We have 3 bar stools with plated steel sheet-metal bases:
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As you can see, the bases are nearly parallel to the floor at the outer edge. There’s about a 3/8" turndown at the edge, in which magnets could be concealed.
The Neato tries to vacuum the bases, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. But *always *leaving scratches. I tried putting Neato’s magnetic boundary tape under them but the Neato wasn’t scared away.
I did a Bing search on “strong magnets” and this site, which has magnet AND XV11 expertise all in one, floated near the top. Perfect!
Looks like flexible magnets just aren’t going to be strong enough. Soooooooooooo…
If I adhered NdFeB magnets every 3" around the circumference, on the underside, think that would scare away the Neato?
Is there a specific Robotshop magnet you’d recommend?
The look we’re going for definitely doesn’t include magnets on top of the bases, or a physical barrier around them!
I guess I could buy a half-dozen strong magnets, stick them on with edges touching, and see if they keep the Neato away when I put the chair in its path. If it works, I can experiment to see how far apart they can go.
Got a recommendation for which ones I should try, (with no Robotshop guarantees, without Neato’s blessing, and at my own risk)?
Welcome to the RobotShop Forum. We’re glad you like the site.
The Neato XV-11 has a magnetic sensor in the bottom left corner of the robot (left when you’re reading the display, so with the bumper facing towards you). If the sensor doesn’t pass close enough over the magnet, it won’t necessarily pick up the magnet is there and so will continue to clean as normal. This is why Neato supplies the boundary markers as a strip, to make sure the line not to be crossed is covered entirely. The magnet’s direction should have no bearing on the XV-11’s sensor, since it is a reed switch.
Putting strong magnets around the base spaced out thus may not work because of how the XV-11 see the magnetic strips. So though we do have several strong magnets available in our online store, that sounds like an intermittent solution at best. Also since the magnetic strips didn’t work when put under the base, likely they aren’t strong enough to be ‘seen’ by the robot through the base of the stool.
Neato Robotics does not endorse the use of any other type of magnet than the boundary marker with the XV-11. However, there is magnetic tape you could purchase that some have had success with (we know 3M has some, though there may be others). That being said though, it would likely have to go on top of the stool base. Depending on what the tape looks like and also the look you’re going for, you may not be happy with how it looks.
Otherwise if that doesn’t work, then we suggest this low-tech approach: create some kind of physical barrier along the edge of the stool base that will cause the XV-11 to hit the stool instead of climbing up the edge. We were thinking perhaps rubber strips that are used to protect against scuffing.
If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, or if someone’s had success in keeping the Neato off of furniture similar to this, we welcome your input.
We carry a few magnets, but the one that would fit the best seems to be this one. Again, the spacing likely will be key, and we cannot be certain it would work.
We’d suggest buying just one (it’s a pack of 20), and seeing if it works. At 12mm in diameter, all 20 put in a line would bring you almost up to a foot. It may be worth a try, depending on the size of your stool base.
Let us know if that works or if you find a different solution; we’d love to hear about it.
