Owners of robotic vacuum cleaners often face the need to precisely zoning space for efficient cleaning. Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop Essential has advanced navigation functionality that requires proper initial configuration. Without a properly mapped robot will not be able to efficiently distribute routes or perform cleaning on a schedule in specific rooms.
The scanning process is the foundation for all future operation of the device, and it is at this stage that a digital copy of your apartment is formed, which will then be superimposed with virtual walls and zones, and errors made during the initial launch can lead to malfunctioning of the route algorithms.
In this article, we will discuss in detail all the steps of creating and editing a map, you will learn how to prepare the room, what actions you need to perform during the scan and how to correct possible errors.
Preparation of the room for the first scan
Before you start the mapping process, you need to carefully prepare the space. The robot relies on a laser rangefinder (LDS) located on the top cover, so any obstacles to viewing must be removed. Remove from the floor wires, socks, toys and other small objects that can wind on the brush or be perceived as an impassable obstacle.
Provide sufficient lighting and open interior doors if you plan to scan multiple rooms at once. Dark corners or closed doors can be perceived by sensors as map boundaries. It is also important to check the battery power - it must be at least 80% so that the device does not go to base in the middle of the process.
Be sure to pre-determine a docking station, which should be placed against a wall, with free space on the sides (minimum 0.5 meters) and in front (minimum 1.5 meters). If the base is moved after the map is created, the robot will have to reorient itself in space, which can cause malfunctions.
⚠️ Warning: Don't try to build a map in total darkness. Although the laser rangefinder works independently of light, the optical drop sensors on the bottom may not correctly read data from dark carpets or in the absence of lighting, leading to false fall signals.
The Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop Essential model is able to overcome obstacles up to 2 cm in height If there are higher thresholds in the apartment, it is better to temporarily remove them or mark them as a forbidden zone later so that the robot does not get stuck.
First start-up and scanning process
Once the room is ready, install the robot vacuum cleaner on the base and turn it on. Connect the device to the Mi Home or Xiaomi Home application via 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network. To get started, go to the device management interface and select the map construction mode. In some firmware versions, this process starts automatically when you first turn on in Clean mode.
Start cleaning the entire area, and the robot will start to move around chaoticly, exploring the perimeter of the room and building a geometric model, at which time it is strictly forbidden to move the base or interfere with the operation of the device, and the laser sensor should rotate freely and scan the environment at 360 degrees.
The duration of the process depends on the area of the room. For a one-bedroom apartment, usually 15-20 minutes is enough, for a multi-bedroom apartment - up to an hour, and the application will display real-time progress of mapping, showing gray (explored) and white (unexplored) areas.
☑️ Checklist before scanning starts
If the robot is stuck in the scanning process, the app will send a notification, in which case it will need to release the device, return it to the trajectory (but not to the base), and continue cleaning, interrupting the process can lead to a card break or its incorrect preservation.
Editing and dividing the map into rooms
After the first pass is completed, the map is stored in the device's memory, but often the robot perceives an open space (such as a kitchen-living room) as one large room, or vice versa, divides one room into parts because of furniture.
In the app, select "Edit a map" or "Separate a room." Using the "Line" tool, draw a boundary where you think one zone should end and another should begin, especially in studios or spaces with arches instead of doors.
Rooms are required to be combined if the robot has mistakenly divided space. Select the "Combine" tool and click on adjacent areas. After splitting or combining, remember to rename the rooms for easy management, which will allow you to set individual cleaning settings for each zone in the future.
| Action. | Tool in annex | The result |
|---|---|---|
| Separation of the zone | Split (Split) | One room is divided into two independent rooms. |
| Unification | Merge (Merge) | Two adjacent rooms become one. |
| Rename | Name of the room | Change of name for voice control |
| Turning the map | Turn (Rotate) | The orientation of the map corresponds to the plan of the apartment |
It's important to have a map that's right in terms of the cardinal points or the entrance to the apartment, although it's not critical for a robot to work, but visually matching the plan to your apartment makes it easier to navigate the app menu.
What should I do if the map has shifted?
Configure forbidden zones and virtual walls
One of the key functions of smart navigation is to create no-go zones, which are areas where the robot is not allowed to enter, most often around animal water trays, areas with a lot of wires or long-pile mats that can make it difficult for the wheels to move.
There are two types of restrictions available in the app: a "no-go zone" (square) and a "virtual wall" (line). A no-go zone blocks a square area where the robot won't even enter the edge of the housing. A virtual wall creates an invisible barrier through which the device can't cross the line.
To create a limitation, go to map editing mode and select the appropriate tool. Select the area around the object that you need to bypass. The size of the zone is recommended to be done with a margin of 10-15 cm from the real object, so that the robot does not try to "see" abroad and tick the bumper.
⚠️ Warning: Don't create too many small no-go zones. Excess virtual walls can confuse the route-making algorithm, and the robot will start cleaning less efficiently, making extra circles around the constraints.
Using virtual walls is also effective for isolating a room you forgot to close, or preventing a robot from leaving the balcony or stairs (if you have a private home).
Managing room-cleaning regimes
Having an accurate map allows you to use advanced cleaning scenarios, so you can choose specific rooms to clean without running the robot over the entire apartment, saving battery life and time if you just need to clean the kitchen or the hallway quickly.
The app interface has room selection. Just tap the right area on the map and the robot will go there. In addition, you can set individual parameters for each room: suction strength and water supply intensity (for a model with wet cleaning function).
For example, in the living room, where people often walk, you can set the maximum suction power, and in the bedroom, where the carpet lies, turn on quiet mode. For the kitchen, where there is a high probability of greasy spots, it is advisable to set the maximum intensity of wet wipe.
💡
Keep frequently used cleaning scenarios in the form of schedules, such as setting up automatic kitchen and hallway cleaning every weekday at 10:00 a.m. while you’re at work.
There's also a spot cleaning feature available, and double tapping any point on the map will send the robot to that coordinate for local cleaning, which is useful if you've been squashing something locally, but you don't want to run the full cleaning cycle.
Keeping several maps and working with floors
Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum Mop Essential supports up to 4 memory cards, ideal for multi-storey buildings or apartments with complex layouts, where you need to divide into different levels, switching between cards is automatic or manual.
When you move the robot to another floor (like the second floor of a house), it has to be turned off. Move the device and base to a new floor, turn the robot on and start building a new map. The system recognizes the new environment and suggests that it be saved as Map 2.
To switch between saved maps, select "Maps Management" from the device menu, where you can rename floors (e.g., "1 floor", "2 floor", "Dacha") and select an active one. When you return to the previous floor, the robot automatically downloads the corresponding map and navigates.
If you use one base and move it, the robot will build a new map each time or try to attach to the old one, causing navigation errors.
💡
Automatic floor recognition is only possible if the robot drives in on it, and when carrying it manually, always select the map you want before you start.
Frequent problems in map construction and their solution
Despite intelligent systems, errors sometimes occur: a robot can get lost, start spinning in place, or build a map with tears, most often due to poor visibility for sensors or reflective surfaces (mirrors, black gloss).
If the robot is constantly losing the map, try to tape the legs of glass tables or mirrored furniture at the bottom with black tape, and the black color absorbs the laser beam, and the sensor thinks there is a void there, which knocks down the positioning algorithms.
Another problem is phantom walls, which is when lines appear on a map where there are none, usually caused by dark carpets that fall sensors perceive as a cliff. In the application settings, you can turn off the fall sensors, but you need to do this carefully and only if you don't have stairs or high thresholds.
⚠️ Attention: Regularly wipe the protective glass of the laser rangefinder (turret at the top) with dry soft cloth.Dust and animal hair on the glass significantly reduce the scanning accuracy and range of the sensor.
In case of critical errors, it is recommended to perform a complete reset of the card and build it again, observing all the rules of preparation of the room. Sometimes it helps to simply update the firmware of the device through the application.