THE SMARTER WAY TO VACUUM

IF YOU'RE still cleaning up with one of those old-fashioned vacuums that you push around by hand, it's time for you to get smart.

- JUSTIN CONNOLLY

And there's no better time to do that than now, just as the prime mover in this space - iRobot - reveals a totally revamped line-up for its well-regarded Roomba series of robot vacuums.

iRobot more or less invented the robot vacuum and is now celebrating 35 years in the robot game.

It's an incredible 23 years since the first Roomba hit the market, but just a year since Amazon's efforts to buy iRobot hit the buffers and died.

That bruising episode in the company's history resulted in some lay-offs and a new CEO, Gary Cohen, who vowed to take the company in a different direction the new Roomba line-up is the first evidence of this.

The whole line-up offers some significant new features that are reasonably common in competitors, but should put Roomba back at the top of the pile. Especially with their new sleek design.

The new robots run from the basic but very competent 105 model, all the way through to an innovative 505 top-of-the-line device that adds several new features.