Robots are mechanically and electrically much more complex than normal vacuums and despite the higher relative price they are not built as well as normal vacuums. Depending on your definition of "long term", none are reliable. You can expect 2 or 3 years before a serious failure. And that's with regular maintainence. The marketing for robot vacuums is so overblown it's ridiculous.
They can be helpful when run very regularly. They keep clean-ish floors looking clean-ish. They do not vacuum as well as even average corded vacuums. Really you need to do a thorough manual vacuuming right before running the robot regularly, this allows the robot to "keep up" daily rather than trying to vacuum very dirty floors. Most will clog when used on previously uncleaned floors.
Models to check would be the roborock Q10 S5+, eufy C10, dreame d10 plus, yeedi C12/ecovacs N20e (same machines different names).
Of those models, the roborock and yeedi/ecovacs would be my top choices based on experience. Vacuum performance is good for a robot, anti tangle is ok (still, clean the brush regularly). And if longevity is a concern it might be worth getting a 3rd party extended warranty.
We had the N8 for three years until it was dropped. Bought a cheaper version for £130 and it’s not where near as good as the Ecovacs this n20 is also on Amazon at £70 cheaper than the Plus version as a basic version and if you’ve never had one before you’ll be very impressed with that in itself. The ‘plus’ still needs something emptied at some point. Go for the basic.
They do not have to be expensive and we just picked up a Ecovax Deebot N20 Pro Plus today with the Pro version winning ['best budget robovac' of 2024](https://vacuumwars.com/ecovacs-deebot-n20-plus-review/). It has exceeded our expectations with excellent vacuuming and mopping and then seeing it do both tasks at once was awesome. It's still early days but it makes me confused why I waited so long.
Most will be able to be scheduled to vacuum every 2nd day and I think it is meaningful to get a mid-budget range for the first outing unless money is burning a hole in your pocket.
Ecovacs is also an option using https://github.com/bmartin5692/bumper, and shouldn't require modifying the vacuum itself.
It's not listed as compatible on the page, but I have it working with a n20 plus
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