The vacuum will also notify you if there are areas you need to tackle yourself. One thing to factor into your scheduling is that when it’s on boost mode, it requires regular recharging, so although it’s a very quick vacuum, if you want it to tackle a bigger room, it's worth allowing enough time for a recharge. Overall, it’s a sleek addition to the robot vacuum market.

That said, the app lets you easily designate rooms, so assigning the vacuum to mop just the kitchen or the bathroom is straightforward.

Why we love it: Not your typical handheld vac design, the Worx has a unique boxy shape, a removable battery that fits into other Worx tools and a top handle for easy toting. It's a great option for a car vacuum for those reasons.

Clear instructions meant testers found it easy to set up and use, and they liked its app control, but struggled to get the voice tech working. Its docking station is available separately and performed well on test generally, even though the vacuum’s canister didn’t always fully empty into it.

When we first get the robot set up, we'll see how long it takes to create a map of the home, and how accurate that map is. For subsequent runs, we'll keep an eye on how the robot navigates the space; if takes a logical route through the house, if it repeats already-clean areas, and so on.

While an effective helper around the home, the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra’s docking space is larger than expected, measuring around 45cm on every side to house its dual dust and water buckets.

The Eureka J20 is the best robot vacuum for hard floors, thanks to a game-changing new 'RollRenew' mop style. With most robovacs, mopping is a bit of an afterthought, but that's not the case here.

Robot vacuums have a series of brushes on the underside of the machine that work together to collect dirt and dust that they come in contact with. The dirt is then sucked into the dust cup, which is fitted into the vacuum's body.

Baby tech & essentialsKids’ sportsKids’ travelPushchairsKids’ clothing & footwearToys & activitiesSchool clothing & equipmentGifts for kidsKids furnitureChildren’s books

For certain people and households, very much so. I only used manual vacuums before I started testing robot vacuums for TechRadar, and now I wouldn't be without one. They have revolutionized my cleaning – I Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners live alone, so I'm not dealing with loads of dirt and dust buildup, but I send the robot out once or twice a week and it just takes care of the vacuuming for me.

As well as testing their hoovering skills, we rated each robot’s app and how easy they were to set up and maintain. We also considered the costs of any replacement parts – all robot vacuums wear out over time and require fresh filters, brushes, dust bags and rollers.

Or if you're hunting for something even cheaper (in the US or UK), check out our Eufy RoboVac 11S review a straightforward robovac that punches above its price tag.

In short, yes. While not the case for every robot we tested, we found some models that were able to reach into nooks and crannies and manoeuvre around furniture with ease – a task that many regular vacuums also struggle with.

In fact, it lifted over 90 per cent of the dirt in both tests, something we don’t often see with robot vacuums.