I have roomba 880 stationed in open w/nothing blocking view (virtual walls, lighthouse, doors, etc) but it will not go back to docking station even when I press docking and its only 6 feet away.

check the warranty period and if still under warranty , take it back for a warranty check

make sure all virtual wall lighthouses are turned off. Your Roomba may be getting a signal to not proceed if the lighthouses are turned ON and facing the Roomba

I sometimes have the same problem with my Roomba 530 (named Ethel). Make sure the signal transmittor on the docking station and the signal receiver on the top of the Roomba are clean. You can use a cloth or paper towel with a SMALL amount of window cleaner to run around both of these signal devices. I also like to clean the metal contacts on the station and the corresponding contacts on the bottom of the Roomba at the same time. This won't make a difference for the docking but it just assures that the vacuum will charge efficiently. If this doesn't work, you might need to have the unit cleaned professionally unless you feel comfortable about taking the unit apart and cleaning it yourself. I did this and Ethel has worked fine ever since!
If this helps, please come back and rate my suggestion!

Sounds like something's dead either with the roomba or the charging station or power supply. Does it charge up if you plug the power supply directly into the roomba, instead of into the charging station? If not, you'll probably have to return it to the place you bought it.

Hey

Please look for other same problem posted here ;-)

You are probably facing a bumper sensor issue.
Try to clean the bumper first and if this goes on, either call iRobot service, or
take a look at this page for the step by step 9 beep fix.

Have fun
Avi

I actually had the same issue with mine.. it was 6 years old and just stopped finding the docking station. Also wouldnt take a charge. So I just eliminated the docking station. The stations power cord will charge the unit. Hope this helps.

Sounds like either the battery is bad or not being charged properly with subsequent loss of programming.

You may not believe this, but the new 500 series lighthouse virtual walls have both infrared and radio frequency communication. How they work and associate with the Roomba is pretty complicated. The best posting I've ever seen about how they work is here:
http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11048

Check out that link to understand how the communication works.

If your Roomba is contained by the virtual walls, then you can assume the IR sensor on your Roomba us good....you should test that though. Then you might have to replace the "home base" which could have a bad IR transponder . New ones can be found for reasonable price at www.RoboticVacParts.com or you could order straight from iRobot for twice the price.

If the Roomba is not contained by the virtual walls, then the IR sensor on the Roomba is likely bad and you'll need to change the bumper on your Roomba. Again ....parts are available through ebay, or www.RoboticVacParts.com. Follow this link if you need it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Roomba-500-series-white-bumper-510-530-532_W0QQitemZ270400281066QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ef51cd9ea&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A30

Hold the Spot and Dock/Demo buttons down for at least 10 seconds.
The unit should now be reset.

Probably not, unless you just have to have the docking station. My roomba always had trouble mating with my docking station so I never used it. I just plugged it directly in to will using the AC adapter.