The Venga! Robot Vacuum Cleaner is a great budget option, which offers superb versatility through changeable heads. These allow it to act as a vacuum, mop or brush. It also has built-in sensors to stop it from colliding with walls or falling down the stairs.

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.

The All-Rubber Brush floats on a multi-directional frame for effective cleaning and easily clears away pet hair with fewer hair tangles.

Q Revo has 30 water flow levels so you can fine-tune cleaning to match your floor types and preferences.

While upright and canister vacuums are better at deep-cleaning hardwood and carpets, a robot vacuum—often controlled by a smartphone app—can be useful for regular touch-ups.

There are all the smart sensing systems that you need, offering anti-bump, anti-fall and obstacle detection. The Proscenic will also recognise when it needs charging and return automatically back to the charging base.

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 each cleaning session.

There are no other X10 models in the Eufy range, so you can't choose, for example, a version without mopping or with a more basic dock. There is a more advanced option: the Eufy Omni S1 Pro which adds improved obstacle avoidance, automatic detergent dispensing, and swaps the spinning mop pads for Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners a roller that's fed by a constant supply of fresh water. It's significantly more expensive, though.

Smart features elevate its usability: the app enables room mapping, no-go zones and scheduled cleaning. It also generates heat maps showing the dirtiest and cleanest areas of your floors, with the vacuum adjusting suction levels in real time to tackle tough spots.

Navigation: Our technicians attach a tracking device to the vacuum and map its movement through a multiroom lab. Then they calculate the coverage of the room over multiple runs and note what the vacuum avoids and what it doesn’t. They conduct several runs to see whether the vacuum is able to learn the layout and improve its navigation.

And if you suffer from allergies, these robot vacuums have high-efficiency filters to help eliminate allergens that are hanging in the air. Of course, the downside to having a robot vacuum clean up after your pets is that you'll also have to make sure you plan for more frequent maintenance.

Floor cleaning can feel like a never-ending chore, but if daily tidying isn’t on your schedule, a robot vacuum can step in to help. While these devices won’t entirely eliminate the need for manual cleaning, they can significant reduce how often you’ll need to do it.

Not all robovacs can handle the extra challenge posed by lots of pet hair, but one that really impressed on this front was the Dreame L40 Ultra. This bot was put through its paces in a home filled with furry, four-legged friends, and really rose to the occasion.

Noah works as a product reviews analyst in the Home Care & Cleaning Lab where he helps design and perform tests on various product categories. He draws on scientific expertise garnered during his time as an environmental researcher, where he managed environmental monitoring equipment, analyzed water samples in a lab and developed protocols for restoration projects. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in environmental science from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.