How to set up a robot vacuum cleaner Xiaomi in the rooms through the application: a detailed guide

Xiaomi vacuum cleaners have long since ceased to be simple cleaning assistants — they have become smart assistants able to analyze the layout of the apartment and clean selectively. But to make the device work as efficiently as possible, you need to properly adjust the division into rooms in the Mi Home or Mi Home Lite app. Without this setting, the vacuum cleaner will move randomly around the apartment, waste charge on repeat passes in the same areas or skip corners.

In this article, we'll go through the whole process, from preparing an apartment to fine-tuning virtual walls and cleaning areas, and learn how to save a map of a room, edit room boundaries, assign priority zones, and even create "no-go areas" for a robot. The instructions are suitable for most models: Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop 2 Pro, Dreame D9, Viomi V3 We will pay special attention to typical errors that cause the map to be reset or rooms are not identified correctly.

Preparation of the apartment before creating a map

Before you start setting up in the application, you need to prepare the room itself. Robot vacuum cleaner Xiaomi builds a map based on laser scanning (in models with a high-quality laser). LDS-Any obstacles or unstable objects will distort the final circuit.

Here's what you have to do:

• 🧹 Remove small objects from the floor: wires, toys, shoes, which can interfere with scanning or get stuck in brushes.
• 🚪 Close the doors to rooms that don't need to be scanned (clothing, balconies) Open openings knock down the boundary-detection algorithm.
• 💡 Provide good lighting. In the dark, the robot's camera (if any) works worse, and the laser rangefinder can malfunction.
• 🪟 Close the curtains on the windows. Direct sunlight creates glare that distorts the scanning.

If you have mirrors or glass surfaces (such as interior partitions), cover them with a cloth while scanning, and the laser beam reflects off such surfaces, which can cause ghost walls to appear on the map.

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For the best results, run the first scan when no one is in the apartment, and the vibrations from the steps or the movement of people can knock down the robot's sensors.

Installation and configuration of the Mi Home application

All manipulations with the map of rooms are performed through the official Mi Home app (or Mi Home Lite for some regions).

1. Download Mi Home from Google Play or App Store.
2. Sign up or sign in to your Xiaomi account (required! without linking to your account, the card will not be saved).
3. Add a vacuum cleaner to the app through Profile → Add the device → Robot vacuum cleaner.
4. Connect to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi (Xiaomi robots don’t work with 5GHz!).

After connecting, check that in the robot settings (Device) → Settings → General) included:

• 📡 Auto-Update Map (option may be called "Real-time Map Update").
• 🔄 Save the card (in some firmwares disabled by default!).
• 📱 Notifications of completion of cleaning (to track scan errors).

Making a room map: First launch

Now, to the most important step, which is mapping.

1. Place the robot on the charging station (it should stand in the corner of the room, next to the outlet).
2. In the Mi Home app, select your vacuum cleaner and press Cleanup → Zone cleaning → Create a map (the name of the item may vary depending on the model).
3. Run the robot into full cleaning mode (not zone!) and it will spiral through the room.

At this point, don't get involved: don't move the robot, don't open the doors, don't walk around. It takes 15 to 40 minutes to scan the average two-bedroom apartment, and at the end of the app, you'll see a draft map with the walls and furniture marked.

If the card is incomplete or distorted, try:

• 🔋 Replace the battery (at low charge, the robot can skip zones).
• 📶 Reconnect to another Wi-Fi network (some routers block data exchange with Xiaomi devices).
• 🔄 Reset the robot settings to factory (Settings) → General. → Reset).

Division into rooms and editing of borders

After the scan is successful, we start dividing the map into rooms.

1. Open the saved card in the application (Cleaning) → Map).
2. Click on the pencil icon (or "Edit" in some versions of the app).
3. Select the "Separate Rooms" tool (usually indicated by the icon of two rectangles).
4. Swipe your finger around the boundaries of the rooms, connecting the corners. The app will automatically suggest the name (living room, kitchen, etc.), but it can be changed.

Editing tips:

• 📏 Precision of borders: if the wall on the map is curved, use the Line tool to align.
• 🚫 Zone exclusion: Click on the room and select "Exclude from cleaning" if there is an aquarium or a long-pile carpet.
• 🔄 Combining rooms: If the hallway and kitchen need to be cleaned together, connect them in one area.

Important nuance: after separation, be sure to save the map (Save) → In some firmware, changes are reset when the robot is restarted!

Configuring virtual walls and forbidden areas

Even after the room splits, there may be areas where the robot doesn't want to go: baby toys, animal food, wires, and for this purpose, the Mi Home has virtual walls and exclusion zones.

How to add restrictions:

1. Open the map and click "Edit".
2. Select the Virtual Wall (fence icon) or Exclusion Zone (banning circle icon).
3. Draw a rectangle or line on the map that restricts access.
4. Save the changes.

Types of restrictions:

• 🚧 Virtual wall: the robot will not cross the drawn line (suitable for doorways).
• 🚫 Exclusion zone: rectangular area that the vacuum cleaner bypasses.
• 🔴 Extremely cautious zone (in new models): robot removes more slowly to avoid touching fragile objects.

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Virtual walls don't replace physical barriers! A robot can ignore them when Wi-Fi is weak or firmware is down.

Critical: Virtual walls only work when you have a stable connection to the Internet; if the robot loses communication with Xiaomi servers, it will ignore all restrictions; and for reliability, use physical barriers (such as magnetic tapes) in areas with valuables.

Planning of room cleaning

Once you've set up the map, you can set up individual cleaning schedules for each room, like cleaning the kitchen every day and cleaning the bedroom every three days.

1. In the app, go to Cleanup. → Planner.
2. Click "Add Task" and select rooms (multiple rooms are possible).
3. Set the time, days of the week and cleaning mode (vacuum cleaner, wet cleaning, or both).
4. Activate the option "Selected rooms only".

Additional settings:

• 🔄 Repeat cleaning: Increase the number of passageways for highly contaminated areas (e.g. hallways).
• 💧 Intensity of wet cleaning: for laminate, select "Weak" mode, for tile - "Strong".
• 🔊 Quiet mode: cleaning at night with reduced suction power.

If you want to change the order of cleaning rooms, drag their names in the scheduler in the right sequence. The robot will follow this route, saving battery life.

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To save water when cleaning wet, adjust areas with different intensity, for example, in the kitchen - maximum, in the bedroom - minimum.

Updating the map and solving typical problems

The map in the Mi Home app is not a static object, but it requires periodic updates, especially if you:

• 🪑 Replaced furniture.
• 🚪 Added new obstacles (for example, children's playground).
• 🏗️ They did the repairs.

How to update the map:

1. Put the robot in cleaning mode.
2. In the process, click the Update Map app (or wait for the automatic update).
3. After completion, check for changes and adjust room boundaries if necessary.

Typical problems and their solutions:

Important: If the card is completely gone and there is no backup, you will have to do the scan again. To avoid this, regularly export the card manually (Map Settings). → Export and save the file to your phone.

FAQ: Frequent questions about room settings