Robot vacuums and fringe don't mix.

Not really. Low-pile carpet is fine — robot vacuums handle that well — but fringe edges are a different story.

The problem is the spinning brush and the robot’s drive wheels. Fringe gets pulled in, tangled, and the robot either stops with an error, drags the carpet around, or chews up the fringe. I’ve seen it happen. You end up cutting the fringe free or spending more time unspooling it than you would have with a regular vacuum.

Some higher-end models are better at detecting and avoiding fringe (iRobot Roomba j series, for example), but none are perfect. If you have fringe, you’re better off setting a no-go zone or just running the robot on the main area and hitting the edges yourself.

Your robot will thank you if you keep it away from fringe.