There are caveats, though. Robovacs can't deal with stairs, so their usefulness in multi-floor homes is far more limited. They're also not capable of proper deep cleans, so if you're dealing with lots of hair or dirt, they might not cut it.

I loved that the floor brush can be quickly attached with the press of a button. Some on-line reviewers said the hose was a bit short, but it didn't bother us during testing.

We'll also look at how the robot tackles the issue of switching between vacuuming and mopping – will it reliably detect floor type, and pick up its mop pad when moving from hard floor onto carpet, for example?

We're constantly getting new samples in for testing, and as a member of ASTM International's F11 Vacuum Cleaner Committee, we meet twice yearly with engineers and technical representatives from all brands to help develop and shape the vacuum cleaner test standards we all use to assess performance, ease of use, durability and more.

Additionally, battery life is important to consider and this will depend on your usage and settings. If you opt for a model which comes with a base, it can self-charge between runs.

In our Lab tests: Worx beat 18 other handheld vacuums to earn the top overall score across tests on carpet, bare floors and pet hair pickup.

Alistair is a London-based journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. He has tested numerous robovacs over the years for TechRadar, from brands like iRobot, Eufy and Roborock. His favourites match intelligent navigation with smart design.

In our Lab tests: Dyson stick vacuums are always among the best in our tests for both excellent performance and incredible features, and this V15 Detect is pelo exception.

Because maneuverability can be different from one consumer to the next, we have consumer testers rate the vacuums’ maneuverability by running them on a bare floor and carpet, around corners and under furniture.

Although the RS20 Pro did a decent job at maintenance cleaning, has plenty of settings, and a great app, it fell short on several other things. It couldn't cope well with heavy-duty messes, particularly when tested on cat litter.

However, I think it's fair to assume you'll need to manually empty it more than you would a traditional, self-empty robovac, given dock dustbins tend to hold 2.5L or 3L of dirt.

You are looking for a lightweight, quick picker-upper for bare floors and low-pile rugs. The cleaning performance of this type of vacuum is getting better and better, and it may be the only vac some homes require.

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This prevents any water from dripping onto fabrics. But for the price it is a hassle to have to manually remove and wash the mop after Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners each cleaning session.