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The best robot vacuum cleaners, tried and tested at home
Should I get a robot vacuum cleaner? Until recently, for most people the answer was no. Even the best robot vacuums had a tendency to mount chair legs and get stuck, wheels feebly pawing at the air, or to have a nervous breakdown in a confined space.
AI has changed all that. “People want robot helpers,” says Colin Angle, the MIT robotics expert whose iRobot Roomba kick-started the whole industry back in 2002. “Rather than clean the whole house, they want to tell their robot vacuum to just clean under the kitchen table, or in the office, but that takes a huge amount of tech.”
The best robot vacuums cost well over £1,000 and even the cheapest are over £300, so these are not toys (although there have been more than a billion views of pets riding robot vacuums on YouTube.) To find out which are worth your hard-earned cash, we put some of the best robot vacuums to the test.
You can read our full reviews below, followed by answers to frequently asked questions, like how long robot vacuums last and which has the best suction. Here’s a quick look at five:
The best robot vacuum cleaners: At a glance
How to choose the best robot vacuum
Robot vacuums are constantly evolving and have a fascinating origin. Angle helped design the Sojourner rover that explored Mars and one of his robots was sent to the Fukushima disaster zone. It might be surprising to find this technology trundling around your floor, but the challenges are the same: navigating different surfaces, unusual shapes and unexpected obstacles.
“Now they use cameras not just to see where they’re going and remember where they’ve been, but to understand obstacles,” Angle says.
As well as advanced mapping technology, many robot vacuums can now also mop (although not all), and the docking stations have developed, too. While some simply charge the vacuum between cleans, others remove dust, debris and water from the robot’s on board bins and several even clean and sterilise mop pads. Below, you’ll even find a robot vacuum (the Dreame X50) with a mechanical leg for clambering over obstacles.
Ultimately, the best robot vacuum for your home comes down to the flooring you have and your budget; the more you spend, the more power or functionality you’ll get.