what owning a roomba is like

[Admin]

http://www.botjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/roomba1.jpg

[SmAsH]

lol admin, are roombas really that bad?

[awally88]

Original Link: http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net/2007/01/08/i-heart-my-roomba/

I don't care how bad they are I still want one!

*Edit* Fixed Link format

[SmAsH]

nice link... http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net/2007/01/08/i-heart-my-roomba/
you don't need to do anything but paste it...
i would want one just to hack it and play around with it as a platform...

[paulstreats]

All robotic vaccuums that I have seen have a major flaw in them anyway. THEIR SHAPE!

Most rooms have corners in them. corners are square. a round vaccuum wont fit into a square corner. Yes I know that roomba's have a piddly little brush but does that little brush reach into the corners? and does the small brush actually work? probably not.

A square robot vaccuum would fit into square corners.... how did the designers overlook this? (its not just roomba's either its also the expensive ones like the £2500 zanussi effort (which was probably modelled on the roomba anyway but its still no excuse))

[Admin]

lol admin, are roombas really that bad?

yea, so I just pick everything up before I push the 'go' button when I leave for work

A square robot vaccuum would fit into square corners.... how did the designers overlook this? (its not just roomba's either its also the expensive ones like the £2500 zanussi effort (which was probably modelled on the roomba anyway but its still no excuse))

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/26/square-roomba-could-change-your-life/

[kpmcgurk]

awesome comment, are they really like that though?

[paulstreats]

That link is scarily similar to my own efforts of solving the problem.

Here are the cad's of my solution




The idea behind this was that i kept changeing my mind as to what I wanted a robot to do, so I designed and built this base. the base itself has a controller and sensors controlled by a PIC. Its made so you can plug modules on top of it. so you can just plug a vaccuum cleaner module on top and the module uses I2C to communicate with the base unit for it to move and stuff.

Hopefully I'll complete a full module. As I said above, I have the base completed but no module to plug on top yet...

[SmAsH]

wow paul!
that design looks really good. i would definitely buy that over a roomba!
is it just going to be a platform?

[paulstreats]

Well the base unit itself does nothing without any control. The PIC accepts commands through I2C like move_forwards_100cm or read_sonar or tilt_sonar_30deg or read_left_ir

The idea is that once a vaccuum module has been designed, that will plug onto the base unit and control it. At the same time, I was thinking of creating a plain programmable unit to plug on the top. I have a few other ideas for it on the drawing board too.

 I hopefully want to create a standardised communications system aswell as a docking system so if I created a quadruped base, the vaccuum unit could also fit ontop of that and control it using standard motion and sensing commands.

 Its a modular designed robot but unlike OSCAR. OSCAR concentrates on standardising the innards of robots like controller boards. My idea is to standardise a docking and command system so WHOLE segments can fit together.

Think about it, if you have a base unit with stepper motors or encoded motors aswell as the basic sensors, you can plug anything into it to do a different job. If you wanted a system with arms, then a docking level can be created and also docked on top of too.

I also came up with designs for swapping out the wheels and plugging caterpillar tracks into the base unit too.

If you want to see my first prototype of the base unit in real life, look for my stepper motor tutorial, it features in the videos


-----------edit

the vaccuum module will sit on top of the base unit, while a rectangular sucker will extend down the back of the base unit, with things like a vaccuum its expected that it has its own power source and doesnt get power from the base but other less power intesive things can get all of their power through the base unit.


Ive spoken to a few people about this vaccuum module now, and most people dont seem to think a low profile is important. One of the advantages of roombas is they can go under low coffee tables, under chairs and beds and stuff. But many people have chairs and sofas that extend to the floor and under most peoples beds are inaccessible anyway.

What does everbody here think about the low profile issue? I would rather have a slightly higher robot that can provide greater suction and more dust storage space...

[SmAsH]

well, more suction would be good as those smaller ones cant suck for $#!T
i wouldn't want one under my bed... higher is good... people can moves tables...
how high are we talkin?

[paulstreats]

Currently the base sits at 17cm. 15cm for the base and a 2cm wheel clearance.

Im looking at the vaccuum module to add maybe 20cm to the overall height so it would be about 37cm high. Lets just say 40cm to include error and stuff...

[SmAsH]

that can get under my coffee tables
40cm is okayish, just make it pretty and it will sell...

[Joker94]

I wouldn't be fussed about the hight

If it is to high to go under something you probably can't see it any way