Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum cleaning robot test

We are continuing testing of cleaning robots. Today I would like to present you Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum. It is a cheaper proposition than those we have already dealt with. How will it be in the tests?

The cleaning robot is packed in a gray cardboard box. The main additions include the manual and the charger. The first one is in Polish and explains its use well. The charger is standard for this type of product. The cool thing is the rear end cap with which you can wrap around the power cord. The warranty is 24 months.

The robot looks quite modern, while the white finish is a poor idea – you can see all the dust and dirt on it. Because of this, the robot needs to be cleaned from time to time to make it look somehow. Its exact dimensions are 96mm x 345mm x 345mm and the weight is 3.8kg. So it is not an extremely heavy robot. It is all round, so it may have problems with the room corners. The side brush should help a bit with this, but I don’t think it will solve the shape problem. Mi Robot Vacuum has a dust container with a capacity of 0.42 l. Its cleaning is very easy and no one should have any problems with it. The vacuum cleaner has a brush approx. 170 mm wide, so it is a bit narrower than the solutions of the competition. It is also easy to remove and clean – so keeping Mi Robot Vacuum clean is not a problem. The Xiaomi robot has two wheels that do not scratch the panels and can lift the vacuum cleaner to deal with the thresholds. It also uses two buttons – start vacuuming and return to the charger. As for the other technical parameters, the robot has a 5200 mAh battery, which is designed to last up to 2.5 hours of cleaning. The robot’s power alone is 55 W.

Technology

Mi Robot Vacuum has as many as 12 sensors that track its movement and calculate the next steps. Thus, they allow for a good mapping of the apartment. It is worth mentioning here the LDS sensor, which is located at the top. It scans the surroundings at 360 ° 1800 times per minute, making room mapping even more accurate. The robot has three independent processors that determine the best cleaning routes. Mi Robot Vacuum obviously supports automatic charging. When the power drops below 20%, it returns to the charging station and when it reaches 80%, it goes back to work. Another thing is the Nidec brushless DC motor that provides pressures up to 18,000 Pa. The brush itself also adapts to the surface to perfectly collect dirt. Now for the edge – the robot travels up to 10 mm from them in order to allow the side brush to clean perfectly. I wonder if it will actually work so well.

app

The application is Mi Home and theoretically should allow synchronization with the vacuum cleaner quickly. I am writing theoretically because I had a few problems at the start. You must register to use it. There is an option to register via Facebook, but for unknown reasons, I had a mistake in it and only after the 3rd time it surprised. Also, the very connection of the vacuum cleaner with the router was successful in 3 or 4 times – the device could not do it before. Once we get through it, we can take advantage of the goodness of the application. Thanks to it, you can plan when the Mi Robot Vacuum is to operate by itself, view the mapped rooms and the route traveled, set its power or enter manual mode. The latter is my favorite and allows you to control the vacuum cleaner on your own. In addition, there is a history or the ability to easily update the software of the vacuum cleaner. The great thing is to show the mapped rooms – you can immediately see if something was missed and how the robot coped. You can also change the mode of operation of the vacuum cleaner between Quiet, Blanaced, Turbo and Full Speed ​​modes. The application also jams sometimes, it is blocky and the rating of 2.9 on Google Play speaks for itself. It should be updated and significantly improved – especially its liquidity. The last important thing – it does not have Polish.

Description of the apartment in which the tests were carried out

The first test site is the hall. It has the shape of the letter T and there are a lot of obstacles on it, such as boxes for things to be tested or shoes. I also want to check if it can handle mud and other filth that can be brought from the court. The next room is the bedroom. It is rectangular and most of it is taken up by the bed. The robot should run under them and clean them as well. There is also a wardrobe in the bedroom, the bottom of which is 6 cm high. The next room is the kitchen. There is very little room for maneuvering in it – it is narrow. I would also like to check if the robot can handle the horns. The next test room is the guest room. There is a large paneled area and a very dense carpet. I will simulate the descent down the stairs with a sofa – the robot should not fall off it. The last room is the office room, where the floor usually has a lot of cables, equipment and cardboard boxes. The robot should not damage any device, and also be very gentle with cables, armchairs or cardboard boxes. Importantly, there is a 2.5 cm threshold between the rooms – I wonder if the device can handle it.

Tests

The tests were performed in Turbo mode, which is the best compromise between working time and vacuuming quality. After take-off, the device maps the room and immediately moves in the selected direction. There are no major problems or device jams here. Let’s start the description of cleaning from the hall. It has been well mapped and mostly cleaned, but its problems have already surfaced here. As predicted, the vacuum cleaner does not cope with the horns – their tips themselves are not cleaned. However, he does not have problems with the sides, cardboard and straight walls. Another thing is laces or bags. The first ones were pulled into the Mi Robot Vacuum and unfortunately cleaning had to be stopped. The bags are moved and treated as if they were not there. Another thing are the thresholds, which are quite high in my apartment. For example, the vacuum cleaner drove down to the bathroom, but it couldn’t come back. He bounced against them and if I hadn’t stopped him, he would have been cleaning the same surface several times. It also did not detect thresholds to other rooms and wanted to enter them by force. Even so, most of the hall was well cleaned – it had no problems with mud or dust.

Another thing is the bedroom. Generally, the vacuum cleaner cleaned under the bed and other surfaces. He also had no problems with the raised wardrobe – he tried once, found it impossible and ran along it. I was a bit surprised by this, because other robots were trying hard to enter it. The problem turned out to be the stuffed animals on the ground, which were constantly moved and not detected by the vacuum cleaner, and the door, into which the robot tried to drive in and overcome them. But in the end he learned he wouldn’t pass this way and went back to cleaning up the rest, which he cleaned perfectly – except for the horns, of course.

Kitchen. Mi Robot Vacuum had no problems with crumbs or leftover food on the floor. It was also great for driving into all gaps or between chairs. Only in the last example he had a problem with leaving and it took him a few minutes – during this time he even managed to move the chair a bit, which only made the situation worse. Well, but in the end he managed. In turbo mode, he did not cope with the spilled salt – it was only in Full Speed ​​mode that he showed that it was not a problem for him. In general, I have a positive opinion about cleaning the kitchen – he managed somehow.

The guest room is an important test because of the very dense carpet. The vacuum cleaner did well with the straight sections of the room again. He tried to drive onto the carpet, but was unable to do it – he treated it as an impassable obstacle. Interestingly, if he started working on a carpet, he would calmly ride and slide on it. In the room I also had an Arozzi Arena Leggero desk, on the horizontal legs of which he was trying to climb. He rearranged some chairs or stands for the background, or lamps for taking pictures – I got used to it.

The last room is the one with lots of cables or computer hardware. It turned out that the cables are a problem for him – the vacuum cleaner runs over them, the smaller ones are sucked in. So you have to be careful that nothing of the kind is on the floor while you are cleaning. Gaming chairs were slightly bumped and moved – standard. On the other hand, cardboard boxes or closed cases were nicely detected and avoided. Only once did I have the side of the housing open and the Mi Robot Vacuum entered it. Besides, the whole room was well mapped and cleaned – he had no more problems with anything.

After finishing work, the vacuum cleaner returned to the charger without any problems. Unless he had thresholds on the way or was moved during it – then he got lost. When “parking” it moves a bit funny, but it is fine. Finally, some technical information. The noise level at 40 cm with a background of 34 dBA was 64 dBA in Quiet mode, 67 dBa in Blanaced, 70 dBA in Turbo and 71 dBA in Full Speed. At maximum power, it is already a bit loud, but the weaker modes are quiet for a vacuum cleaner. In the weakest mode, it is actually possible to achieve 2.5 hours of work, while in the highest modes, get ready for much shorter work.

Summary

Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum costs about PLN 1,300. So it cannot be compared to two or three times more expensive designs, because it is known that they will do much better. Let me start with the pluses of the cleaning robot. It can handle straight surfaces very well. Then there are no problems with straight sides, dust or any other type of dirt. Even if it encounters something that it cannot handle (e.g. salt), you can be sure that it will be able to easily overcome it at Full Speed. Also, the mapping of rooms or the return to charging is flawless – as long as the vacuum cleaner is not moved. However, it has a few work or application related disadvantages. Vacuuming alone, as I mentioned, on easy surfaces is very good. However, when something more complicated starts, the Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum will start to get lost. Sometimes for a few minutes he wants to go where he can, moves chairs, pulls on laces or does other such things. It also cannot handle the horns – as is supposed, the shape does not allow it. Also, do not count that it will run on a dense carpet or overcome high thresholds – it will come off them, but there is no option to enter. There is also an application to change, which offers many options, but its operation is quite weak – there are often problems. However, at this price point, I think it even works well. If you do not count on the quality of cleaning and work with much more expensive constructions and you are able to get over some disadvantages or you have quite simple rooms to clean, then you should be satisfied with it.