Editorial Policy / How We Research

This page is the public rulebook for Squadron Robot. If an article ever seems to conflict with it, this policy is the one to trust — and we want to fix the article.

What we publish

We publish original guides for people who are choosing, setting up, or living with consumer home and yard robots. A useful article answers a real question: what to measure before you buy, how a technology works, what a marketing phrase actually means, or how to maintain a machine. We do not publish copied manufacturer copy, spun “best of” lists, or news recaps that add no explanation.

We do not invent hands-on tests

We will not claim that we tested, scored, or ranked a robot unless we actually did that work, on a stated date, with a stated method. Until we have a product in our hands, our comparisons are research-based: manuals, specification sheets, public standards, agency definitions, and reputable reporting, all cited.

We will not invent statistics, star ratings, or “winner” language that implies a test we did not run. If a number comes from a manufacturer claim, we say so. Manufacturer claims can be optimistic, narrowly defined, or hard to compare across brands — we will point that out rather than launder the number as our own finding.

How we research

When we prepare an article we generally:

• Start from the reader’s job (pet hair, yard layout, dock space), not from a product launch.
• Read official product literature and support documents for the technologies we describe.
• Check public standards or government definitions where they exist — for example, the U.S. EPA’s description of HEPA filtration, or surveying agencies’ descriptions of RTK satellite positioning.
• Use independent journalism or specialist publications as citations when they help explain a mechanism, not as text to reproduce.
• Link those sources so a reader can check our work.

We may mention specific brands or models as examples of a design (rubber extractors, RTK mowers, a LiDAR turret). An example is not an endorsement and is not a claim that we have used that model.

Dates, updates, and errors

Each article shows a published date and an updated date. We change the updated date when we make a substantive correction or a meaningful refresh, not for typo-only edits. Robotics products change quickly; a framework can stay useful even when a particular model year does not.

If we get something wrong, we will correct it. When a contact email is available on the contact page, readers can use it to request a correction. We will note significant corrections in the article when they change the advice.

Independence, ads, and affiliates

Editorial decisions are ours. Manufacturers do not get to preview, approve, or pay for favorable coverage. We do not currently use affiliate links. If we add affiliate links or sponsored material later, we will disclose that clearly on the relevant pages and will not let a commission change a recommendation we have not earned.

Display advertising, such as Google AdSense, may appear after the site is established and after any required approvals. Ads will not be written as if they were our editorial voice. See the Privacy Policy for cookie and advertising disclosures.

Safety

Some of the machines we describe have spinning brushes or cutting blades and move around children, pets, and property. Nothing on this site replaces the safety instructions in a product manual, or common sense about supervision, slopes, ponds, and lifting a mower.