Get the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra or the newer Q Revo line.

Those have the best object avoidance for small, scattered kids’ toys like Legos, Hot Wheels, and random socks. The combination of LiDAR for mapping and a front-facing camera with AI means it actually recognizes toys and drives around them instead of eating them.

The Roomba j7+ is also good—it was designed to avoid pet waste, which is harder than toys—but it navigates less efficiently and needs more emptying. The Roborock just does it better with less fuss. If you’re on a budget, the Q Revo is almost as good as the S8 for half the price.

The key is having a vacuum that sees objects, not just bumps into them. Cheap lidar-only models will hit things because they only detect walls and furniture at floor level—toys are too small. You need camera+AI. That’s Roborock’s current sweet spot. The Eufy X10 Omni is another option, but the Roborock software is less glitchy.

Either way, don’t buy a model without a camera for object avoidance if you have little kids. You will be picking Legos out of the brush roll constantly. This is not the place to save $200.