Could a new generation of robot vacuums change cleaning? 18 February 2014 Last updated at 12:28 GMT Robot vacuum cleaners have been available to buy for more than 10 years but for many people household cleaning remains a manual job. BBC Click's Lara Lewington looks at some of the latest generation of robotic vacuums to see if they could make cleaning less of a chore.AirCraft Pilot Max Robotic Vacuum in White Standard Delivery Included * Your estimated delivery time will be 3 business days from the time of Order. Find out more about our Delivery Terms. Featured at No 1 in T3 Magazine's Best Robot Vacuum Cleaners 2015."With solid build quality, effortless obstacle avoidance and a reasonable programming function, this is a bot that you really could come to love."/features/best-robot-vacuum-cleanersAirCraft's most advanced PILOT yet, installed with twin rotating beater bars on the underside of each one – a traditional fibre brush bar and a rubber brush bar, which work together to ensure every type of floor surface is thoroughly cleaned.

Its extra long Side Brush gets into corners and edges, sweeping dust, dirt and hair into the vacuum suction inlet. PILOT MAX uses advanced navigation software based on simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) to continually scan the room, making instant decisions based on input from the numerous external sensors.Features:Designed to clean all floor types, including carpet, tiles, hardwood and linoleum Speed and suction are adjusted automatically to suit the level of dirt and floor type being cleaned, to ensure your floors are cleaned ultra efficientlyCleans for 90 to 120 minutes per cleaning cycle before automatically returning to its Charging Dock, and can clean an average sized room (4 x 4 metres) in approximately 20 minutes Designed with pets in mind, and is amazing for collecting even the finest hairs. Simply schedule a daily clean to solve the persistent problem of pet hairJust touch the AUTO button – and that’s it! Let your PILOT MAX do the dirty work. When PILOT MAX finds an area that requires extra attention, the suction power level will automatically increase and it will start cleaning in a spiral to ensure the area is thoroughly cleaned At just 90mm high, PILOT MAX’s slim profile means it can clean under sofas, beds, tables and other areas that other vacuum cleaners simply can’t reach PILOT MAX detects the edges of stairs other ledges

, causing it to immediately reverse and change direction – so you can safely clean the top of the landing too PILOT MAX will automatically search for its docking station, safely dock and begin recharging when required, so it’s always ready for the next cleaning cycle PILOT MAX uses a multi-filter system to trap even the tiniest particles of dust, dirt and allergenskenmore true hepa vacuum cleaner, leaving behind only fresh, clean air. electrolux rechargeable vacuum cleaner priceThe filters are washable, and a spare filter is included in the box so you can carry on cleaning even when one filter is being cleaned You can niftily control and program your PILOT MAX with the included RF Remote ControlA Virtual Wall is included with your PILOT MAX, so you can restrict cleaning to a specific area or room. best upright vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors

No ‘magnetic tape’ needed!Specification:Model Name: Pilot MaxMaterial: Plastic, rubber, metalFilter Types: HEPACapacity: 500mlDimensions: D 32 x H 9 cmWeight: 3.1 kgFloor Types: All: carpets, hard floors (hardwood, linoleum, tiles)Settings: Auto, spot clean, daily schedulerWattage: 35wTools / Accessories: LCD remote, virtual wall, charging dock, spare filter, cleaning tool, microfibre mop attachmentBag: Bagless D 32 x H 9 cm All Floor Types (Except Stairs) DeliveryThe estimated delivery time will be business days from the time of order.Additional day(s) transit may be required for remote areas.Public and Regional holidays may affect delivery lead times.Delivery times may vary in the event of adverse weather conditions.Please note that we are unable to ship to the Channel Islands, Post Office boxes and BFPO.Further postcode delivery restrictions might apply to this item.ReturnsWe guarantee your satisfaction and want you to be happy with your purchase. If you wish to return an item or you would like to contact us, please click here for more information.

Please pack your parcel up securely, preferably using its original packaging, but removing the delivery label.If your order was delivered "Kerb side", it will need to be available for kerb side pick up.If the item arrived to you in a box, it will need to be in a box at the time of pick up.We regret that we cannot accept and process online purchase returns at any Costco Warehouses.Find out more about our Delivery, Cancellations and Assistance PolicyFew of us profess to actually enjoy vacuuming, which is why the idea of a robot cleaner that does everything automatically is such an appealing one. Unfortunately, the reality hasn't lived up to that promise, with most robot vacuum cleaners being little more than moving dusters. With the 360 Eye , however, Dyson thinks it's managed to create something that combines the best of both worlds, creating a robot that's first and foremost a vacuum cleaner that's designed to largely replace your entire home cleaning device. One of the first things that I noticed about the 360 Eye is that it's a little taller than most other robot vacuums, but has a smaller overall footprint.

The added height gives it a more optimised shape for Dyson's cyclone technology, while the smaller size makes it easier for the 360 Eye to get into tight gaps and spaces. The other big change over other robotic cleaners I've seen is that it has tank track treads at the front, making it much less likely to get trapped on a bit of furniture than its wheel-based rivals. The track treads also helps it cope with a wider variety of surfaces, as my review sample had no problems whatsoever moving between carpet and bare floorboards. Build quality is everything that I've come to expect from Dyson, as the 360 Eye feels tough and rugged. Everything from its sleek body to the neat white power supply oozes quality: this is certainly a robot that means business. Setting it up is incredibly easy. If you really just want to get going, you just fold down the A4-sized docking station, plug in the power (which, quite neatly, can connect to either side of the dock), drop your robot on it and, once it's charged, hit the big Go button on top.

It really is as simple as that. If you want a bit more intelligence and see what your robot has been up to, you need to install the Dyson Link App and follow the simple on-screen instructions to create a free online account and link it with your robot. Before you start a clean, you may need to do a little bit of tidying up, as the 360 Eye has all of the same limitations as a regular vacuum cleaner. That means thin rugs, discarded clothing and thin wires can all get sucked up, blocking the vacuum cleaner and stopping it from doing its job. Additionally, the cleaner needs light to see where it's going and a clean run out of where it's stored to start cleaning, so it's best to operate it during the day and think carefully about where you put the dock. Of course, the robot can't climb stairs, so you'll need to carry it to different locations if your accommodation is on multiple levels. Fortunately, its small size and the lightweight dock makes this easy: if you're cleaning a small-ish room, you can just ditch the dock and carry the vacuum on its own.

Once you've worked out the best place to put the 360 Eye, there's really not much more you need to do, as the little robot will set off and thoroughly clean. As the name suggests, the Eye 360 navigates by using a 360-degree camera to see where it is. It cleans by using an outwards spiral pattern divided into blocks, ensuring that it can cover every bit of floor surface it has access to. Random bounce patterns used by other cleaners aren't guaranteed to give such good coverage. The Eye 360's navigation is so advanced that it can even move from room to room provided you leave doors open, but it's also smart enough to avoid falling into pitfalls such as tumbling down a set of stairs. As I said at the start of this article, the 360 Eye is a vacuum cleaner first and foremost, producing 20 air watts of suction power. Other robot vacuum cleaners only produce a fraction of this, choosing to conserve energy for moving, rather than actually sucking up dirt. In addition, the 360 Eye has a rotating brush with both nylon and carbon fibre filaments.

The nylon filaments are for carpet, dislodging dirt, and sucking it up, while the carbon fibre filaments are for hard floors, disturbing dirt and preventing static from letting it stick to the floor. Importantly, the brush head is wider than the 360 Eye and is pulled behind the cleaner: this means you get cleaning as wide as the robot and its wheels can't distribute dust. So, is it any good? Well, the simple answer is yes. It's the best robot vacuum cleaner by a long stretch, and it coped remarkably well in all our tests. My first bit of testing was on polished black tiles to see how well it coped picking up baking powder. With one sweep through the middle, it picked up the vast majority of powder without smudging or swirling it over the floor; other robot vacuum cleaners, on the other hand, have always struggled here. Then, I put it through a series of real-world tests. In my house, the 360 Eye worked its way round a couple of bedrooms, diving under the beds, around and under chairs, and successfully navigated from bare floorboards onto carpet.

At the end, the bin was rather full of fluff, and bits that rarely get vacuumed had been thoroughly cleaned. Ultimately, the 360 Eye isn't going to replace the need for a traditional or cordless vacuum cleaner, and there are some situations where a regular model is better, such as cleaning stairs, very tight gaps and bigger spills, such as after cooking. However, the 360 Eye fits in perfectly as a maintenance cleaner, doing most of the heavy lifting and keeping your home tidy with very little effort, and dramatically reducing the number of times that you'll have to do a full sweep with a regular cleaner. On full suction, you get around 30 to 40 minutes per charge out of the 360 Eye. Suction doesn't die as the battery starts to drain or as the bin gets full, either, and the cleaner is smart enough to return to its docking station and recharge itself before carrying on. There's very little maintenance to do with the 360 Eye aside from emptying the 0.33L bin when it's full. This doesn't sound like a particularly large bin, but it proved more than enough for my entire downstairs, and the more you use it the less dust you'll have on each use.

Aside from that, the pre- and post-motor filters need to be cleaned regularly using water once a month. They're easy to get to and don't require a lot of maintenance. Finally, the brush can be removed by unlocking it using a coin in the side-slot. This is handy if something's got tangled in the machine, such as a cable, or if you notice that it's a little clogged with dirt and want to clean it up. Dyson also does its own maintenance, regularly updating the firmware to make the robot better. Since the cleaner launched in Japan, updates have improved edge cleaning and reduced the amount of time that the cleaner spends thinking about its next move. I recommend using the Dyson Link app to control your robot. As well as letting you start a clean from anywhere in the world, the app also lets you schedule one-off or permanent cleans. It will also pop-up a notification if there's something wrong: my cleaner sucked up a headphone cable at one point and I got the chance to fix the problem straight away when the app warned me about it.

As the manual is built into the app, it could also tell me how to fix the issue there and then without having to look it up elsewhere online. The app also shows you the area the 360 Eye covered on a clean. From my house, I could see that it had done under the bed and had covered a lot more ground than I normally would, so it's also useful for tracking just how efficient it's being when you're not there to keep an eye on it. As this is Dyson, the Eye 360 certainly isn't cheap. At £800, it's very expensive, particularly as you'll still need a regular vacuum cleaner to finish off the bits the 360 Eye didn't manage. However, you have to also think about how much time you spend cleaning and how much time a robot can give you back. If your time's worth at least £10 an hour, say, and you spend an hour a week vacuuming, it only takes just over 18 months for the 360 Eye to pay for itself. Truthfully, this is a robot vacuum cleaner that can largely replace regular vacuuming. It's certainly powerful enough and picks up enough dust, and will most likely visit areas that you generally don't clean as thoroughly.