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Roomba + Tablet PC = ?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the because-you-can dept.

ptorrone writes "Using "off the shelf parts" I have constructed another pretty good mobile robot for my home. A Tablet PC is the brain and the Roomba robot vac is the locomotion. I'm currently working on sending the IR commands from the pc to the Roomba and having the robot "do a tour" and post photos / video automatically to the "roblog" (my robot photo blog). So yah, the Tablet PC sucks ;-]"

4 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. I have been thinking about doing something similar by dj28 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Also, here is a list of other home-built robot projects on the web. They are interesting, however many of them are not as complex as this person's robot.

    Some interesting projects include: OmniPede and TuteBot.

  2. Linux On TabletPCs by wehe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hey, just in case you are looking for Linux on TabletPCs to get your robot running with a free OS.

  3. Re:As someone who actually has a Roomba ... by koreth · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have a Roomba too and I've noticed the same thing -- but only when I go a while between cleanings. If I use it every couple of days, after a week or so it gets rid of enough accumulated dirt that subsequent runs don't fill up the compartment any more. If for whatever reason you can't use it that frequently, then yeah, it's probably not the right vacuum for you. I fire it up when I leave for the day, so it's no big deal to use it nearly daily.

  4. You can do it cheaper by Heathkit · · Score: 5, Informative

    A friend and I did the exact same thing a while ago, but using a hacked virgin webplayer. It's an internet appliance you can get for about $50 off of eBay. We just ran it off of NiMH batteries and woila, instant robot.

    The details are here. We wrote up all of our notes, including the pinout of the roomba board in case anyone else wants to do this.