As well as these standardized tests, my reviewers integrate these robovacs into their daily cleaning setup, to get a feel for how effective and user-friendly they are in general.

There’s pelo mopping attachment, pelo cable avoidance and no self-emptying bin – all things the cheaper iRobot roomba combo j7+ offers – but it does have a few unique advantages. It can extend a little edge cleaner to tidy along skirting boards.

The mop pad is mounted onto a roller (think: tank track), and as it rotates around the dirty liquid is siphoned off and clean water is sprayed on. That helps ensure a hygienic and effective mopping session – the mop won't simply spread messes around further as it tries to clean them.

Hannah is also interested in sustainability in the home and has completed a course with the University of the Arts London in sustainable textiles, so she can help cut through the noise on what’s green and what’s not.

It’s chunkier, for a start, and has a flat front and no spinning brushes at the side. It also has the most powerful suction of any robot vacuum we tried, which did mean it picked up plenty of dirt and debris around the home.

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.

This is its first model (with several more coming soon) and it put in a stand-out performance, cleaning an entire room and picking up almost all the mess our testers laid in less than 15 minutes.

It disabled the side brushes when on carpet, so it struggled on room edges, and it didn’t quite have the power to collect all the dust we laid. It did a decent job with pet hair and crumbs though.

There are some downsides, though. The suction power is low for the price bracket – in fact, generally, you're paying a premium for the small size here.

If your pet occasionally makes a mess on the carpet, look for models that are designed to recognize and avoid poop.

Other special features include SmartScrub technology and auto-fill and empty functionality – plus, it promises not to pick up any pet accidents (risking spreading it across your floors); it cleans around them instead.

Or if you're hunting for something even cheaper (in the US or UK), check Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners 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.

It's not perfect. Our tester found it struggled to follow more specific commands. However, it works fine if you just set it to clean your whole space in the most thorough way possible, so if that's your main plan for it, then it's still a solid recommendation.