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Our house has doorway thresholds that are 3-4cm tall. I'm checking out the Xiaomi robot vacuum, and after lots of searching it appears that it can only handle thresholds around 2cm tall.

I don't want to have to change lots of doors, so I'm hoping there's another clever way to "fix" this so that the robot can climb and pass these thresholds.

Any ideas?

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    This is not meant to be insulting: After the robot vacuums one "room" (as defined by its tall thresholds), you could pick up the robot and put it in the next room to continue. That makes the vacuuming process less automatic, but it's still better than doing it all manually. (This is a comment rather than an answer because I didn't solve the question you asked, which is how to allow the robot to climb over high thresholds.)
    – BrettFromLA
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 1:04
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    There are advantages to removing those thresholds: the rooms become more accessible to wheelchairs and carts (and robot vacuums), and there's no more chance of stubbing your toes on the threshold and tripping.
    – Hobbes
    Commented Dec 14, 2017 at 15:38
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    @BrettFromLA That's not really a great option. My robo-vac is on a timer and I like to have it going when I'm generally heading out, so it really takes away from the utility if I had to tend to it every time it was done with each room.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 1:23
  • @RobertCartaino I was thinking that might be the case....
    – BrettFromLA
    Commented Dec 15, 2017 at 17:45

2 Answers 2

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Two methods:

  1. By placing a ramp (which reaches the height of the doorway threshold)
  2. By placing a doormat (of height 2 cm or less which falls in the range of Xiaomi robot vacuum)

Method 1 - Ramp

Recycled rubber safety ramp OR Aluminum Modular Threshold Ramp OR Other material

Recycled Rubber enter image description here

Method 2 - Doormat

By placing a doormat on the longer edges of doorway threshold, for the robotic vacuum cleaner, a small step will be available to climb. Theoretically, this method should work for Xiaomi robot vacuum if doormat height less than 2cm and doorway threshold height is less than 4cm.

Doormat

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I had the same problem.

A low-pile, bathroom-style throw rug provided plenty of lift and traction to help the robo-vac cross over a threshold into another room. I tried project board (cardboard) and poster board over the thresholds, but it looked ugly and was always sliding around whenever the vacuum bumped into it.

The advantage of a throw rug is that it is inexpensive and can match your room so it doesn't look shabby until you get around to rolling it up after. Throw rugs also have a rubber backing so the ramp stays put and isn't always running away from you every time the vacuum bumps into it.

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