Whether you love them or loathe them, household chores are a necessary part of everyday life. So wouldn’t it be great to have someone or something to pick up the slack? Enter: the robot vacuum cleaner, a worthwhile investment for any busy household.
Recently, a number of new manufacturers have joined the vacuum cleaner market, offering a wide range of features like voice control and room mapping – with some being slightly unnecessary, and some genuinely useful.
Before you invest in a robot vacuum cleaner, it’s important to consider exactly what you’re looking for, whether it’s a dual function cleaner that can vacuum and mop, a low maintenance product which effectively cleans hardwood floors only, or a powerful hoover that will reach every corner of your home, sucking up pet hair, dust and everything else in between.
Robot vacuums can be very expensive – one product we tested cost almost £1,200 – but the good news is, as the technology develops, these products are becoming more and more affordable, with models now available to suit a wide range of budgets.
To help you make this decision, we’ve tested out a range of robot vacuum cleaners in three different settings: a small bedroom with a hardwood floor and rugs for the robot to navigate over, a large, open-plan kitchen complete with dining table and chairs, as well as a carpeted living room featuring numerous obstacles such as sofas, a coffee table, a desk and a television. Our final pick features the products that performed the best in challenging terrain and we believe are worth investing in.
You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent.