How to build a route for a robot vacuum cleaner Xiaomi: from map to zones

Modern robot vacuum cleaners from Xiaomi and Roborock have advanced navigation systems that allow them to navigate independently in space. However, to maximize efficiency, the device needs to be helped by building a precise route and dividing the room into logical zones. Properly configuring a map is not just a whim, but a necessity for owners of complex layouts, multi-level apartments or spaces with a lot of obstacles.

The process of creating a route is based on technology LDS-Laser Distance Sensor, which uses a laser rangefinder to build an accurate model of a room, and unlike chaotic movement, navigation models build a route in sequence, in stripes, which saves battery power and cleaning time. In this article, we’ll discuss how to make your device correctly display your home and how to manage its movements through the Mi Home app.

It's important to understand that building a map is the foundation for all the rest of the smart home, and if you make mistakes at this point, the robot can get stuck in the same places, skip floors, or misinterpret instructions to clean specific rooms, and we'll look at everything from the first run to fine-tuning virtual walls.

Preparation of the premises before the first launch

Before the device can build a map, it needs to prepare space. The clutter on the floor is the main enemy of accurate mapping. Scattered wires, toys, clothes and other small objects should be removed. The robot can perceive the cable on the floor as an obstacle to be avoided, and include this area in the map as a "dead zone" or, worse, try to run over it, getting confused.

Provide good lighting and open doors. Although a laser rangefinder works in the dark, visual sensors (if you have one in your model, for example, in a series with a camera) require light. Doors between rooms that need to be combined into one cleaning area, better open. If you want a robot to perceive a corridor and a room as separate spaces for subsequent separation, the doors can be left open, but later use the function of sharing the map.

⚠️ Warning: Remove all transparent or highly reflective objects (glass vases, floor mirrors, transparent chairs) from the floor. The laser beam may pass through or bounce off the glass at the wrong angle, leading to phantom walls or map holes.

Make sure the base is set correctly. It should be on a flat hard floor, away from stairs and mirrors. The minimum free space around the base should be 0.5 meters on the sides and 1.5 meters in the front, which is necessary to correctly return the device to charge after the cycle is completed.

Primary scanning and map construction

The most important step is the first run. Unlike normal cleaning cycles, the first time you turn on the Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaner, it goes into exploration mode. It won't involve brushing or suction at full capacity, but will focus on perimeter scanning. You need to start the full cleanup through the Mi Home app or button on the case.

And during this process, the device will spiral around, exploring the boundaries of the room, and then start moving in stripes. Don't interrupt this process. If the robot goes to charge in the middle, it can lose its starting point and start building the map anew, or create some unrelated fragments, and let it completely clear the area and return to base.

• 🏠 Open the doors to all rooms that should be on the map.
• 🔋 Make sure the battery is 100% before starting.
• 🚫 Do not move the base or carry the robot on your hands while scanning.
• 📶 Check the stability of the Wi-Fi signal in the far corners of the apartment.

If you notice that the robot has "forgotten" part of the hallway or has not gone around the couch correctly, don't try to fix it manually right away. It's better to wait until the cycle is over, save the map and then edit it. A full rescan is often only required when the furniture is rearranged radically.

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If the robot gets lost and starts to spin randomly, gently take it, bring it to the base, and press the home return button. Don't just put it in the middle of the room, it will lose its anchorage.

Editing the map: the division and merging of rooms

Once the primary map is saved, you'll see it in the app. Often, automatic room division doesn't work perfectly: the kitchen can be combined with the living room, or one large room divided into two parts. To fix this, you use the map editing feature available in the map settings (usually the card icon or three dots in the corner of the screen).

The "Separate" tool allows you to draw a line where you think a wall should be, and it's useful for separating the kitchen from the hallway if there's no doorway between them, and the "Unite" tool, on the contrary, blurs the boundaries between the designated areas, making them one big cleaning room, and this is true for studios or arched spaces.

When you're working with separation, it's important to keep logic, and if you divide the room incorrectly, the robot can start cleaning each part as a separate zone, which will increase the time of operation due to unnecessary manoeuvres at the borders. After making changes, the map must be saved. Some models require rebooting the map or the device itself to apply new navigation parameters.

Configuring virtual walls and forbidden areas

One of Xiaomi’s most powerful navigation features is the ability to create invisible barriers, with virtual walls and No-Go Zones allowing you to limit your robot’s movement without mounting physical magnetic tapes, as was the case in older models, critical to protecting you from falling down stairs or cleaning up areas where things are scattered.

There are two main types of constraints: the Virtual Wall, which acts as a barrier through which a robot cannot move either way; the Second, the No-Go Zone, which can be configured as a rectangle; you can select the zone settings to either "Get Clean Only" (the robot won't get there) or "Train Only" (the robot can enter but won't remove it); and there is also a frequent "Mop only" (wet cleaning only) mode, where the vacuum cleaner enters the area with only a washing module installed.

⚠️ Warning: Don't create too many small no-go zones. Each limiter increases the computing load on the processor as you build the route. If the area is complex, it is better to use one large rectangular prohibition zone than to try to describe the contour of furniture in many small squares.

For owners of long-pile carpets, creating a no-go zone is a must. Active wet-cleaning robots can wet the carpet unless you set a limit. In the Mi Home app, these areas are easily editable: they can be moved, resized and removed at any time before starting the cleaning.

Keeping several maps for different floors

Owners of two-story homes or mezzanine apartments will appreciate the multi-cartography feature. Roborock’s current models and Xiaomi’s flagship ones allow you to save up to 4-5 maps of the premises, which means you don’t have to re-scan the second floor every time you remember the layout.

To add a new floor, you need to move the base to a new level (or use a second base if you have one), start a full cleaning. The robot will realize that the current layout does not match the one you saved, and will suggest creating a new map. Once the scan is completed, the map will be saved as "Map 2." When you move the base back to the first floor, the robot will automatically (or upon request) download the corresponding map.

If you often move the device between floors manually (without a second base), make sure you give it time to navigate before starting the cleaning, or it may start building a map over the old one.

• 🏢 Up to 5 separate cards are supported in memory.
• 🔄 Automatic recognition of the floor by the surroundings.
• 🧹 The ability to set different cleaning modes for each floor.
• 📍 Preserving the position of virtual walls for each card separately.

Removing navigation errors and resetting the map

Even the most advanced algorithms sometimes fail, and situations where a robot gets lost, starts spinning around, or builds a map with overlaps (duplicating corridors) are common, and this can be due to a change in lighting, a rearrangement of furniture, or simply a software failure.

The first is to clean the sensors. Dry the soft cloth on the laser rangefinder (the turret at the top) and the bumper sensors. Dust on the laser lens is a common cause of route errors. If cleaning didn't work, try resetting the map. In the Mi Home app, select the "Reset card" or "Delete card" option in the map settings.

After the reset, repeat the initial scanning procedure, before you do so, return the furniture to your seats and make sure the house is quiet and calm. If the navigation problem persists after the re-scanning, the LDS laser module itself may be defective and a diagnosis at the service center is required.

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Cleaning the laser rangefinder regularly from dust is key to accurately plotting the route.