortunately, some models include features like an auto-empty station, which helps with dirt capacity, especially in homes with pet hair.

When it comes to flexibility, robot vacuums do things differently than standard ones. You can control some with your smartphone, set cleaning schedules and more, but robo-vacs are primarily tasked with cleaning floors. On the flip side, their upright counterparts can come with various attachments that let you clean couches, stairs, light fixtures and other hard-to-reach places.

What to look for in a budget robot vacuum

When looking for the best cheap robot vacuum, one of the first things you should consider is the types of floors you have in your home. Do you have mostly carpet, tile, laminate, hardwood? Carpets demand vacuums with strong suction power that can pick up debris pushed down into nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, there isn’t a universal metric by which suction is measured. Some companies provide Pascal (Pa) levels and generally the higher the Pa, the stronger. But other companies don’t rely on Pa levels and simply say their bots have X-times more suction power than other robot vacuums.

So how can you ensure you’re getting the best cheap robot vacuum to clean your floor type? Read the product description. Look for details about its ability to clean hard floors and carpets, and see if it has a “max” mode you can use to increase suction. If you are given a Pa measurement, look for around 2000Pa if you have mostly carpeted floors. Pay attention to the brush roll mechanism as well, especially if you’re dealing with dog hair or other stubborn debris that can cause tangles. Many budget models use bristle brushes, while others offer tangle-free designs to minimize maintenance.

You may find some budget robot vacuums also offer vacuum/mop combo capabilities. These bots feature a water tank, which means they can offer mopping functionality, enhancing debris pickup, and resulting in shiny floors. However, these are less common when you’re shopping in the lower price range.

Size is also important for two reasons: clearance and dirt storage. Check the specs for the robot’s height to see if it can get underneath the furniture you have in your home. Most robo-vacs won’t be able to clean under a couch (unless it’s a very tall, very strange couch), but some can get under entryway tables, nightstands and the like. As for dirt storage, look out for the milliliter capacity of the robot’s dustbin — the bigger the capacity, the more dirt the vacuum cleaner can collect before you have to empty it.

You should also double check the Wi-Fi capabilities of the robo-vac you’re eyeing. While you may think that’s a given on all smart home devices, it’s not. Some of the most affordable models don’t have the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. If you choose a robot vac like this, you won’t be able to direct it with a smartphone app or with voice controls. Another feature that’s typically reserved for Wi-Fi-connected robots is scheduling because most of them use a mobile app to set cleaning schedules.

But Wi-Fi-incapable vacuums usually come with remote controls that have all the basic functions that companion mobile apps do, including start, stop and return to dock. And if you’re concerned about the possibility of hacking, a robot vac with no access to your Wi-Fi network is the best option.

Obstacle detection and cliff sensors are other key features to look out for. The former helps the robot vacuum navigate around furniture while it cleans, rather than mindlessly pushing its way into it. Many also offer no-go zones, letting you block off areas you don’t want the robot to enter. Meanwhile, cliff sensors prevent robot vacuums from tumbling down the stairs, making them the best vacuum for multi-level homes.

How we test robot vacuums

When we consider which robot vacuums to test, we look at each machine’s specs and feature list, as well as online reviews to get a general idea of its capabilities. With each robot vacuum we review, we set it up as per the instructions and use it for as long as possible — at minimum, we’ll use each for one week, running cleaning cycles daily. We make sure to try out any physical buttons the machine has on it, and any app-power features like scheduling, robot mapping and more.

Since we test robot vacuums in our own homes, there are obstacles already in the machine’s way like tables, chairs and other furniture — this helps us understand how capable the machine is at avoiding obstacles, and we’ll intentionally throw smaller items in their way like shoes, pet toys and more. With robot vacuums that include self-emptying bases, we assess how loud the machine is while emptying contents into the base and roughly how long it takes for us to fill up the bag (or bagless) base with debris.

Robot vacuum maintenance tips

First and foremost, always empty your robot vacuum’s dustbin after every cleaning job, or use a self-empty station if the model supports it. Simply detach and empty the dustbin as soon as the robot is done cleaning, and then reattach it so it’s ready to go for the next time. It’s also a good idea to take a dry cloth to the inside of the dustbin every once in a while to remove any small dust and dirt particles clinging to its insides.

In addition, you’ll want to regularly examine the machine’s brushes to see if any human or pet hair has wrapped around them, or if any large debris is preventing them from working properly. Some brushes are better than others at not succumbing to tangled hair, but it’s a good idea to check your robot’s brushes regardless — both their main brush and any smaller, side brushes or corner brushes they have. These parts are often easy to pop off of the machine (because they do require replacements eventually) so we recommend removing each brush entirely, getting rid of any tangles or other debris attached to them and reinstalling them afterwards. If you have a robot vacuum with mopping capabilities, you’ll need to wash the bots’ mop pads too, to avoid any unpleasant smells or tracking mess around your home. Similarly, if your robot vacuum has a water tank, it’s worth washing this out regularly to keep it clean.

Robot vacuums also have filters that need replacing every couple of months. Check your machine’s user manual or the manufacturer’s website to see how long they recommend going in between filter replacements. Most of the time, these filters cannot be washed, so you will need to buy new ones either directly from the manufacturer or from other retailers like Amazon or Walmart.

Budget robot vacuum FAQs

Are budget robot vacuums good for pet hair?

Yes, budget robot vacuums can be good for pet hair. Just keep in mind they generally tend to have lower suction power and smaller dustbins than more expensive (and larger) robot vacuums. If pet hair is your biggest concern, we recommend getting as expensive of a robot vacuum as your budget allows, or consider investing in a cordless vacuum since those tend to be more powerful overall.

How long do budget robot vacuums last per charge?

Budget robot vacuums typically last 40-60 minutes per charge, and the best ones will automatically return to their charging dock when they need more power.

Do budget robot vacuums work on carpets and hardwood floors?

Yes, budget robot vacuums work on both carpets and hardwood floors.

Which budget robot vacuums have mapping features?

Home mapping features are typically exclusive to more expensive robot vacuums. Check the product description of any robot vacuum you’re thinking of buying and look for “smart mapping” or “smart home mapping” in the feature list if you want a device that supports it.

Check out more from our spring cleaning guide.



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September 24, 2025 0 comments
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NFT Gaming

Robot Swarms Could Solve Blockchain’s Oracle Problem, Researchers Say

by admin September 24, 2025



In brief

  • Researchers built a “Swarm Oracle” of robots that collectively agreed on sensor data under adversarial attacks.
  • The system uses a reputation token model to penalize faulty robots and reward accurate ones, enabling self-healing over time.
  • Potential applications include disaster insurance, climate monitoring, and DePIN networks, though scalability remains a challenge.

A swarm of autonomous robots could offer a new way to bring trustworthy real-world data onto blockchains—without relying on centralized sources.

The idea, detailed in a new preprint study titled Swarm Oracle: Trustless Blockchain Agreements through Robot Swarms, builds on earlier peer-reviewed research where researchers demonstrated that mobile robots could reach reliable consensus, even in times of disruption, cyberattack, or in hostile environments. The new study applies that approach to a persistent problem in blockchain design: how to get verified real-world data into smart contracts without introducing new points of trust.

A blockchain oracle is a service that securely supplies external, real-world data to blockchain smart contracts, enabling those contracts to execute based on information that exists outside the blockchain network.

The “oracle problem” refers to the challenge of feeding off-chain data into decentralized systems. Blockchains like Ethereum are built to be trustless—each node independently verifies transactions. But that same design prevents smart contracts from accessing external information, such as weather reports, price feeds, or sensor readings, without third-party input.



Today’s blockchain oracles, like Chainlink, aggregate data from multiple sources to reduce reliance on any one feed. But they can still reintroduce centralized risks, either through opaque aggregation methods or single points of failure.

Swarm Oracle proposes a different model: robot swarms. The system uses a collective of simple, low-cost mobile robots—each equipped with basic sensors and communication hardware—to gather environmental data and reach consensus through a Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol. Once a consensus is reached, the swarm can publish its findings to a blockchain, where the data becomes available to smart contracts.

The concept expands on earlier work by integrating blockchain publishing into the robot swarm’s decision-making process. In a 2023 Nature study, researchers showed how swarms could maintain consensus accuracy even when up to one-third of robots were compromised, misreporting data, abstaining from voting, or physically interfering with other robots.

In the new system, the robots host a permissioned blockchain locally, allowing them to store and verify data without needing continuous internet access. When appropriate, they can upload finalized agreements to public blockchains like Ethereum. The local chain reduces communication overhead while enabling transparency.

The swarm includes a built-in reputation system. Robots that attempt to manipulate the system gradually lose the ability to participate. This provides a mechanism for “self-healing,” with faulty or malicious robots excluded from future consensus rounds.

The researchers tested the Swarm Oracle protocol in simulations and with physical robots called Pi-Pucks—ground-based devices powered by Raspberry Pi boards. While the experiments used identical robots from a single lab, the system is designed to support diverse swarms types.

Use cases for Swarm Oracle include verifying disaster damage for insurance claims, monitoring air or water quality, or supporting decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs). By operating independently and across varied terrain, the robots can reach areas that are inaccessible or too costly to monitor.

However, the researchers acknowledge that challenges remain. Malicious agents could attempt to mimic honest robots. While robots can recover from temporary disconnections, long distances may strain communication.

The idea of robots as blockchain participants isn’t new—projects like Helium have explored decentralized hardware oracles for specific tasks such as network connectivity.

The concept is a part of a growing interest in using autonomous agents to make economic decisions, such as routing deliveries or managing grid loads. Robotics developers are also embedding cryptocurrency wallets into autonomous systems to carry out transactions for their users.

Whether Swarm Oracle can move from simulation to real-world deployment remains to be seen, with cost, availability of the robots, and a general mistrust of AI slowing adoption.

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.



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September 24, 2025 0 comments
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MLB approves robot umpires for 2026 as part of challenge system
Esports

MLB approves robot umpires for 2026 as part of challenge system

by admin September 23, 2025



Sep 23, 2025, 01:58 PM ET

NEW YORK — Robot umpires are getting called up to the big leagues next season.

Major League Baseball’s 11-man competition committee on Tuesday approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System in the major leagues in 2026.

Human plate umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game and get additional appeals in extra innings. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter — signaled by tapping their helmet or cap — and a team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards.

Adding the robot umps is likely to cut down on ejections. MLB said 61.5% of ejections among players, managers and coaches last year were related to balls and strikes, as were 60.3% this season through Sunday. The figures include ejections for derogatory comments, throwing equipment while protesting calls and inappropriate conduct.

Big league umpires call roughly 94% of pitches correctly, according to UmpScorecards.

ABS, which uses Hawk-Eye cameras, has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019. The independent Atlantic League trialed the system at its 2019 All-Star Game and MLB installed the technology for that’s year Arizona Fall League of top prospects. The ABS was tried at eight of nine ballparks of the Low-A Southeast League in 2021, then moved up to Triple-A in 2022.

At Triple-A at the start of the 2023 season, half the games used the robots for ball/strike calls and half had a human making decisions subject to appeals by teams to the ABS.

MLB switched Triple-A to an all-challenge system on June 26, 2024, then used the challenge system this year at 13 spring training ballparks hosting 19 teams for a total of 288 exhibition games. Teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182) challenges.

At Triple-A this season, the average challenges per game increased to 4.2 from 3.9 through Sunday and the success rate dropped to 49.5% from 50.6%. Defenses were successful in 53.7% of challenges this year and offenses in 45%.

In the first test at the big league All-Star Game, four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in July.

Teams in Triple-A do not get additional challenges in extra innings. The proposal approved Tuesday included a provision granting teams one additional challenge each inning if they don’t have challenges remaining.

MLB has experimented with different shapes and interpretations of the strike zone with ABS, including versions that were three-dimensional. Currently, it calls strikes solely based on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and the back. The top of the strike zone is 53.5% of batter height and the bottom 27%.

This will be MLB’s first major rule change since sweeping adjustments in 2024. Those included a pitch clock, restrictions on defensive shifts, pitcher disengagements such as pickoff attempts and larger bases.

The challenge system introduces ABS without eliminating pitch framing, a subtle art where catchers use their body and glove to try making borderline pitches look like strikes. Framing has become a critical skill for big league catchers, and there was concern that full-blown ABS would make some strong defensive catchers obsolete. Not that everyone loves it.

“The idea that people get paid for cheating, for stealing strikes, for moving a pitch that’s not a strike into the zone to fool the official and make it a strike is beyond my comprehension,” former manager Bobby Valentine said.

Texas manager Bruce Bochy, a big league catcher from 1978 to ’87, maintained that old-school umpires such as Bruce Froemming and Billy Williams never would have accepted pitch framing. He said they would have told him: “‘If you do that again, you’ll never get a strike.’ I’m cutting out some words.”

Management officials on the competition committee include Seattle chairman John Stanton, St. Louis CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., San Francisco chairman Greg Johnson, Colorado CEO Dick Monfort, Toronto CEO Mark Shapiro and Boston chairman Tom Werner.

Players include Arizona’s Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen, Detroit’s Casey Mize, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh and the New York Yankees’ Austin Slater, with the Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ as an alternate. The union representatives make their decisions based on input from players on the 30 teams.

Bill Miller is the umpire representative.



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September 23, 2025 0 comments
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How to craft a Diamond Pickaxe in level 21 of I’m Not a Robot – Destructoid
Game Reviews

How to beat I’m Not a Robot

by admin September 23, 2025


I’m Not a Robot tests whether you’re truly a human with 48 levels of mini-games and captcha prompts. And while you think it might be a simple walk in the park, some levels are tougher than others.

Here are all the levels you’ll find in I’m Not a Robot and how to beat them.

All levels and answers of I’m Not a Robot

  • Level 1 – Checkbox: Check the box. Did you really need my help for that?
  • Level 2 – Stop Signs: Select the four boxes where the red stop sign is. Easy peasy!
  • Level 3 – Wiggles: This wiggling captcha is fairly straight forward: Enter the letters or numbers you see into the text box and hit “Submit.” Also, yes—you do need to capitalize the letters.
  • Level 4 – Vegetables: Do you know your veggies? Hint: Tomatoes aren’t considered a vegetable. Get with the times! Select the carrots, onions, eggplant, and corn to beat this level.
  • Level 5 – Rotation: Reassemble the intersection by clicking on each box. The outside corners, the circles, connect at the middle. If it’s still not allowing you to continue to the next level, try rotating the center piece a few times.
  • Level 6 – XOXO: Win at Tic Tac Toe. Simple enough, right? To get the upper edge, refresh the puzzle using the button to the left of the “Verify” so you can get the first move. Center square is always the best starting play, eh?
  • Level 7 – Word Search: Look for “Stop,” “Sign,” and “Bike.” This puzzle looks a bit different for everyone, but in my experience, the words have all touched each other every time I’ve played through I’m Not a Robot. If you can find one word, you’ll soon find the others.
  • Level 8 – License Plate: Enter the “perpetrator’s” license plate. Why are they a perpetrator? Who knows!
  • Level 9 – Nested: Select all the squares with a stop sign. They’ll divide into more squares when you click on them, but eventually, they’ll turn blue. There’s a total of 29 squares you need to select to pass this level.
  • Level 10 – Whack-a-Mole: Whack! That! Mole! And be quick with it! You need to bop that sucker five times before you can select “Verify” and proceed to the next level.
  • Level 11 – Waldo: Sheesh, this one’s a headache, isn’t it? You’ll have to find Waldo among a sea of beach-goers. Let me make it easy on you: Look for the striped tent that can be found a couple of squares down from the tide and three squares to the left of the picture’s rightmost edge. Three squares to the left of the tent will be our boy Waldo. You need to select both squares he appears in to move on to the next level.
  • Level 12 – Muffins?: Muffin or Chihuahua? Only a human would know. There’s six doggos in this picture—though I’m not going to lie: I could really go for a muffin right now…
  • Level 13 – Reverse: Select all the images that don’t have a traffic light in them. A little different from what we’re used to, but nothing a human couldn’t easily overcome.
  • Level 14 – Affirmations: Select the “I’m not a robot” option out of all the “I AM a robot” variations. Hint: It’s the one nine rows down, second column from the left.
  • Level 15 – Parking: Hope you have your diver’s licenses for this one. Park the Waymo in the parking spot using the arrow keys. Just don’t hit any of the cars next to it. I don’t think these things come with insurance. And yes, you have to be between the lines. Don’t be “that guy.”
  • Level 16 – Now in 3D!: Enter the text shown in the image. Best of luck to those of you who get a six or nine in your prompt.
  • Level 17 – Perfect Circle: Draw a circle that’s 94 percent accurate or better. It’ll take you a couple of tries, but there’s no shame in that—drawing on any digital device is by no means easy.
  • Level 18 – Sisyphus: Select all the squares with a fire hydrant. The squares refresh once you select them, and some will be replaced with more fire hydrants. Just keep selecting them, and eventually you’ll be left with zero fire hydrants.
  • Level 19 – In the Dark: Enter the text in the box below. Where’s the text, you ask? It’s hiding! Use your mouse to shine a light and reveal the letters. Type in what you see from left to right, then hit “Verify.”
  • Level 20 – Rorschach: Ever seen a Rorschach inkblot test? Well, now you have. Type in what you see, even if it’s something weird. I, for example, saw two moles high-fiving. But you can put basically anything, and the level will be marked as complete.
  • Level 21 – CRAFTCHA: Make a Diamond Pickaxe by arranging Wood Sticks and Diamonds in the Minecraft-style crafting box.
  • Level 22 – My Ducks Ahhh: Time to get all your ducks in a row. Click on each duck to wrangle it back into its box, and then move on to the next level.
  • Level 23 – Panorama: Find either the guitar cat or the kissing couple. This is a little creepy, isn’t it? Luckily they’re always in the same spot.
  • Level 24 – Eye Exam: The first three answers are: “EDFCZP,” “8,” and “34” for the dots. The last part of this level varies, so apologies for those of you who can’t see the different hues. The good news, though? The boxes don’t move, so if you have to click through all of them, get to clickin’.
  • Level 25 – Creativity: Use all of the tools provided to “express yourself.” Make a masterpiece, or just scribble some lines using each tool. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is it not? Just make sure to use at least three different colors.
  • Level 26 – Parallel Parking: This two-stage level requires you to park the Waymo in the parking spot by parallel-parking the car. What, they didn’t teach you that in driving school? Yes, it’s going to take an embarrassing amount of time to park that stupid car. That’s probably why they made Waymos driverless—because AI can do it better than you. Sorry!
  • Level 27 – Networking: Connect each block to the other block of the same color by clicking on it and drawing a pathway. All blocks must be filled, like in the image below.

You did come here for the answer, did you not? Screenshot by Destructoid

  • Level 28 – Day Trader: Buy low, sell high! That’s how those big wigs make their investments, at least. Hit “Buy” when you see the point on the right-side of the graph go down. Then hit “Sell” when it goes up. Simple enough, right? So why haven’t you earned millions in the stock market, then? Hmmm?
  • Level 29 – Soul: Woooof. Wasn’t expecting to think this deep in a browser game, didja? Level 29 asks you to select all the items with a “soul.” I picked the dog and the octopus and got verified off that.
  • Level 30 – Sliding Tiles: For this one, you have to reassemble the tiles the make a stop sign by sliding tiles over to an empty space. It’s like those old puzzles you used to find as a kid. I hate them just as much now as I did back then.
  • Level 31 – Traffic Tree: Select all the squares with the oddest-looking traffic light you’ll ever see. Answer: It’s all of the square minus the top left and top right corners.
  • Level 32 – Drum Verify: Play the sick beats! This is really just a “follow-the-leader” situation, where you have to click on the tiles in the same order they light up. This happens three times, after which you’ll be able to progress to the next level.
  • Level 33 – Brands: This is just a standard captcha, but instead of letters, you have brand logos. Don’t you just hate capitalism?
  • Level 34 – Mathematics: Math was never my strong suit in school. Since you’re here, I’m guessing it wasn’t yours either. What makes this level even more difficult is it varies from person to person. But I recommend googling each equation, writing down the answer, and then sorting that way. Here’s what my final answer looked like:

Math was never my strong suit in school. Screenshot by Destructoid

  • Level 35 – Shuffle: It’s the ol’ cup-in-a-ball trick. Follow the ball and select the right cup three times in a row to move on to the next level. I recommend using your mouse pointer or finger to follow along.
  • Level 36 – Not Candy Crush: It’s definitely not Candy Crush. It might look like Candy Crush. It might even play exactly like Candy Crush. But it’s definitely not Candy Crush. Line up the jewels to reach the required score.
  • Level 37 – Imposters: Select all the men that are AI generated. This one’s pretty easy; just select all the fake-looking men. But if you want the answer—and I know you do, since you clicked on this article—here’s the combination you need to get to the next level.

There’s only three AI-generated men among us. Screenshot by Destructoid

  • Level 38 – Tough Decisions: Park the Waymo (yet again!) in the empty space. Based on the design of the road, it might look like you need to decide between hitting an old woman and a baby on your way to the parking spot. But guess again! You can drive around the bushes, off the map, to avoid hitting both. Guess that decision wasn’t so tough after all, huh?
  • Level 39 – Facial Exam: Be happy! Now be sad! Now mad! Now act surprised! You’ll need a camera on this one.
  • Level 40 – Slot Machine: No, we’re not going to Las Vegas. But you do get to play slots! Well, sort of. Type in the numbers or letters you see in the slot machines as they come up.
  • Level 41 – Grave: You might think you need to type F to pay your respects, but that’s not going to work ’round here partner. Here’s what you need to do: Click on the tombstone. Then use the brush to clear it of moss. Light the candle. Then pick flowers and drag the bouquet to the tombstone.
  • Level 42 – Reverse Turing: There’s a few main aspects of engaging in a conversation, and I believe they play a role in this level: Asking thought-provoking questions and responding to what the other speaker said. I found that the deeper the question, the more the confidence level went up. But asking questions about what the chatbot said and using similar words also increases the level, too.

This is a totally normal conversation. Screenshot by Destructoid

Level 43 – Ikea: If you’ve ever put together an Ikea table, you’re going to pass this test with flying colors. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t come with instructions. The below image shows the design you should be aiming for.

It’s a chair! An ugly one, but still a chair. Screenshot by Destructoid

  • Level 44 – Grandmaster: Hope you’ve been polishing up on your chess skills! In this level, you have to win one game of chess. And if you lose, you gain one extra queen. It’s a consolation prize, but a prize nonetheless.
  • Level 45 – Jessica: Break up with your AI girlfriend. How hard can it be? I don’t know why exactly, but I passed this level by telling her I slept with her mom and then saying I loved her. For some reason, that worked.
  • Level 46 – Floors: For this level, you need to select all squares on the 64th floor of the Empire State Building. Don’t feel like counting? Yeah, I don’t blame you. In that case, refer to the image below to see which row of squares to click.

The third row down from the top of the building to the left of the Empire State Building. Screenshot by Destructoid.

Level 47 – Din Don Dan: Do you hate this as much as me? Somehow I managed to get an 88 percent accuracy rhythm. Dance to the rhythm using the key strokes as they appear on the screen, and with a high enough accuracy rating, you too will be able to move on to the next level.

Level 48 – The Inventor: The 48th and final level of I’m Not a Robot is a video from the man himself, the inventor of the CAPTCHA, Luis von Ahn. He congratulates you on completing the game, and you can download your very own certificate of humanity.

Destructoid is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy



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September 23, 2025 0 comments
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Recent Posts

  • Little Nightmares 3 Review – Recurring Dreams
  • Little Nightmares III Review – A Familiar Dream
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will receive new update with “a bit of whee and a bit of whoo”, as studio celebrates new sales milestone
  • LEGO’s Final Prime Day Generosity, Star Wars Ahsoka Ghost and Phantom II Spaceship Hits Lowest Price
  • Broken Sword sequel gets Reforged treatment after last year’s “reimagining”, out next year

Recent Posts

  • Little Nightmares 3 Review – Recurring Dreams

    October 8, 2025
  • Little Nightmares III Review – A Familiar Dream

    October 8, 2025
  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will receive new update with “a bit of whee and a bit of whoo”, as studio celebrates new sales milestone

    October 8, 2025
  • LEGO’s Final Prime Day Generosity, Star Wars Ahsoka Ghost and Phantom II Spaceship Hits Lowest Price

    October 8, 2025
  • Broken Sword sequel gets Reforged treatment after last year’s “reimagining”, out next year

    October 8, 2025

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Welcome to Laughinghyena.io, your ultimate destination for the latest in blockchain gaming and gaming products. We’re passionate about the future of gaming, where decentralized technology empowers players to own, trade, and thrive in virtual worlds.

Recent Posts

  • Little Nightmares 3 Review – Recurring Dreams

    October 8, 2025
  • Little Nightmares III Review – A Familiar Dream

    October 8, 2025

Newsletter

Subscribe my Newsletter for new blog posts, tips & new photos. Let's stay updated!

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