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This things are so popular right now in Japan. After going to the shops and seeing a demo of them, I'm also wondering how they work in a Japanese style apartment (most of which are tiny).

My friend got one (forgot the brand) because she didn't have time to clean.

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I've seen them at work in Japan and they are far from being efficient because of the space constraints, and because there are usually carpets everywhere in Japan too so it makes the surface uneven. They are way too expensive too, yet they seem to sell pretty well. Sharp even has a funny model that say "Ouch!" ("Itai" in Japanese) every time it hits something. That's cute, but that shows how stupid these robots are.

TBH vacuuming the floor is just a small part of cleaning - hiring a cleaner is probably a better solution then. Cheaper in the short run, too.

Yeah, but it's one I found I often neglected in the past. I ended up buying a Roomba since it was on sale and it's worked out quite well. It's not perfect at vacuuming but on average the floor is a lot cleaner when I can run the Roomba every couple of days while I go out for lunch versus me getting around to vacuuming every few weeks.

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