Recently my Neato has been having issues finishing a single cleaning session due to errors that appear at some point during cleaning. In most cases the error is “Please clear my path.” Below I describe three recent cases.
Cleaning session #1
• Press the main button to start cleaning → no problems
• It stops with the error “Please clear my path” → there is no visible obstacle that could cause this error
• Press the button to continue cleaning → fan spins up → fails again with “Please clear my path”
• Press the button to continue cleaning → fan spins up → fails again with “Please clear my path”
At this point I decided to connect my laptop via USB and check the robot using NeatoControl and NeatoToolio to see if I could find any useful information. My first suspicion was the LIDAR, since it is responsible for navigation and a faulty motor is often the cause of this error.
In the NeatoToolio LIDAR map I noticed red areas directly in front of the robot, which was strange because there was nothing physically there. The same behavior was visible in NeatoControl. at that point I did not know how to resolve this.
The battery was almost fully charged and is somewhere around 50–70% of its useful lifetime (not to be confused with charge state). The only thing I could safely test was to shut down the robot and start cleaning again from the exact same position where it had failed (I did not move it to preserve the same conditions).
After the restart, I connected via USB again to check the LIDAR. now the LIDAR map looked normal; nothing was reported in front of the vacuum. After starting a new cleaning process from the position where it had failed, it managed to finish the cleaning cycle.
Cleaning session #2
• Press the main button to start cleaning → no problems
• After about 10 seconds it stops with the same “Please clear my path” error
• Connect via USB → check LIDAR map in NeatoToolio → no fake objects visible; the map looks OK. The reported LIDAR FPS was around 4.30–4.70 (I don’t remember the exact value).
• Unplug USB → press the main button to resume cleaning → “Please clear my path”
• Press the main button again → the brush starts but stops after ~3 seconds → “My brush is stuck” (or something similar). There were no objects blocking the brush. The brush motor was replaced about two years ago, and the shaft has been cleaned from hair accumulation.
• Press the main button again → fan spins up, then stops → error message “My fan can’t start” (or something similar). I have never seen this error before.
• Press the main button again → it manages to finish the cleaning session
Cleaning session #3
• Press the main button to start cleaning → it drives out of the charging station as expected and then suddenly goes berserk: it goes full reverse speed, rams into the charging station, and then drives into the wall → I had to stop it
• I manually placed the vacuum in the center of the carpet and pressed the main button to start cleaning → it managed to complete the cleaning cycle
After this session I once again connected via USB to observe the battery voltage under current load changes. I set the brush to 100%, the fan to 100%, and enabled the LIDAR. The battery voltage dropped to around 13.4–13.6 V.
At this point I think I can rule out battery issues. The voltage seems OK and the battery is quite new. My first suspect was the LIDAR (cleaning or motor replacement), but since the robot fails with multiple unrelated errors, I believe this is not purely a LIDAR issue. I cleaned it anyway, but it did not help.
My questions:
• What is the correct LIDAR FPS value reported in NeatoToolio? Could it be too low in my case?
• What could be the reason for such failures? This is the main reason for this post — I could really use help with this topic
.At the moment my main suspect is that the capacitors in the power supply are past their useful lifetime and need to be replaced. Another possibility could be some form of software or firmware failure. Regarding the vacuum itself: a few years ago the LCD display failed and I performed a modification that pull up its power supply to it (based on information from this forum — I don’t remember the exact details). This mod has been working fine ever since, and I don’t think it is related to the problems described above.
Thank for help
