Operation Roomba Recycle!
rwgast_logicdesign
Posts: 1,464
Ok so a few months ago I picked up an old Roomba 4210 Discovery & Accessory's for $10. The owner said it wouldn't run for more than a few minutes. I took it home, checked in to the Roomba manuals and found a button combination to reset the power system, charged the thing for 16 hours and the battery worked fine afterwards. The Roomba just sat for a while, because its brush system is bad for the hardwood floor at my house.
I finally decided to tear it down and turn it in to a custom robot, So ive basically stripped it down to the chassis, gear motors, encoders, and battery. I plan to build it back up using a propeller and custom electronics. The first thing was putting a new H-Bridge in it, I just finished making an STM L6205 based board for it and wanted to make sure it worked, so I just plugged in an Arduino that was already programmed to do open loop PWM stuff to see how it would run.
The next step is to stabilize the chassis and add a platform. I think I may put a scoop in the hole in the center, that way it can push things like a sumo, and then add a wooden platform above to mount all the electronics. I was even thinking about maybe putting an upside down trashcan on top of the platform that can rotate 360 degrees. What do you guys think? Im hoping to get a sting ray next month so this is basically a bot to goof around with and have fun!! Any ideas are welcome! This little guy is pretty strong I managed to stack a step master and a bunch of pool chemicals on it and it still drove just fine, that experiment was conducted using a 9.6v battery, not even the full 15v roomba pack.
I finally decided to tear it down and turn it in to a custom robot, So ive basically stripped it down to the chassis, gear motors, encoders, and battery. I plan to build it back up using a propeller and custom electronics. The first thing was putting a new H-Bridge in it, I just finished making an STM L6205 based board for it and wanted to make sure it worked, so I just plugged in an Arduino that was already programmed to do open loop PWM stuff to see how it would run.
The next step is to stabilize the chassis and add a platform. I think I may put a scoop in the hole in the center, that way it can push things like a sumo, and then add a wooden platform above to mount all the electronics. I was even thinking about maybe putting an upside down trashcan on top of the platform that can rotate 360 degrees. What do you guys think? Im hoping to get a sting ray next month so this is basically a bot to goof around with and have fun!! Any ideas are welcome! This little guy is pretty strong I managed to stack a step master and a bunch of pool chemicals on it and it still drove just fine, that experiment was conducted using a 9.6v battery, not even the full 15v roomba pack.
Comments
Why do you think the brush system is bad for your hardwood floors?
Yea, It kind of does!!!!
Okay... well I've never heard of a hardwood floor that would be damaged by a Roomba so I was hoping to learn what kind of floor it is.
I was thinking since this chassis can move some weight and could definately carry a laptop, maybe it would be cool to throw the eddy firmware on it!