Household chores like ironing, washing and vacuuming are never particularly enjoyable, we think you’ll all agree. In fact, most people hate them and the few that might enjoy them are probably getting paid to do so.

Don’t worry though, there is something that could make your life a little easier and make one of these three chores a little more fun – a robotic vacuum cleaner.

These little smart bots are designed to ease the misery of household cleaning. They cannot replace the traditional vacuum cleaner in terms of cleaning power, but regularly scheduled cleaning with these bots often results in a satisfactory clean and they keep your house far more presentable.

We’re running down the very best robot vacuums we’ve seen, all in order to help you with your purchasing decision.

Best Robot Vacuum: Our Top Pick

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is a premium robot vacuum cleaner with masses of cleaning features that make it a joy to have in your home. It’s not cheap, but for your money it does it all – vacuums, mops, self-empties and cleans its own mop too. This robot vacuum is so clever it even dries its own mop, intelligently avoids and maps obstacles like shoes and scattered items and does it all with minimum fuss.

This bot also has some serious suction power, so much so that it was sucking up everything in sight. It does have some problems with thick rugs but if you have hard flooring or hard-wearing carpets then it’s a great one to buy.

Robot vacuum cleaners we also recommend

There are a lot of other robot vacuum cleaners out there with wildly different price tags, features and specs. We’ve tried a lot of them over the last few years and the following are others we’d also recommend considering.

The iRobot Roomba S9+ is a premium robot vacuum cleaner from perhaps the most well-known name in the business. As you’d expect that means you get a range of features including automatic dirt disposal, intelligent home mapping and plenty of clever features.

It has a smart mapping feature that lets you set specific rooms to clean and even automatically boosts suction on carpet while also having an Anti-Allergen System on board.

We found this bot delivered excellent cleaning performance and plenty of convenient features too.

Robot vacuums are designed to make household chores that little bit easier and the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra does this with gusto.

Purchased with its accompanying self-emptying dock, this robot vacuum cleaner will not only vacuum (and mop) your home, but will also empty and clean itself when it’s finished.

The huge dock not only works to charge the bot, but also to empty its dustbin, wash its mop and prepare it for the next cleaning session.

This makes automated cleaning even more convenient and pleasant. With superb cleaning capabilities, excellent obstacle avoidance skills and much more besides, the S7 MaxV Ultra is well worth a look.

We had some setup troubles, but there’s no denying that the Neato Robotics Botvac D7 Connected is a class act and once setup, the app is very simple to use whether setting regular cleaning times or just telling the cleaner to start.

The virtual no-go lines work well and the D7 is at home on all floor types. It’s also very flat so it can go under most furniture. The D7 doesn’t have the screen of the older and cheaper Neato Connected model, but it’s easy to set off without the app and you’ll get a cleaning map after it’s finished through the app.

There’s an eco mode on board too and the D7 allows mapping of multiple floors, with the possibility of purchasing extra charging base stations. The intelligent mapping system not only includes the ability to add no-go lines to each floor but also supports “Quick Boost” charging mode to help the robot dock for extra juice mid-clean.

The Dyson 360 Heurist is a distinctly Dyson device through and through. It immediately strikes thanks to a big, bold, blue design, powerful suction and impressive smarts too.

This robot’s cameras and sensors allow it to easily navigate around the home while it cleans and it’s supported by a powerful and detailed app that includes plenty of functionality.

The Dyson 360 Heurist is taller than other bots due to the inclusion of Dyson’s Radial Root Cyclone technology. This means it can’t slip easily under furniture but it has some seriously impressive suction capabilities.

Despite that, it’s still one of the best robot cleaners we’ve seen. It does, however, come with quite a hefty price tag – as you’d expect from a Dyson product.