Officers on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon in the USA, were recently called to a suburban household amid reports of a potential burglar, only to discover a much smaller threat than expected.

Washington County officers were called in by a man staying at his nephew’s house, who had heard noises and the closing of a bathroom door followed by more rustling and sounds.

Police arrived and surrounded the house and a canine unit was called in. Inside the house, officers called out to the ‘suspect’ demanding they surrender themselves.

Eventually armed officers breached the bathroom only to be confronted by the owners’ robotic vacuum cleaner, which had become trapped in the room and was noisily repeating its rounds.

The incident was captured on a Washington County officer’s body camera, capturing a tense moment that quickly turns to farce.

As in-home robots become more prevalent, this ‘home invasion’ is likely to be just one of many such incidents of small robotic cleaning devices causing panic.