Cleaning

Let's be honest: vacuuming is not the bulk of the work. Vacuuming is a victory lap that can only be performed after somebody's gone around picking up all the junk off the floor – a task that Roborock's flagship Saros Z70 is starting to take over.

Literally shining a new light on aircraft maintenance, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is using a new laser tool to remove paint, grime, and corrosion from vintage airplanes in days instead of months and with much less hazard to health.

Long hair can be a giant pain when it comes to robot vacuums, winding around the main and side brushes until things grind to a halt. Narwal's affordable Freo Pro robovac and mop comprehensively solves this problem with a pair of smart innovations.

What's one of the hardest things about using a hydration pack? Keeping its bladder clean, dry and mold-free between uses! That's where the DRYE device comes in, as it's a battery-powered fan designed specifically to dry hydration pack bladders.

We review Roborock's new wet and dry stick vacuum, the F25 ACE, which delivers a lot of bang for a reasonable amount of bucks. From powerful suction and anti-tangle tech to auto-dispensing detergent and self-cleaning, it ticks many boxes.

Roborock's handsome Flexi Lite claims 17,000 pascals of suction, 40 minutes of battery, a self-cleaning and drying roller-mop, a lay-flat mode for getting under furniture, and right-to-the-edge cleaning on one side. How's it go, then?

This tech has come a long way since the first Roomba in 2002. Now, the latest in iRobot's vacuum-mop range, the Combo 10 Max, has made some noted advances. But will it be enough to convert me – or any other newcomers – to the robot-cleaner life?

Eureka's new flagship robo-cleaner goes to impressive lengths to look after itself, automating as much of its maintenance as possible so you don't need to. We've been living with this plucky robot for a few months now.

From washing urinals to tidying up the beach, we can already see a future where our robot servants help keep our world a little cleaner. Now, a robotic arm has mastered the surprisingly complex task of sink washing, showing off its ability to learn.

A 45-story office tower in New York has become the first in the world to deploy the Ozmo automated window cleaning system, where a platform dangled from the roof is home to robots that spritz the glass 3x faster than human cleaning crews.

Migo Robotics' Ascender is the world's first stair-climbing robotic vacuum cleaner and floor mop. People certainly seem to like the idea, as its just-launched Kickstarter campaign has already racked up almost $2 million in pledges.

A bicycle-towed electric street sweeper may soon be clearing gravel, broken glass, bits of metal and other debris off a bike lane near you. Known as the Bike Lane Sweeper, the device is being trialled at multiple locations in Canada and the US.