Mac Book Pro as Roomba Remote

adelord writes "Alpha Geeks have a new do-it-yourself project to terrorize the cat with: use Perl with a MacBook Pro's Sudden Motion Sensor to control a Roomba. Wired's Cult of Mac cites the original site which has other fun ways to pimp your Roomba . This gets my award for most inefficient use of tech, time, and training for the week. It won't freak out her cat nearly as much as a RoboRaptor on Roam mode. "

Comments

I had to check it out ...

[joe 155]

A roomba is an automatic hoover,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba

Palm Pilots are Great Roomba Pilots, too!

[FunkeyMonk]

This isn't my own work, but I use my Palm Pilot to control my Roomba!

Download codes here: http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/search/search .cgi?Match=1&Terms=roomba

Who cares about the Roomba anyway?

[ewilts]

My Roomba was great when it worked. It's now been acting as a doorstop for the last 2 months while iRobot tries to find a friggin' battery. Yup, deader than a doornail, they've acknowledged the battery needs to be replaced under warranty, but they keep saying they're back-ordered. They're still selling new ones (and I assume they have batteries) but they're screwing their existing customers. I've recommended the Roomba to a bunch of people that have bought one but am now telling everybody who will listen to avoid the company. Avoid them until they can get their act together! .../Ed

Re:Robotic Cat Toy

[businessnerd]

I've got a great do-it-yourself robotic cat toy that will keep your cat occupied for hours on end.

All you have to do is tie a piece of string from a ceiling fan and turn the fan on the low setting. The string should be long enough so that it touches the ground when hanging from the fan.

Cat's are notorious for rejecting any "toy" that cost you money unless it is laced with massive amounts of catnip.