Robotic virtual boundaries

A cleaning robot 102 and method of operating the robot comprising, detecting a physical boundary marker using sensors on the robot, indicating a virtual boundary (812, fig 8) corresponding to the location of the physical boundary marker on an area map (800, fig 8) for the robot, maintaining the virtual boundary after the physical boundary is removed and the robot avoiding the area beyond the virtual boundary when operating. The method further detecting a gap between a boundary and an adjacent wall and extending the virtual boundary to the wall. The method may include the virtual boundary being indicated on the area map by a user. The method may involve identifying the boundary during a training run of the robot where the map is presented to a user.