Comments for Hacking Roomba

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by Mine

Mine — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:43:24 +0000

Thanks for quick reply,
My Roomba model is 4150. But I don’t think the problem is the baud rate. I have one small favor to ask. Since I don’t have any experience on java programming, I couldn’t understand the explanations on roombacomm completely. I don’t even know what RXTX is. If it isn’t much of a burden, can you tell me exactly which of the three files to download from your site and which application to use in order to control roomba from Windows xp pc and any other software I require to make it work?
Thanks for your help,
Mine

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by todbot

todbot — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:10:28 +0000

Hi Mine,
What model Roomba do you have? The newer ones operate at 115200 instead of 57600 bps.

How did you install RXTX? (The easiest way I’ve found is to steal the one out of the Arduino software) Normally minor RXTX version mismatches aren’t an issue, but I’m not sure i’ve seen a 2.2pro1 before.

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by Mine

Mine — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:40:14 +0000

Hello. I built the Roomba serial interface tether as you’ve explained in your book. Echo test worked well. And I pluged the Roomba serial interface tether into the Roomba. I double click RoombaCommTest option and I select the correct port. However, I see in the display ” No Roomba. :( Is it turned on? ”
Also I have one warning:
Warning: RXTX Version mismatch
Jar version=RXTX-2.2pro1
native lib Version=RXTX-2.1-7
I installed Java my computer and Roomba model is 4150.
How we can solve this problem? Please help me. Thank you.

Comment on Updates / Errata by AYL

AYL — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:03:36 +0000

Hi,
Thanks for a fantastic book! I am working my way through and was wondering if you could help explain some of the math in listing 9-2 (RoombaSpiro). Given the incremental vector (dx,dy), the draw() method is calculating two Roomba drive radii (rx and ry). Can you explain how you arrived at the expressions for rx and ry? Thanks!

Comment on Roomba Tilt Control with MacBook & Perl by Control your Roomba using the MacBook’s Sudden Motion Sensor | Ars Technica

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:44:33 +0000

[...] I saw this article at Hackingroomba.com, I jumped for joy. MacBooks + Roomba = love? Hacking Roomba has written a Perl [...]

Comment on Code Download by sean

sean — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:34:45 +0000

Arduino is coming out with an arm based board like the Corduino shortly.

Other things that could work quite well are:
-Plug computers like guruplug, ultraplug, pogoplug, etc.
-Freescale MCIMX53 starter board.
-Beagle/panda board
-Trimslice

They all run linux and have a small form factor. Some come with bluetooth and wireless, built-in, and use very little electricity like your cell phone. So you can use a small battery pack.

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by todbot

todbot — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:18:23 +0000

Hi Bratan, Schlem,
The socket is the socket on the Roomba, which the mini DIN 8-pin cable plugs in to. The 10uF capacitor I reference is C2 or C3 (the ones on the 5V power supply). The actual value can be between 1uF and 100uF. The capacitor values around the MAX232 are correct.

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by todbot

todbot — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:13:18 +0000

Hi Israel,
The iRobot USB-Serial cable should come with instructions on how to install drivers for it. Once you install the drivers, the cable will show up as a serial port with the name “/dev/tty.usbserial…” or “/dev/tty.usbmodem…”. It’s this name that will replace the “/dev/cu.KeySerial1″ that is in my example.

Comment on Build a Roomba Serial Tether by Israel Alvarez

Israel Alvarez — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 02:16:48 +0000

I have a Roomba Discovery 4210 and I’ve purchased the iRobot USB-Serial cable. I’ve downloaded the various processing tools and have them running in GUI test mode on a Lion MacBook. My problem is actual communication with the Roomba: the /dev/cu.KeySerial1 device doesn’t exist on my machine, and I’m not sure which device to point the serial communications to: obviously the cu.Blue* devices aren’t appropriate. Any thoughts?

Comment on New Roomba Prototyping Cable for Arduino by Homy & Roomba « Quo Vadis ?

Homy & Roomba « Quo Vadis ? — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 14:38:41 +0000

[...] a Roomba Serial Interface, Controlling A Roomba with an Arduino, DIY Roomba USB interface cable, New Roomba Prototyping Cable for Arduino, Arduino Robotics Project, …), learned a lot, and figured out how should I proceed with my [...]