How to add a room in Mi Home for Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaner: The complete guide

Xiaomiโ€™s modern robot vacuum cleaners and the Mijia ecosystem have impressive functionality that turns routine cleaning into a high-tech process. One of the key features of smart devices is to split a map of a room into separate logical zones, or rooms. This allows you not only to manage the overall cleaning, but also to set specific scenarios for each area, such as a living room or bedroom. Without proper map setting, the functionality of the device remains only partially disclosed.

Owners often face the challenge of redesigning their rooms after rearranging furniture or when they first start a device. Mi Home provides flexible tools for manual and automatic map editing. Understanding how map-building algorithms work will help avoid mistakes when a robot forgets layouts or misdefines zone boundaries.

In this article, we will discuss the process of adding and adjusting rooms, consider the intricacies of working with virtual walls and answer frequent questions. Competent setting will allow your robot vacuum cleaner to work as efficiently as possible, following your preferences for schedules and cleaning intensity in different parts of the apartment.

Why you need to divide into rooms and how it works

Dividing a map into rooms is not just visual convenience, it's a powerful cleaning tool. When Mi Home sees an apartment as a single space, you can only start cleaning "everywhere" or "locally" at the touchpoint. But adding rooms opens up scenarios like quietly cleaning the bedroom in the afternoon or double-passing through the kitchen in the afternoon.

The SLAM algorithm, which is used in lidar or camera models, initially scans the room as a set of coordinates and obstacles. It doesn't know where you have a kitchen and where the corridor is. The system assigns the default number zones, and your task is to name these zones and, if necessary, adjust their boundaries by combining or separating them.

And separation also saves battery power, so if you just want to clean one room quickly, there's no point in running the robot around the apartment, you just pick the right room on the list, and the device builds the optimal route to that room, ignoring the other areas.

  • ๐Ÿ  Selective cleaning: the ability to start washing or vacuuming only in selected rooms separately.
  • โฑ Flexible schedule: Set up different cleaning days and times for each room (e.g. kitchen โ€“ daily, living room โ€“ every other day).
  • ๐Ÿšซ Smart restrictions: the ability to set virtual walls and forbidden areas by reference to a particular room, rather than the entire map.

โš ๏ธ Note: Room division is only available for map-building models (LDS-Simple models with a gyroscope or chaotic movement cannot save a map, so editing rooms is impossible for them.

Preparation of the device and application for setting

Before you start editing, make sure the device is ready to go. First of all, check the version of the Mi Home app. Older versions may not support new mapping features or work incorrectly with new models of vacuum cleaners. Update the app through the Play Market or App Store to the current version.

The second important step is to have a map that's up to date, so if you've just moved or repositioned, you start cleaning the whole apartment, you have to go through all the areas available to build a new topography, and if you interrupt the process in half, you can't get the map to be complete and you can't split it properly.

Also make sure the sensors are clean. The top lidar and the elevation sensors must be dust-free. Dirty sensors can cause map-building errors, and the "rooms" will bump into each other or have ripped edges.

  • ๐Ÿ”‹ Battery charge: Make sure the charge is at least 20%, otherwise the robot may go to base in the middle of the scanning process.
  • ๐Ÿ“ถ Stable Wi-Fi: A stable connection is needed to transfer map data to the cloud and sync with your phone.
  • ๐Ÿงน Sensor Cleanliness: Wipe your sensors with a soft dry cloth before starting a new map.

โš ๏ธ Warning: Do not attempt to edit a map or add rooms while the robot is cleaning or charging with a critically low battery.

Automatic recognition and manual addition of rooms

Modern models like the Xiaomi Vacuum Mop 2 Pro or Roborock S7 can automatically offer room separation after the first complete cleaning, but often the system combines the kitchen with the living room or divides the large bedroom into two, requiring manual intervention through the map management menu.

To get started with the map, go to the main menu of the device in the app. Click on the three-dot icon in the upper right corner to enter the settings. Find the Settings card (or Map Management) item. This is where all the geometry of your home is stored. If the map is already built, you will see its preview.

To add a new room manually or rename an existing one, select Edit the map. There are tools available to divide and merge. If the robot makes a mistake and divides one large room with a line, use the "Combine" function. If one large area needs to be two different (for example, a long corridor and an entrance hallway), use the "Separate" tool and draw a cut line.

Path to settings: Mi Dom โ†’ Device โ†’ โ‹ฎ (three dots) โ†’ Map settings โ†’ Edit the map

Once you're comfortable with the geometry of the zones, you need to name them. Click on the zone, select Rename and type in the name. The system will offer standard options: Kitchen, Bedroom, Living Room, Bathroom. Choosing the right type of room is important, because for some models it affects the cleaning mode (for example, the bathroom turns on maximum suction power).

  • โœ‚๏ธ Separation: Draw a line through the area to be cut off from the main area.
  • ๐Ÿ”— Unification: Touch two neighbouring zones to erase the boundary between them.
  • โœ๏ธ Rename: assigning an understandable name and type of room for convenient management.
๐Ÿ“Š How often do you use the separation into rooms?
Only in the kitchen.
For all rooms.
Only for the bedroom.
I don't use it.

Editing borders and preserving changes

After the initial separation, you often need to fine-tune the boundaries, and the automation can grab a part of the corridor into the kitchen area, or cut off the corner of the room, and to fix this, use the tool to Move the wall or Change the boundaries, and by dragging the checkpoints on the contour of the room, you can expand or narrow the area.

Pay special attention to areas with complex geometry. If you have a bay window, a niche with a computer desk or an L-shaped kitchen, a standard rectangular selection may not work, in which case it is better to break the complex figure into several simple polygons or use the function of drawing walls by hand, if the vacuum cleaner model supports this.

The critical thing is to save the changes. All editing activities are temporary until the moment of confirmation. If you just log off the edit menu, all changes can be reversed. Look for the Save button or OK in the corner of the screen. Once saved, the robot can reboot the map, which is normal behavior.

Action.Tool on the menuThe result
Dividing one zone into twoSplit (Split)Two independent rooms with separate settings appear
Removal of the partitionMerge (Merge)Two rooms become one space.Change of nameRename (Rename)The room gets a new name and icon
Adjustment of formChange the boundariesAccurate positioning of the walls of the room

๐Ÿ’ก

If you accidentally delete a room or ruin a map, use the Recover Card or Reset Card function in the settings to return the original state saved in the cloud.

Configure forbidden zones and virtual walls

Once the rooms are added, it makes sense to set the constraints, because virtual walls and no-go zones are invisible barriers that the robot cannot cross, and they are tied to the coordinates of the map, but the most convenient way to adjust them is in the context of the rooms.

There are two types of constraints: a no-go zone (a square or rectangle where the robot won't go) and a virtual wall (a line you can't cross). No-go zones are ideal for places where there's a bowl of water for animals, wires or fragile objects are located. Virtual walls are convenient for blocking doorways so that the robot doesn't go into the hallway from the room.

It's important to understand the difference between global constraints and room-bound. Some versions of software allow you to hide the limitations when choosing certain scenarios, but in base mode they are always active. You can create up to 10 no-go zones and 10 virtual walls per card (the numbers can vary depending on the model).

  • ๐Ÿšซ No-go zone: robot ignores the area inside a square/circle.
  • ๐Ÿงฑ Virtual Wall: Robot perceives a line as a physical obstacle.
  • ๐Ÿ”„ Reference: Restrictions apply to the entire map, regardless of the selected cleaning room.

โš ๏ธ Warning: Virtual walls will not work if the robot cannot see the map or is running in "No card" mode.

Managing the cleaning schedule for different rooms

One of the main advantages of adding rooms is that you can plan flexibly, and in the Schedule section you can create multiple profiles, for example, the Morning profile will only run in the kitchen and hallway at 8:00, and the Evening profile will only run the living room at 22:00.

To set up, go to the schedule menu, click Add or +. Choose the days of the week, the time and, most importantly, the cleaning mode. Instead of All Apartments, select Select a room. You will see a list of your renamed areas. Check the desired rooms. You can also individually set the suction capacity and water supply volume for each room (for detergent models).

It allows you to adjust your cleaning to the rhythm of life, so in rooms where you are in the daytime, you can put less power for silence, and in the absence of people, the maximum power for perfect cleanliness, and you can also adjust the cleaning sequence, although most modern algorithms choose the optimal order themselves.

Example of settings:


Monday, Wednesday, Friday




09:00 - Kitchen (max. power, Water: High)




09:00 - Living room (Standard, Water: Medium)

โ˜‘๏ธ Check before running the schedule

Done: 0 / 5

Frequent problems with the card and their solution

Despite the advanced algorithms, users can experience errors, and one of the most common is room loss, which happens when the robot can't find the base when it returns, or if it's forcibly moved to another location during cleaning, in which case the map may get lost, and the rooms disappear or shift.

Another problem is that you can't properly recognize obstacles like walls, and if you're stuck on a high-pile carpet or you're entangled in wires, you can think of it as the boundary of the room, and you can do one thing: physically prepare the room, remove the wires, lift the curtains, and tuck the hanging bedspreads before you start.

If the map is constantly floating or the rooms overlap each time you start, you may have a contaminated lidar or the wheel stuck. Check the technical condition of the device. Also try to clear the cache of the Mi Home app in your phone settings or reinstall the app.

  • ๐Ÿ”„ Reset card: if errors have accumulated, it is better to delete the old card and build a new one from scratch.
  • ๐Ÿงผ Clean sensors: regularly wipe sensors for accurate positioning.
  • ๐Ÿ  Base in place: do not move the charging station, otherwise the robot will lose reference to the coordinates of the rooms.
What if the robot canโ€™t see the room?
Make sure the door to the room is open while you're building the map, and if the door is closed, the robot can't go in and create a zone, and also check if there's a high threshold on the doorway that the robot can't cross.

๐Ÿ’ก

Properly configured rooms and schedules reduce the robotโ€™s life by up to 40%, saving battery life and increasing engine life.

Questions and Answers (FAQ)

Can I add a room if the robot has never cleaned?
No, you need a basic map to add and edit rooms, you need to run at least one full cleaning so that the robot can scan the room, and only after the map appears in the application will editing tools be available.
How many rooms can you create on a single map?
Mi Home usually allows you to create up to 15-20 separate zones on a single map, but for optimal operation of navigation algorithms, it is recommended not to divide the space too small, but to combine adjacent small areas (for example, a corridor and an hallway).
Will the rooms disappear if I move the furniture?
A minor rearrangement of the furniture should not affect the structure of the rooms, but if you have changed the layout dramatically (removed the separator cabinet, put a new wall), the robot may require a new map, in which case the old rooms will be removed and they will need to be recreated.
Does the division into rooms on multiple floors work?
Yes, modern models support keeping multiple maps (usually up to 4-5). You can call the maps "1 floor", "2 floor", etc. For each floor, rooms are customized separately. Just save the map after cleaning on the new floor, and the robot will remember the layout of each level.
Why does a robot ignore a restricted area in a particular room?
Check if the no-go zone is blocked by another object or too close to the boundary of the room, sometimes helping to shift the no-go zone 5-10 cm to the side, and also make sure you keep the changes after drawing the zone.