Fine tuning Mint 5200 & North Star cube?

Help & Support Domestic Robots
1

A couple weeks ago, I got my first robot floor cleaner- a Mint 5200. I love the little guy, and he’s done wonders for the house.

I’m wanting to fine-tune how he works, and coming up with very little info on the North Star cubes. About all I can find is iRobot’s page saying to keep it away from other IR light sources: TV’s and florescent lights. ( irobot.com/en/us/Support/For_Home/Mint_Resources/Copy%20of%20Tips_Tricks.aspx )

I’ve done some half-hearted efforts to reproduce the light trail photos from this site, to help measure the best placment of the cubes. Kids/dogs/Christmas have made it hard to get a decent photo. ( petapixel.com/2010/09/30/light-trails-of-a-floor-cleaning-robot/ )

Anyone have resources/answers for any of the following?

  • How can you tell if the cube is in the good/bad place?
  • I have 2 rooms spanning he same floor space: one’s a traditional flat ceiling. The other room’s a 2 story cathediral ceiling. Any issues with the cube and non-flat ceilings?
  • I’ve tried using my iPhone to see the IR light from the cube, but no luck. What light/pattern does it out?
  • There’s a beam, about a food thick, in the ceiling seperating the kitchen & dining room. Should the cube shining on that, or far away from that?

I know the Mint is designed a lot like an Apple product: few options, and it just works. The hacker in me wants to get under the hood and mess with things though. Am I alone? :slight_smile:

2

Some trial and error is usually needed to find the right spot to place the Navigation cube, especially if you have have high, vaulted ceilings. But, the Mint usually does not have problems with high, sloped ceilings and it can still find it’s way.

The navigation cube is needed mostly for the robot to be able to clean the perimeter of the room correctly. So it will not have problems cleaning the Room completely even if the cube is not exactly at the right place. We suggest placing it in the middle of the room if you can on a table for example so it does not interfere with other objects in the room.

The light from the cube IR. If you have a digital camera you can probably see the IR light from the cube. The issue is that IR light effects the camera’s ability to record the visible light correctly. Most manufacturers put IR blocking filters on their camera’s to prevent the IR light from affecting pictures. Some cameras don’t have this filter, or have a weak version so you can take pictures of the IR light.

The beam in the ceiling should not cause any problems. It is possible that the mint will get lost for a few seconds while cleaning but, it usually always resumes connection with the cube and continues cleaning.