It is pretty simple. Charge the Scooba, fill it with water and cleaning solution, set it down and press the clean button. That is basically it. It is pretty self sufficient and only need to be charged about every eighty minutes.

The Scooba somehow performs four different functions in only one pass, so it only has to go over each specific area one time only. It picks up any dirt or debris on the floor and then sprays the floor with its special iRobot Clorox cleaning formula. The machine has a spinning brush which then scrubs the floor and the remaining moisture and dirt is sucked into a dirty water holding tank. The floor is left shiny and most surprisingly dry.

The Scooba has intelligent navigation which enables the machine to know where it has been and not miss a spot on your floor. In addition, it avoids the carpet and apparently the stairs, although I have not tested the latter of the two claims. It steers itself around furniture and under areas that are harder to get to with a mob and bucket. I tend to take the chairs out of the kitchen anyway to help it along.

My house is almost entirely made up of bamboo hardwood floors except for some tile in one of the bathrooms and linoleum (for now) in the utility room. I found the Scooba to be successful on all three surfaces. I was worried about the safety of the bamboo floors with it, but they are a sealed hardwood and very compatible with the Scooba. The linoleum comes very clean and the tile (especially the grout) surprisingly is easily cleaned as well! The Scooba is safe for most hard floors except laminate (like Pergo) or unsealed hardwoods.

Because my house is made up of mostly hardwoods, the Scooba might go on cleaning until it needs to be recharged and not complete one room. To make sure that I keep it in a room, I use the virtual wall which is included with the Scooba. The virtual wall shines an infrared beam that the Scooba will not go past.