Vac to the future! Can robot mops and self-cleaning windows get us out of housework for ever?

I despise chores - so I jumped at the chance to test the latest hi-tech solutions (and simple hacks) that promise to keep domestic drudgery to a minimum

A prime candidate for secular canonisation - and a personal hero of mine - is Frances Gabe. She was a visionary, a terrible neighbour (she antagonised hers with a succession of snarling great danes and a penchant for nude DIY) and the inventor of the self-cleaning home. Gabe, who died in 2016 at 101, transformed her Oregon bungalow into a giant dishwasher", with a system of sprinklers, air dryers and drains, plus self-cleaning sinks, bath and toilet. Housework is a thankless, unending job," Gabe said. Who wants it? Nobody!"

I agree with Gabe - and with Lenin, who condemned housework as barbarously unproductive, petty, nerve-racking, stultifying and crushing drudgery". My own objections are mainly founded in sloth and a vague desire to stick it to the man, but for others housework can be difficult, or even impossible.