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Roomba + Wii remote + Perl = Awesome

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the when-buzzword-compliance-is-a-good-thing dept.

Anonymous Wii Lov'n Coward writes "Check out the WiiRoomba, a mashup using a Wii remote, a perl script, and the Darwiin Remote software. While a little sluggish to respond, the Roomba is entirely controlled by the Wii remote accelerometers." All of the source code to do it yourself is available at the site linked, along with a youtube video of how it works.

12 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Cool hack, but by Oddster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't the point of the Roomba that it doesn't need control?

    Although I suppose it would be really useful if you added a servo arm, and could use the contraption to get yourself a beer without leaving your chair.

  2. Next: Wii-mote RC cars ? by neurocutie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Cool hack, but better than just a regular RC joystick controller ???

  3. Re:Why Perl? by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Hey, look at the code. The important bits seem to be like

    printf $roomba "\x89%c%c%c%c", $vh,$vl,$rh,$rl;
    Elsewhere, they seem to be communicating with another application through a named pipe. Text processing and the UNIX philosophy: Perl at its finest.
    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  4. Re:Why Perl? by Nasarius · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Out of curiosity, why use a language like Perl to do something dynamic like this? I'm no code jockey, but I always thought that Perl was meant for run-it-once type applications that handle things like text processing and database searching.
    The question is valid, but the nonsensical rambling that follows detracts from it. So I'll just say that modern scripting languages like Perl, Python, or Ruby can do just about anything but systems programming. In fact, they are perfect for doing what the summary seems to describe: taking the output from one program, parsing it, and sending instructions to another program.
    --
    LOAD "SIG",8,1
  5. Re:iRobot could have made Roomba remote controlled by mccalli · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... but they didn't. Because the whole point of the Roomba is that you don't need to control it.

    No and yes, in that order. My Roomba certainly came with a remote control that can steer the device, but I've never found a need to use it. However, I still appreciate this hack for what it is - a spot of fun done just because you can.

    Cheers,
    Ian

  6. "mashup" by sinserve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is this trendy-word shit? MASHUP? Who the fuck came up with this word? In multimedia we already had "remixing" and "sampling".

    Hardware and software can not "mashup", they're "coupled" or "integrated" in manager-speak, but in honest everyday speak hardware is "driven" or "controlled" or "interfaced" with software.

    It could have been "controling roomba with wii remote". Perl would never show up in the headline because software drivers are no often given banner credit. They're expected to work.

  7. "Mashup?" Excuse me? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The word you're looking for is "hack."

    Web 2.0. Blogosphere. Mashup. Digital Rights Management. Is our culture so completely saturated with marketer-speak that now -everyone- feels compelled to use bullshit terms like these in place of normal words with established meanings? People, we need to stop talking like boners.

  8. Envy by amdurak · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Come on, people. He did something we would never think of doing. Regardless of which object and what purpose the object which he controlled has, in my humble opinion it is well done. He got Slashdotted, we did not.

  9. How programable is the Roomba? by RalphBNumbers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Taking this hack a step farther:

    Since Roombas can be made to connect to computers via bluetooth adapters, it stands to reason that if they are sufficiently programable, they could be made to respond directly to the Wiimote via bluetooth, without a Mac playing middleman. This might even eliminate a lot of the the lag the story mentions.

    --
    "The worst tyrannies were the ones where a governance required its own logic on every embedded node." - Vernor Vinge
  10. Re: Indeed by thzinc · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Perl is no more difficult to maintain than any other language.

    Bad code is bad code, and bad code is difficult to maintain. Good code is good code and is generally maintainable.

    Writing good code in Perl, just like any other language, is left up to the programmer.

    (And, I know of more than a few large, well-maintained systems written in Perl.)

  11. Be glad there's no challenge/response by Myria · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Be glad that Nintendo didn't go the route of Microsoft and do a challenge-response to authenticate the console to the controller and the controller to the console.

    Melissa

    --
    "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
  12. Re:Wrong Department... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "It should be "People who have too much time on their hands" department. :P" ... said the guy posting on Slashdot.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)