✔️ Weight: Lastly, the weight of a vacuum makes all the difference when lifting it up and down the stairs and around the house. A heavier, larger option may be great for power and durability, but it's not ideal if you live in a multi-level home or want to vacuum hard-to-reach places.

If your priority is size, though, this is a solid choice. Our reviewer felt it would be a great choice as an 'upstairs' robot vacuum, away from the tougher challenges of kitchens and living rooms.

The impressive suction pulled huge volumes of hair from carpet, and handled hard floors extremely well too. We had no issues with the hair clogging the self-empty mechanism, and a larger-than-usual dock dustbin also means you won't need to replace the dust bags too frequently.

Most uprights feature onboard hoses, wands and tools for vacuuming crevices and upholstery and cleaning above-the-floor spaces like door frames and crown moldings.

And a capable robot vacuum could really be worth the investment if you're finding it tricky to stay on top on manual cleaning.

Whereas most robot vacuum cleaners start out with a robot body before adding a vacuum, Dyson seems to do things the other way around. It’s effectively a properly powerful, full-size Dyson, shrunk down to the size of a robot.

It’s heavier as a result, but it wowed our testers who said it didn’t smear any ketchup beyond the already stained area when cleaning – something rarely seen in the lab. Its vacuuming was also methodical and effective, lifting an average of 83 per cent of dust and dirt across the different test room floors.

✔️ Cord or cordless: Decide whether you want a vacuum with a cord, which can limit how far you can vacuum until you need to find another outlet, or if you prefer cordless, which has a battery life you'll need to monitor.

). It uses them to get over small barriers up to 6cm (like carpet transition strips), but who knows what they'll be able to climb over in future? Read our full review of this innovative new cleaner below.

We tested each robot vacuum cleaner over many months and in different homes (some with pets), paying close attention to how each robot performed in new surroundings.

The Worx cordless Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners cube ran for 23 minutes on low speed in our Lab tests but can run for longer with a higher-capacity battery from the brand. Although it's a little heavier than other handheld vacuums, you don't need to hold it to use it. It's quiet and all of its tools store on board.

The mopping mode uses a pad rather than rotating brush heads, so results are more of a light wipe-down than a proper scrub. The S8 MaxV Ultra’s 10,000Pa suction power ensures deep cleaning, even reaching tight corners, though this comes with the downside of being rather noisy. Thankfully, it’s easy to schedule the robovac to mop and clean while you’re out of the house.

So if you just want a capable robot vacuum and are happy to empty it yourself, you'll be able to shop mostly in the budget and lower mid-range brackets.

They rate the ease of removing the dust cups or bags and the ease of operating the vacuums’ controls. We also test any other features like battery charge indicators, brush roll control buttons and other tools and accessories.