@NWCCTV, I haven't decided weather I want to take it down yet or not. Your the only one who has shot me an offer so I didnt think it was a big deal, seems like your still on the fence a bit about it.
@Duane
I checked out exactly what you were doing in the PM you sent me, very cool. The thing is it looks like you have a 5xxx series correct? The 4210 also has a serial port with the same DIN style connector but im not sure if it works the same way. The other issue is you can not read the encoders from the serial port, because the Roomba takes care of all that. One of the reasons Im not to excited about the Roomba as a vacum, is that I currently live in a house where the brushes will mess up the hard wood floor. If I decide to control it via serial can one turn the actual vacuum part off, obviously I could just remove the brush but turning the vacuum off will definitely allow for much quieter operation..
You can actually solder 4 points on the mother board to control the H-Bridge with PWM, if you leave the whole main board in the roomba, since ive already got a little AQrduino based circuit around to send out the pwm signal via a serial interface I figured maybe just tapping those four points would be the best solution for up and running quickly, although it would be tacky to keep the full main board around for a more permanent build, If i wanted to build a mosfet based Hbridge instead of an IC based system for the chassis all the fets are right there and there through hole .
My overall idea to modify the chassis would be to replace the motors if with faster 12/24v ones, and then mount a round platform above the chassis most likely made of ply wood! I would also want to replace the skid with an omni wheel or caster, so the little guy could get over sand a little bit. I found this
its in dutch, but its pretty impressive the roomba chassis can haul quite a load!! I mean the guys got a laptop on there and all kinds of other stuff so the chassis itself seems pretty capable for a bot the size I want. The only reason im considering replacing the motors is to get more speed, looking at how a roomba is set up swapping the motors seems like the patch of least resistance, getting different wheels in there will be a pain in the butt, and im sure Im not likely to find two matching gears to change the final gear in the thing.
Hi
I've started to take down One of the three Roombas I have.
I have one of the wheel motors out and am looking over the rest of the innards.
The very biggest concern I have about using the Roomba components is the size of the connectors used for
all of the elements.
It may be that the male or female plug connectors are some kind of standard, but I don't know what that is.
22 gage wire it appears, does not work to plug into the Roomba sockets.
The reason for my take down of one of my Roomba's is that the batteries used by Roomba have too short of a lifetime.
I will read any information concerning repurposing of Roomba components.
If the company that manufactures the Roomba would design in, batteries that would last for 5 years or so, Like my Porter Cable Tools,
I would more than likely purchase a 4th Roomba.
As it is, From time to time, I'll dig out the Roomba parts box and see how I can repurpose the components.
If I decide to control it via serial can one turn the actual vacuum part off,
IIRC, there are three cleaning motors on my Roomba. Two of the motors power cleaning brushes. As I mentioned in the Roomba thread, each of these motors can be individually controlled.
I use the arrow buttons on the left side of the PS2 controller to turn on and off the cleaning motors.
While I don't know of a way of directly accessing the Roomba's encoders, you can request both distance and angle information from the Roomba which will tell you how far each wheel has traveled.
Here's the manual I'm using. Distance and Angle are described on page 8.
its in dutch, but its pretty impressive the roomba chassis can haul quite a load!! I mean the guys got a laptop on there and all kinds of other stuff so the chassis itself seems pretty capable for a bot the size I want. The only reason im considering replacing the motors is to get more speed, looking at how a roomba is set up swapping the motors seems like the patch of least resistance, getting different wheels in there will be a pain in the butt, and im sure Im not likely to find two matching gears to change the final gear in the thing.
I could understand adding electronics to drive the Roomba directly if the mainboard on the Roomba had died but I don't see the point of adding an h-bridge etc to a robot that already has one?
I just think before you start severely modifying the Roomba, you should try controlling it as is. Let the Roomba do the low level stuff like motor control and just use a Prop to issue commands to the Roomba and request information back from the encoders and sensors.
I'm hacking into mine today to see if there's a way of using a different battery pack with it.
Its to late man lol. I gave it lots and lots of thought and just controlling the bot via serial didnt sound very fun. Im really in to trying getting down the motor control stuff down along with odometery. The bot is very nice at 9.6v it can carry alot of weight I was stacking gallons of muratic acid, pnuematic wheels, and exercise equipment on it. I just wanted a working drive train, the rest is what I consider fun. I actually saved all the parts though so with a few wire splices and alot of work the roomba can be reassembled. There is a 1 rpm encoder in the skid wheel how cool is that. I took the thing apart to the smallest gear to clean it and regrease with white lithium.
Comments
@Duane
I checked out exactly what you were doing in the PM you sent me, very cool. The thing is it looks like you have a 5xxx series correct? The 4210 also has a serial port with the same DIN style connector but im not sure if it works the same way. The other issue is you can not read the encoders from the serial port, because the Roomba takes care of all that. One of the reasons Im not to excited about the Roomba as a vacum, is that I currently live in a house where the brushes will mess up the hard wood floor. If I decide to control it via serial can one turn the actual vacuum part off, obviously I could just remove the brush but turning the vacuum off will definitely allow for much quieter operation..
You can actually solder 4 points on the mother board to control the H-Bridge with PWM, if you leave the whole main board in the roomba, since ive already got a little AQrduino based circuit around to send out the pwm signal via a serial interface I figured maybe just tapping those four points would be the best solution for up and running quickly, although it would be tacky to keep the full main board around for a more permanent build, If i wanted to build a mosfet based Hbridge instead of an IC based system for the chassis all the fets are right there and there through hole
My overall idea to modify the chassis would be to replace the motors if with faster 12/24v ones, and then mount a round platform above the chassis most likely made of ply wood! I would also want to replace the skid with an omni wheel or caster, so the little guy could get over sand a little bit. I found this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI3EtiNThSc
its in dutch, but its pretty impressive the roomba chassis can haul quite a load!! I mean the guys got a laptop on there and all kinds of other stuff so the chassis itself seems pretty capable for a bot the size I want. The only reason im considering replacing the motors is to get more speed, looking at how a roomba is set up swapping the motors seems like the patch of least resistance, getting different wheels in there will be a pain in the butt, and im sure Im not likely to find two matching gears to change the final gear in the thing.
I've started to take down One of the three Roombas I have.
I have one of the wheel motors out and am looking over the rest of the innards.
The very biggest concern I have about using the Roomba components is the size of the connectors used for
all of the elements.
It may be that the male or female plug connectors are some kind of standard, but I don't know what that is.
22 gage wire it appears, does not work to plug into the Roomba sockets.
The reason for my take down of one of my Roomba's is that the batteries used by Roomba have too short of a lifetime.
I will read any information concerning repurposing of Roomba components.
If the company that manufactures the Roomba would design in, batteries that would last for 5 years or so, Like my Porter Cable Tools,
I would more than likely purchase a 4th Roomba.
As it is, From time to time, I'll dig out the Roomba parts box and see how I can repurpose the components.
good luck
IIRC, there are three cleaning motors on my Roomba. Two of the motors power cleaning brushes. As I mentioned in the Roomba thread, each of these motors can be individually controlled.
While I don't know of a way of directly accessing the Roomba's encoders, you can request both distance and angle information from the Roomba which will tell you how far each wheel has traveled.
Here's the manual I'm using. Distance and Angle are described on page 8.
I could understand adding electronics to drive the Roomba directly if the mainboard on the Roomba had died but I don't see the point of adding an h-bridge etc to a robot that already has one?
I just think before you start severely modifying the Roomba, you should try controlling it as is. Let the Roomba do the low level stuff like motor control and just use a Prop to issue commands to the Roomba and request information back from the encoders and sensors.
I'm hacking into mine today to see if there's a way of using a different battery pack with it.