controlling a roomba

[Gava1986]

Hey,

I am a student who is currently doing a project using Labview to programme a roomba vaccum but I'm having serious problems as I'm struggling to get my robot to run my program, I haven't an idea what to do, I only know the basics! Help!!!

[chrisger]

Hi there

Well, we also don't know what to do! Tell us more about your application, your hardware, your problems. Using diagrams or posting code may be helpful.

[Gava1986]

well at the moment I would just like to maybe control the roomba a bit make it go left right, forward and backwards. Something smal and that might helo me move on. I know I start my program with a Visa serial block and have my baud rate etc. But I don't know where to go from there!!!

[smercurio_fc]

It seems you are trying to control the Roomba through the serial interface. Do you have the right cable?

[chrisger]

Do a search at Sourceforge.net. It seems there are some existing APIs:

http://sourceforge.net/search/?type_of_search=soft&words=roomba

[kdmcmullan]

If you have no joy with the APIs, the specification is really simple. iRobot supply it free here.

I had a quick look at some of the existing code and a browse at the Serial Command Interface document and I figure that by the time I learn someone else's API, I could write my own (in LabVIEW). Watch this space.

That cable on the make site is a great job. Don't forget to put the line level converter close to the Roomba. If you try to put it close to the PC, you'll have to use a shorter cable run.

[Crazyrobotman]

Hey:

You don't specifically need utilize / download any specific API's to work with the roomba - you can simply send down commands to the roomba using a serial cable (That it sounds like you already have) and commands from any application - be it VB, Java, or labview.  I'm not the best person to talk to about labview, but the serial drivers / VI's should be able to handle it with no problem.

The most complicated part about using the roomba is setting up the baud rate and remembering the order of commands that you need to send the roomba.  Since you are planning on using labview - once you program it, you shouldn't have to worry about remembering the commands again. 🙂

For a great introductory spcheel about communicating to the roomba over the SCI interface, I would highly recomend going here:
http://www.robotappstore.com/Knowledge-Base/1-Introduction-to-Roomba-Programming/15.html

It covers the basics about baud rate setup, controlling modes, and other things like movement and sounds.  Additionally there are some other tidbits of things that might drive you crazy if you aren't aware of them when initially playing with it.

Hope this helps!

[danil33]

Hi Robotman,

                     You are posted in a cold thread.Any way the sharing of information is good.