Modern robotic vacuum cleaners from Xiaomi and sub-brands like Roborock or Dreame are equipped with advanced navigation systems that require initial mapping of the room to work efficiently. Without the exact digital twin of your apartment, the device will move randomly, which will significantly reduce the quality of cleaning and increase battery life, which is why the first step after unpacking is always the procedure for creating a map.
This process does not require deep technical knowledge, but has a number of nuances, ignoring which can lead to positioning errors. Laser rangefinder (LDS) or visual navigation (VSLAM) must have unimpeded access to the space to correctly draw walls and furniture. In this article, we will discuss a step-by-step algorithm of actions that will allow you to get the perfect map for further configuration of virtual walls and zones.
The primary goal of the initial launch is to allow the robot to explore the available area and store it in the memory of the cloud server or locally in the Mi Home application. It is critical not to interrupt this process by force, since an unfinished map can cause a failure in the logic of movement on the next launches. Let's look at how to prepare the room and start the device correctly.
Preparation of the premises for the first launch
Before you press the start button, you have to physically prepare the space. The robot perceives the world through sensors, and any obstacles that it can't overcome or that will confuse it must be removed. Remove from the floor wires, socks, toys and other small objects that may wind on the brush or be mistaken for an obstacle.
Provide good lighting, especially if your model uses a camera for navigation, although laser models need less light. Doors to the rooms you want to include in the map should be open, and those areas that are not allowed to access should be tightly closed, which will help to form the correct geometry of space the first time.
- 🧹 Remove all wires and small items from the floor throughout the apartment.
- 🚪 Open the interior doors to the cleaning rooms.
- 💡 Provide sufficient lighting for optical sensors to operate.
- 🔋 Make sure the charging station is installed against a wall with free space on the sides.
It's also important to check the condition of the device itself. Take the transport tapes off the side brushes and make sure that the laser rangefinder on the top panel is not closed. If you're using a detergent model, it's best not to install the water module for now, so as not to weigh down the structure during calibration.
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If you have a multi-level apartment, build a map for only one floor at a time. Xiaomi robots can not combine maps of different floors into one 3D-model, they work with flat 2D-circuitry.
Starting Automatic Map Construction
After the room is ready, we move to the software part: Open the Mi Home app on your smartphone and select your vacuum cleaner from the list of devices. The interface may differ depending on the server region and the firmware version, but the basic logic remains the same for all models.
In the main control menu, find the start button, usually a large round button in the center or an item in the top menu. For the initial map construction, the best way to choose the maximum power mode so that the robot does not stop on the carpets and carefully examine the perimeter.
Main menu → Start button (or Auto mode) → Confirmation of the start of cleaningDuring the first pass, the robot will move around the perimeter of the walls, and then zigzags will fill the interior space, at which point the map under construction will be displayed on the smartphone screen in real time. Do not lift the robot in your arms during this process, otherwise it will lose orientation and start building the map again or create duplicate rooms.
☑️ Checklist before launch
If the robot gets stuck, the app will notify you, and after the device is released, it is recommended that you press the Continue Cleaning button so that the mapping process does not stop completely. In some cases, if the robot can not get out for a long time, the map can be broken.
Editing and separating rooms
Once the robot completes the first pass and returns to base, you'll have a rough map, and it often happens that the robot combines the kitchen and the living room into one large space, or, conversely, divides one room into two because of a high threshold or carpet, and you can fix this in edit mode.
To enter editing mode, click on the map icon or select "Maps settings" from the menu. There are tools available for "Separate" and "Combine." The "Separate" tool allows you to draw a line through the room, cutting off excess areas that the robot mistakenly assigned to the room.
Use the Unify tool if the robot has broken one logical zone into multiple fragments. Just highlight the adjacent areas, and the system will glue them together into one room, which can be given a name, such as "Kitchen" or "Bedroom".
- ✂️ The “Divide” tool draws a line of gap between the zones.
- 🔗 The “Unite” tool glues adjacent allocated areas.
- 🏷️ Rename – Assigns a room a clear name for voice control.
- 🚫 Hiding a room – excludes the area from the total cleaning area without a physical barrier.
Note that after major changes in the structure of the rooms, it is advisable to update the map, so you can start the full cleaning again, and the robot will recheck the geometry of the space, making adjustments to the saved configuration file.
Configuring virtual walls and forbidden areas
One of the most useful features of Xiaomi’s ecosystem is the ability to create invisible barriers: Virtual walls and no-go zones allow you to flexibly control the behavior of the robot without using physical magnetic tapes, which were required in older models.
In the map editing menu, you'll find the option "Virtual Walls" or "No-go zones," where you draw a rectangle or a line that the robot won't move through, perfect for protecting animal bowls, wired areas or children's play corners.
⚠️ Attention: Virtual walls only work if you have a saved map. If you run the robot in No Map mode or it loses orientation, ignoring the zones may not work.
There are two main types of constraints: lines (walls) that can't be crossed, and zones (squares) that can't be entered, lines that are convenient to draw along the thresholds or boundaries between rooms, and zones around specific objects.
There's also a "No Cleaning Zone" feature that's often used for carpets, if the robot has wet wipe mode on, you can specify the specific carpet, and when you install the water module, the robot will automatically bypass the area to avoid wetting the pile.
Keeping several maps and working with floors
Owners of complex-shaped apartments or multi-storey homes will benefit from the multi-card function. Xiaomi and Roborock are capable of storing up to 4 different room maps, allowing the use of a single vacuum cleaner on different floors or in different apartments.
To save a new card, for example, for the second floor, you first need to clear the memory of the current map or create a new one. Once a new map is built, it will be marked as Map 2. Switching between cards occurs automatically when the robot learns the environment, or manually through the application.
| Parameter | Description | Limitations |
|---|---|---|
| Number of cards | Up to 4 saved schemes | Depends on the model. |
| Switching | Automatic or manual | Requires location recognition |
| Editing | Available for all maps | Only one active |
| Virtual walls | Saved for each card | Not transferred between floors |
It is important to understand that a robot does not build. 3D-So, you can actually choose a model of a house, and each floor is a flat world, so when you move it to another floor, you can choose the map in the app in advance, so that the navigation works correctly from the first seconds.
What should I do if the map has shifted?
Frequent problems in building a map
Even if all the instructions are followed, there can be situations where the map is not built correctly, the robot can fly away into invisible zones, create double corridors or lose communication with the base, most often due to the peculiarities of the sensors or external factors.
One of the common problems is that there are black surfaces, and laser rangefinders are bad at reflecting on black, so black carpets or glossy black floors can be perceived by the robot as a chasm or lack of flooring, and in such cases, the robot will try to get around these areas.
⚠️ Attention: Direct sunlight falling on a laser rangefinder can blind the sensor. If the room is very bright, shade the windows while you build the map.
Problems can also arise from high Wi-Fi noise levels or weak signals if the robot uses cloud computing to navigate (although most current models build the map locally).
If the robot is constantly losing its base, check if it's in a deep niche or corner that's hard to get from a certain direction, and it's better to set it in an open space so that the robot can easily find its way from anywhere in the room.
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The quality of the final map depends on 90% of the preparation of the premises before the first launch, and the retracted wires and open doors are the key to success.