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Roomba + Wii remote + Perl = Awesome
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.
This is like an odd parallel universe movie where a younger Matt Damon controls his vacuum with a remote control.
FLR
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.
It should be "People who have too much time on their hands" department. :P
It sucks.
For those interested, the WiiLi.org Wiki is full of Wiimote examples using Python, just takes a handfull lines of code to get started with the Wiimote, its really easy.
My boy is wicked smart!
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Before they REBEL!
You're tired of vacuuming by hand, so you buy a robot vacuum that works all by itself. Then you add a clever hack that allows you to control the robot vacuum just like the manual vacuum you had before...
... 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
No offense, but Java would be a particularly bad choice for this application. The real work done here is "gluing" two things together at a system level - the Roomba program and the Wii program. Java is uniquely miserable at interacting on the system level. Where Java excels is object-oriented architectural design and huge enterprise-level programs.
So, if you want a scalable application server, use Java. If you need to tie two programs together, use a scripting language like Python or Perl. If you know you can limit yourself to a Unix shell environment, Perl may be best (and this is from a Python junkie!)
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.
Already done:
0 431075627
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=258164541
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
They designed this so that when people throw their Wiimotes at televisions while playing Wii Sports, the Roomba will go clean up the glass shards.
I attached a handle to my roomba so I can control it by hand.