Nobody enjoys looking at the floor and realizing it’s time to vacuum again. Crumbs appear out of nowhere, dust somehow finds its way back the moment you’ve finished, and if you have kids or pets, keeping the floors clean can feel like a job with no finish line. So, if a little robot is willing to quietly take care of some of that while we get on with something better, we’re certainly not going to complain.
Robot vacuums have also grown up considerably from the little discs that used to bounce around furniture and occasionally need rescuing from underneath the sofa. Today, they’re becoming genuinely useful home companions, and the latest arrivals from MOVA, Shark and iRobot show just how many different ways there now are to take some of the effort out of everyday cleaning. They probably won’t make you throw away the regular vacuum just yet, but they might make you reach for it a lot less often — and frankly, that sounds pretty good to us.
- Brand: MOVA
- Model: Z60 Ultra Roller Complete
- Maximum Suction: 28,000Pa
- Mopping System: HydroForce™ Mopping
- Mop Pressure: 4,100Pa
- Edge Cleaning: MaxiReach™ Technology
- Carpet Protection: AutoShield™ Technology
- Anti-Tangle System: TroboWave™ DuoBrush
- Navigation: FlexScope™ Navigation
- Obstacle Crossing: StepMaster™ 2.0 — Up to 80 mm
- Battery: 6,400 mAh
- Base Station: Auto-Emptying, Roller Washing & Drying, & Solution Refilling
MOVA is a relatively new name in the UK market, but it certainly isn’t arriving quietly. The Z60 Ultra Roller Complete is a seriously ambitious robot vacuum, going well beyond the basic vacuum-and-mop formula with 28,000Pa of suction and a HydroForce system that continuously feeds fresh water through a 12-nozzle spray system while removing dirty water in real time. There’s also a high-speed fluffing system that lifts the roller fibres as it cleans, while the 25.6 cm-wide MaxiReach roller can extend by another 4.1 cm to work closer to walls and corners. MOVA pairs that with an extendable side brush, giving the Z60 the ability to reach areas that conventional circular robot vacuums often leave behind.
Carpets get a particularly clever treatment through AutoShield. When the Z60 detects one, it retracts its wet roller and deploys a physical moisture shield rather than simply lifting the mop slightly above the surface. The side brush can rise by 10 mm and the roller mop by 14 mm, allowing the robot to adapt its cleaning setup as it moves between different flooring types. For homes with pets or plenty of long hair, the TroboWave DuoBrush combines a pure-rubber brush with a rubber-and-bristle brush, with MOVA claiming 99% hair-removal efficiency while reducing tangles around the rollers.
Getting around a busy home is another area where MOVA has packed in some serious engineering. StepMaster 2.0 uses a retractable robotic leg to negotiate thresholds and other obstacles, including two-stage barriers measuring up to 80 mm in total, while a single obstacle can be up to 48 mm high. Lower obstacles and shaggy rugs are handled by the LiftPro chassis, which can raise the entire body rather than leaving the robot stuck. FlexScope navigation adds a retractable DToF sensor that rises for mapping open spaces and disappears into the body when necessary, reducing the Z60 to just 96 mm tall so it can reach underneath lower sofas and beds.
The convenience continues when the Z60 returns to its base station. Alongside automatic dust emptying, the dock can wash the roller with water heated to 80°C, dry it with hot air and automatically refill cleaning solution, while the DuoSolution system uses separate compartments to tackle everyday dirt and tougher stains or odours. Inside the station are a 3.2-litre dust bag, 4-litre clean-water tank and 3.5-litre used-water tank, while the robot itself carries a 210ml dust box and 6,400mAh battery. Put all of that together, and the Z60 feels less like a vacuum you have to manage and more like a cleaning system designed to need you as little as possible.
- Brand: Shark Ninja
- Model: PowerDetect™ UV Reveal™ 2-In-1 Vacuum and Mop
- Cleaning System: 2-In-1 Vacuum & Mop
- Stain Detection: UV Stain Detect™
- Mopping System: HyperSonic Mopping™
- Cleaning Intelligence: Six PowerDetect™ Technologies
- Edge Cleaning: Dry Edge Detect & Wet Edge Detect
- Navigation: NeuroNav AI™
- Obstacle Avoidance: 360° LiDAR & 3D Sensors
- Obstacle Crossing: NeverStuck™ Charged
- Battery Life: Up to 180 Minutes
- Base Station: NeverTouch™ Pro Base — Auto-Emptying, Refilling & Thermal Mop Cleaning
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal has one feature that immediately separates it from most robot vacuums — it can look for messes you might not even realize are there. Its UV Stain Detect technology uses ultraviolet light to reveal hidden or dried-on stains, including spills and pet accidents, before HyperSonic Mopping targets those areas with a more intensive scrubbing pattern. Shark also uses its PowerDetect technologies to recognize changes in floor type, dirt levels and edges, adjusting the way it cleans rather than treating every part of the room exactly the same.
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Getting around the house is handled by NeuroNav AI, which combines RGB sensors, lasers and an UltraRange Camera to map the home’s layout and navigate around furniture and everyday obstacles. NeverStuck technology helps the robot manoeuvre over thresholds, while Shark’s edge-cleaning system tackles one of the usual weak spots for circular robot vacuums by directing debris away from walls and into its cleaning path. Battery life reaches up to 180 minutes, giving it enough endurance to cover larger spaces before returning to its dock.
That dock is another big part of the appeal — the NeverTouch Pro Base automatically empties the robot, refills it and cleans the mop with thermal heat, while the ThermaCharged Hygiene Suite sanitizes the mop pad between cleaning sessions. And unlike the usual black or white appliance, this particular version comes in Shark’s Evergreen Luxe Collection finish, giving the robot and its sizeable base a more considered look for something that’s likely to remain permanently visible in the home, and it comes in other alternative colours to match your home setting.
- Brand: iRobot
- Model: Roomba® Mini Robot Vacuum & Mop
- Cleaning System: Vacuum & Mop
- Suction: 70x More Power-Lifting Suction
- Mopping System: Disposable Mopping Pads
- Carpet Protection: Automatic Carpet Detection & Avoidance
- Navigation: ClearView™ LiDAR
- Obstacle Avoidance: LiDAR & Front-Facing IR Laser
- Smart Control: Roomba® Home App & Voice Assistant
- Cleaning Coverage: Up to 2x Better in Tight Spaces
- Base Station: AutoEmpty™ Dock
The iRobot Roomba Mini is still a very new arrival on the robot-vacuum scene, having first launched in Japan in February 2026 before expanding into the UK and Europe in March. Originally developed with smaller Japanese homes in mind, it takes a refreshingly different approach from the increasingly large robot cleaners on the market. Its compact body is designed to squeeze underneath furniture and into tighter spaces that larger robots can miss, while still offering both vacuuming and mopping. iRobot claims 70x more power-lifting suction compared with its reference model, with disposable scented mopping pads providing a simple way to switch from vacuuming to cleaning hard floors.
The Mini might be smaller, but iRobot hasn’t stripped away the smart features. ClearView LiDAR maps the home in under 10 minutes and can store up to three maps, allowing the robot to navigate around clutter and clean in a more organized pattern. It also automatically detects and avoids carpets while mopping, while the Roomba Home app provides scheduling and customized maps. You don’t necessarily need the app, either—you can simply press the button on the robot and send it cleaning without connecting it to Wi-Fi.
The AutoEmpty Dock has also been downsized to suit the Mini, taking up a claimed 33% less floor space than standard cleaning-robot docks. It automatically transfers collected debris into an AllergenLock bag that can hold up to 90 days’ worth of dirt, reducing how frequently you need to empty it. Compared with the technologically loaded MOVA and Shark, the Roomba Mini feels deliberately simpler, but that may be exactly its appeal: a smaller robot designed to clean the places bigger ones struggle to reach, without taking over the room when it’s finished.
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The thing we like most about these three robot vacuums is that they aren’t all trying to solve the same problem in the same way. The MOVA Z60 Ultra Roller Complete is easily the one that impresses us most, with its 28,000Pa suction, continuously washed roller mop, and ability to handle carpets and larger thresholds. If you have a larger home, pets or simply want as much of the cleaning process automated as possible, the MOVA would be our pick of the three.
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal takes a different approach, and we think its UV stain detection is more useful than it initially sounds. Being able to find dried spills and stains you might otherwise miss gives the robot a reason to go back and scrub particular areas rather than treating the whole floor equally. Independent reviews have also found the feature genuinely useful, although the Shark’s inability to store multiple floor maps is worth considering if you live in a multi-storey home.
The Roomba Mini could be the best option for a lot of people. It doesn’t have the MOVA’s advanced features or the Shark’s UV stain detection, but not everyone needs those extras. Its compact size lets it reach tight spaces, the charging dock uses 33% less floor space, and it can empty its bin automatically for up to 90 days. For a smaller apartment or home, we would gladly trade some fancy features for something simpler and smaller. MOVA is best for power, Shark for smart stain cleaning, and Roomba Mini for easy use and small spaces.
