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Cleans floors all by itself. Just turn it on and walk away!
 How the Roomba works
When your Roomba is fully charged you will then need to prepare the room. Basically, this means placing "Virtual Wall Units" to prevent the Roomba from entering rooms or areas that you don't want it to go, blocking off any loose cords or cables as well as removing papers, clothing and other small objects from the floor. The Roomba won't damage any of these items (OK, well, except maybe paper. Paper doesn't hold up well when pitted against the Roomba!), but if it encounters any of these things it will stop and emit a distress signal until you remove the offending item. After your first few times using the Roomba, you get the feel for what the Roomba does and doesn't like and "Roomba Proofing" the room takes only a few moments. When the room is ready, simply place the Roomba on the floor and push one of the three buttons on the top of the unit that correspond to the rooms size that you plan to clean. Small (10 by 12 feet), Medium (14 by 16 feet), or Large (15 by 20 feet). The Roomba will then emit a cheery tone and set off to work. It begins by moving in a slowly expanding spiral pattern until it confronts an obstacle. When it touches something such as a wall, the non-marring bumper actually retracts to prevent any scuffing. With it's built-in sensors, it can actually 'follow' alongside a wall without touching it. The Roomba will then proceed to traverse the room in seemingly random patterns that appear arbitrary, but it's actually using sophisticated algorithms to ensure complete coverage. If your watching the Roomba do it's work, it can be frustrating watching the Roomba pass the same spot over and over again without cleaning the one spot that you want it to. It will get to it eventually, but it may not take the most direct route to get there. The fact is, the Roomba is designed to work when your not around, so if your watching it clean then your really not using it to it's full potential. If you still insist on wanting to tell the Roomba where to go (and you don't want to actually pick it up and move it yourself), then consider the Roomba Pro or the Roomba Pro Elite, both of which allow you to direct the Roomba around the room with the Roomba Remote.
The Roomba uses a three stage cleaning system. In the first stage, a spinning side brush actually extends out past the edge of the Roomba to allow it to clean right up to the edge of walls, In stage two a second side brush on the other side of the Roomba helps to push dirt towards the final two counter rotating brushes that pull up the majority of dirt and debris. And finally in stage three the squeegee vacuum picks up dust and fine particles. In actual usage, the Roomba's cleaning power varies. When on a hard floor, the Roomba cleans just as well as a full sized vacuum. On carpet, it really depends on the thickness. It's fine on low-pile carpet but on medium-pile carpet it definitely doesn't clean as thoroughly as a more powerful full sized vacuum. If you have medium-pile carpet, the Roomba is fine for maintenance in between regular vacuuming but it won't replace it. Don't even attempt to use the Roomba on deep-pile carpet, it simply won't work.
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