For those geeks with cats, I can say that this item is probably the best $300 I have spent in my entire life:

I call it the Death Star. You can watch it in action at www.litter-robot.com. The cats climb inside, do their business, and after 7 minutes, the Death Star rotates, sifts through the litter, lets the clumps fall through the waste ports (so sci-fi!!) into the base at the bottom, where they are collected into a garbage bag for later disposal. You never scoop litter again, you just throw it out when you take out your regular garbage.The best part about the Death Star was the transition period, when you have to let the old litter box get gross so the cats will want to venture into the new box. (Lucky for me, my box is out on my screened porch.) At this time, the Death Star is “not fully operational.” Oh yes. The jokes are endless, really. Once the cats get used to using the box when it’s not plugged in, then you run a cycle while the cat is safely being petted from across the room. One of my cats has an IQ of 2 and is spooked by just about everything, and he has no problems with the Death Star.

I can vouch 100% for the total awesomeness of this product.