Modern cleaning devices are no longer just pucks, chaotically rolling around the apartment. Xiaomi vacuum cleaners with a laser navigator can build an accurate map of the room, but for maximum efficiency they need the right initial setup. Users often face a situation where the device cleans the entire area at once, although it would be more logical to vacuum the kitchen first and then the living room.
The process of splitting the map into separate zones allows you to flexibly manage cleaning, set different power modes for different rooms and create virtual obstacles. The Mi Home app offers a wide range of tools for customization, but the interface is not always intuitive at first glance. In this article, we will analyze a step-by-step algorithm of actions that will turn your map from a single canvas into a structured floor plan.
To get started, make sure the device's firmware is updated to the latest version, as the mapping functionality is constantly being improved by the company's engineers. Precise mapping is only possible if the robot is a full cleaning and charging cycle without interruption. If you just bought the device, let it work 2-3 full cycles in Auto mode so that it collects data on the geometry of space.
Preparation of the map and primary scanning
Before you start manually splitting, you need to get a quality base map. The laser rangefinder (LDS) located on the top of the device scans the room within a few meters, determining the position of the walls and large furniture. It is important for navigation to work correctly, that at the time of mapping all the doors to the rooms are open, and there are no wires or small objects on the floor that can confuse the wheels.
Run a full cleaning through the app and wait until the robot returns to base. If the area is large, the device can return several times to recharge to continue from the same place — this is a normal workflow. Once the cycle is complete, the application will have a saved map that appears to you as a single gray or white circuit without splitting into functional zones.
⚠️ Warning: Don't try to edit the map immediately after the first run. Let the algorithms accumulate statistics, otherwise the boundaries of the rooms may be incorrectly defined and you will have to manually redraw them.
The quality of the scan depends on the cleanliness of the sensors. Wash the laser rangefinder window and the lower altitude sensors with soft dry cloth. If dust remains on the sensors, the robot vacuum cleaner can “lose” or misjudge the distance to the wall, which will lead to artifacts on the map.
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Before the first scan, remove all wires, socks and small toys from the floor, which will prevent getting stuck and help build a perfectly flat map without the noise of false obstacles.
Dividing the map into separate rooms
Split is a key feature for room cleaning programming, which allows you to artificially divide a single space into logical blocks: kitchen, bedroom, corridor. To access this tool, go to the map management menu, usually a map button or the map settings item in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select the "Separate" tool (an icon with a dotted line or scissors). You will need to draw a line with your finger through the places where you think walls or doorways should pass, the line should connect two points on the boundaries of the gray zone (walls) or pass through the doorway, connecting the two outer boundaries of the room.
- 📱 Click on the “Map” button in the bottom menu of the Mi Home app.
- ✂️ Select the “Separate” tool and draw the line in the right place.
- ✅ Confirm the action by clicking the tick to save the changes.
- 🔄 Repeat the procedure for all necessary rooms.
If the line is drawn incorrectly, the system will not save the change or suggest canceling the action. It is important to draw the lines strictly perpendicular to or parallel to the main walls to avoid creating rooms of complex geometric shapes that the algorithm may not perceive correctly. After separation, each zone is automatically assigned a number that can be changed later.
Consolidation of zones and border editing
Sometimes, automatic separation or primary scanning creates unnecessary boundaries where they shouldn't be, such as the living room and dining room can be separated by an incorrect line, and then uses the "Combine" function, which allows you to erase the artificial boundary between two adjacent rooms, turning them into one large cleaning room.
The boundary editing process requires care. Go to map editing mode and select the "Combine" tool (often looks like two merging figures). Press the boundary between the two rooms you want to eliminate. The system will recalculate the area and combine the allocated areas into one.
There's also a hand-drawn wall feature available, so if the robot missed a partition or a glass door that the laser didn't see, you can actually draw the wall by hand, which is critical to creating the virtual constraints that we'll talk about later, and the accuracy of the drawing will affect how the robot will navigate obstacles in the future.
⚠️ Note: After any change in the map structure (split or merge), the robot may require reconfirmation of the base location.
Map editing is an iterative process, you may have to run the cleaning several times and adjust the boundaries to make sure you fit the plan perfectly, and don't be afraid to experiment with tools, as all changes are reversible until the next cleaning starts.
Configuring virtual walls and forbidden areas
One of the most useful features in the Xiaomi Vacuum arsenal is the ability to create invisible barriers, virtual walls and no-go zones allow the robot to access certain areas, which is indispensable if you have a place to feed animals, a long pile carpet that can not be wet, or an area with scattered toys of children.
There are two main types of constraints: One is a no-go zone (a square or a rectangle) where the robot will not go under any circumstances; the other is a virtual wall (a line that cannot be crossed); the setting is done in the same map editing menu; you select the type of restriction and use your finger to set its geometry on the smartphone screen.
| Type of restriction | Form | Application | Robot behavior |
|---|---|---|---|
| The no-go zone | Square/Rightangle | Animal bowls, wires. | Complete detour of the zone |
| Virtual wall | Line | Doorways, carpets. | Not crossing the line. |
| Quiet zone | Circle/Zone | Bedroom by day | Reduces suction power |
And the thing that's worth mentioning is, "Silent Zones," which is that if you program a room or nursery area in the daytime, the robot automatically lowers the engine power when you go in, so you don't wake a sleeping child, and this is an example of smart navigation that makes it comfortable for everyone in the family to use the device.
What if a robot ignores a virtual wall?
Programming of cleaning schedules and scenarios
Once the map is divided into rooms, you can create a flexible schedule, so you can set the device so that on Mondays it only cleans the kitchen and the corridor, and on Fridays it cleans the whole house with wet wipes, using the Schedule tab or the Timer tab in the application interface.
When you create a new timer, select the option "Select rooms" and you will be asked to tick the rooms that should be cleaned at a given time, and you can also set the suction force for each scenario separately: "Quiet", "Standard", "Turbo" or "Max".
- 🕒 Set the desired time to start cleaning.
- 🏠 Choose a specific room from the list or “The whole house».
- 💨 Set the suction power mode.
- 💧 Option: Enable wet cleaning mode (if there is a module).
Scenarios allow you to automate routines, such as setting up a kitchen cleaning operation right after you leave for work, or running a quiet living room cleaning operation while you're in the back bedroom. Mi Home also allows you to integrate these scenarios with other smart devices, creating complex chains of action.
☑️ Checklist before launch on schedule
Saving multiple maps and multimaping
Owners of two-story houses or apartments with a non-standard layout will benefit from the function of saving several maps. Modern models of robot vacuum cleaners Xiaomi supports storage of up to 4-5 different cards in memory. This means that you can transfer the device between floors, and it will “remember” where the base is and what the plan of this floor looks like.
To save a new card, you need to start a full cleaning on a new floor or in a new area. Once the cycle is complete, the system will suggest saving the current card as a new one. In the map settings, you can give it a name, for example, "1 floor", "2 floor" or "Dacha".
When you move a robot to another floor, it's important to give it time to navigate, and you recommend that you put the base in a new location, launch the robot, and let it circle the base so that it can record its location relative to the new map, and if you just move it and start cleaning it right away, it can start building a new map on top of the old one or get lost.
⚠️ Note: When switching between saved maps, the old virtual walls and no-go zones configured for the previous map are not portable.
Multimaping greatly expands the ability to use a single device in a large house, but it is worth remembering that switching between cards requires manual confirmation in the application or the use of voice commands if a smart speaker is connected.
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Keeping multiple maps allows you to use a single robot vacuum cleaner on different floors of the house, but requires a separate setup of virtual walls for each floor.