Re: [mh] Need a module for the Roomba, roomba.pl

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

David Norwood wrote:
> From: "Neil Cherry" <nc...@co...>
>> Matt wrote:
>>> Its fun that effort was put into creating Control of RoboSapien,
>>> ESRA, and ER1 robots. However, control of the Roomba could go much
>>> further to taking MH to the next level.  I am not at the level to
>>> create the module but really its not if but when someone creates the
>>> module so that MH controls a roomba.  Laptop with MH on it placed on
>>> a Roomba with a camera could be a very feature filled robot.  With
>>> the discovery model it could even recharge the roomba portion of the
>>> robot or telepresence robot.  This guy already has it working in java
>>> so how hard would it be to control it with perl?
>>> http://todbot.com/blog/2006/01/25/roomba-hacking-via-serial-tether/
>>> Roombas are much cheaper than the ER1 and if one breaks not a huge
>>> outlay to buy another.
>>
>>
>> Why bother with a serial tether? This is a good place for a wireless
>> (900 MHz maybe) serial connection. It is more expensive but probably
>> a good choice for this application. Someone else suggested Bluetooth
>> (web site blog commenter) probably not a bad idea. I don't know
>> which would be cheaper.
> 
> Wireless is a good option here (maybe even Bluetooth), but Matt wants to 
> mount a laptop on top of the roomba for the camera, microphone, and 
> speakers.  I don't know how he will recharge the laptop batteries, 
> though. Can the power output on a roomba support a mini pc with usb 
> devices and a cf card?

Might be better off with a SBC (single board computer) rather than
a laptop. Much lighter than a laptop and it will probably work
better. But that's my point of view.

-- 
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