Robot vacuum cleaners may have been around for some time, but Dyson is hoping that its new device will win over consumers who have remained unconvinced about their value.

The company is set to launch its new 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner next year, promising to solve many of the problems it says plague the current devices, including poor suction and cleaning performance, the inability to adequately deal with different types of terrain and poor vision of the area to be cleaned.

The 360 Eye is the result of 16 years of work. Dyson developed its first robot vacuum cleaner, the DC06, about 10 years ago, but the device never made it to the market. Design engineer Nick Schneider said the company wasn’t satisfied with the device, so made the decision not to release it.

“We were quite close to launching, but at the time we didn’t think it was quite there yet, and we only want to release the technology when we know it’s ready and we know it’s going to be high performance,” he said. “It’s taken up to this point to be able to launch the Dyson 360 Eye that we feel is finally capable of getting the job done.”

The 360 Eye robot vacuum cleaner uses some of the technology developed for Dyson’s full size cleaners, including the digital motor and the radial root cyclones. The new device claims to have the most powerful suction available in a robot vacuum, and has an intelligent vision system that allows it to build a detailed plan of the room to ensure it doesn’t miss any spots.

“The vision system is one of the crucial elements of the machine, it essentially allows the robot to see and map the world around it, and the environment in which it’s in,” said Mr Schneider.

That includes building a plan of what areas have been cleaned and what remain to be covered by the vacuum. The system works by combining infrared sensors with a 360 degree panoramic camera.

Dyson engineers have also included tank-like tracks so the cleaner can tackle everything from room thresholds to thick carpets, and a brush bar that extends the width of the machine to get into corners, rather than the side sweepers other robot vacuum cleaners use.

The 360 Eye also has a wifi chip that connects to your home network so users can schedule cleanings through an app, which will be available for iOS and Android.

The device will go on sale next spring in Japan, with Europe to follow later in 2015. Dyson has yet to announce a price for the 360 Eye.