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RoombaCtrl: Drive your Roomba with your cell phone

Ever since Bluetooth adapters for Roombas appeared, I’ve wanted to control my Roomba with a cell phone. All my recent phones have had Bluetooth. But getting a devkit for a phone was expensive and phone-specific. Trying to develop J2ME (aka “JavaME”) applications for cell phones has been a mess, especially for non-Windows users. Thankfully, Mobile Processing wraps up the ugly details, like Processing does for normal Java. It makes writing little programs for your phone pretty easy, and makes whipping up a program to control a Roomba possible.

So here’s “RoombaCtrl”, a small Java program for your Bluetooth- and J2ME-compatible phone that works with the build-your-own Bluetooth adapter shown in the book “Hacking Roomba” or the pre-built RooTooth.

RoombaCtrl Demo

Now you can drive your Roomba with your cellphone like so:

Download

You can download RoombaCtrl compiled, ready to install:
- roombactrl-1.0.jar
- roombactrl-1.0.jad
The “jad” file is if you’re doing “over-the-air” (OTA) installation. Don’t worry about that though. Just grab the jar file and copy it over with Bluetooth file transfer.

You can also download the Mobile Processing source:
- roombactrl-1.0-src.zip
Unzip that into your MobileProcessing sketch folder, open Mobile Processing, and choose RoombaCtrl from the available Sketches. Or if you want to see the entire source code right now:
- roombactrl.pde

You’ll also need a slightly patched Mobile Processing Bluetooth library:
- mobileprocessing-bluetooth-patched.zip
In the “libraries” directory of the Mobile Processing application, move the existing “bluetooth” library directory out of the way and unzip the above zipfile in its place.

Mobile Processing Bluetooth Library Patch

The patch for Mobile’s Bluetooth library is only a few lines long:
- Mobile-0005-Bluetooth.patch
All the patch does is allow one to specify short UUIDs when searching for services. The standard Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP) has a short UUID of 0×1101. All the Roomba Bluetooth adapters appear as normal serial ports using SPP.

This patch allows you to search for Bluetooth serial ports (instead of other Mobile Processing apps) by doing:

Bluetooth bt = new Bluetooth(this, Bluetooth.UUID_SERIALPORT);

Conceivably, you could add additional static defines for the other pre-defined Bluetooth UUIDs.

RoombaCtrl Buildling and Installation

Installing a program on a cell phone can be mysterious; some cell providers even prohibit you from downloading programs. If you have Bluetooth on your phone, installation becomes a simple file transfer.

Building MIDlets (Java applets for cell phones) can also be a little puzzling. Mobile Processing makes it easier, but it still assumes a little too much knowledge. Mobile Processing is still pretty new so perhaps as it ages it’ll get easier. Of course, it doesn’t help that Sun doesn’t make a cross-platform toolkit for developing MIDlets.

Below is a small movie showing how, if everything is configured correctly, building and installing a new Mobile Processing program on your phone can be pretty quick. It uses Mac OS X, but the techniques are the same for any OS.

Useful Links

I had a real time trying to figure out why Mobile Processing wouldn’t let me talk to Bluetooth Serial Devices. I ended up learning how to write Java MIDlets by hand. Here’s some of the links I got knowledge from:

Posted by todbot on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 11:21 pm.

31 Responses to “RoombaCtrl: Drive your Roomba with your cell phone”

Nice!

Left by Chris on September 13th, 2006

Nice! Makes me want to buy a Roomba just for that! Remote Control! Keep up the good work man!

Left by Michael Murphy on September 13th, 2006

very cool! makes me want to buy a roomba.

darn some one just said that.

Left by jp on September 13th, 2006

but does it serve drinks?

Left by judith on September 13th, 2006

Great!! Now I can´t help to buy one!!

Left by Joserra on September 14th, 2006

Great project, I can think of lots of other applications!

Left by Alan on September 14th, 2006

[...] He’s pimping his book a bit, but Tod sent in his hack for controlling his bluetooth roomba with a bluetooth phone. He released the bluetooth interface hack Now he’’s whipped up a phone application that lets him fully control the roomba via bluetooth. [...]

Left by newsBreaks.net » bluetooth roomba phone remote on September 16th, 2006

[...] RoombaCtrl: Drive your Roomba with your cell phone [todbot via Gadgetell] [...]

Left by accelzone - techie weblog » RoombaCtrl Controls Your Roomba With Your Cell Phone on September 21st, 2006

Fantastic!!!!!!

Left by Mike Butcher on September 22nd, 2006

[...] [Todbot] Permalink | Tell a Friend | Print | Like what you see? Subscribe to ourfeed! [...]

Left by DIY: Make a Roomba cell phone remote control | Gadgetell - The Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things Blog on September 22nd, 2006

“Trying to develop J2ME applications for cell phones has been a mess, especially for non-Windows users.”

How come? The tools are all in Java and run just fine under Linux, for example. I don’t remember having any trouble with the tools.

Left by Lumpio- on September 24th, 2006

Lumpio, I meant mostly that developing J2ME apps is a mess because of the variability of the J2ME implementations on the phones. This variability is often reflected in the development environments. For instance, on Linux can you compile and simulate J2ME code that uses the Bluetooth or Camera APIs?

Left by todbot on September 25th, 2006

[...] [...]

Left by DIY: Make a Roomba cell phone remote control via Bluetooth | zedomax.com - blog about emerging technologies, diy, gadgets, and more! on September 25th, 2006

todbot, compiling should not be a problem, even with non-standard stuff. Phone emulation also works fine, but I can’t remember whether the emulators that come with Sun’s toolkit do BT and camera.

Emulating the non-standard stuff is a whole another story tho… (is Wine cheating? :P)

Left by Lumpio- on September 26th, 2006

[...] Here’s a fun DIY project for a lazy weekend: a phone-controlled Roomba hack using “RoombaCtrl”, “a small Java program for your Bluetooth- and J2ME-compatible phone.” Videos after the jump. More information here. Ever since Bluetooth adapters for Roombas appeared, I’ve wanted to control my Roomba with a cell phone. Thankfully, Mobile Processing wraps up the ugly details, like Processing does for normal Java. It makes writing little programs for your phone pretty easy, and makes whipping up a program to control a Roomba possible [...]

Left by 我不喜欢-Blog » Cell Phone-Controlled Roomba on October 22nd, 2006

Thanks for the source code - this indeed opens the doors to infinite roomba hacking!
However, I’m having a problem with the program. I’ve downloaded roombaCTRl jar file to my Nokia Series 60 phone (6620), but allI can do with it is to turn off all roomba lights when pressing “*”. It wouldn’t respond to any other command. Any ideas how to debug this?

thanks!

Left by gugalux on November 10th, 2006

gugalux, that’s very strange, especially considering that ‘*’ only resets the Roomba and shouldn’t affect the Roomba LEDs at all.

Have you verified your Roomba Bluetooth adapter works with a computer first?

Left by todbot on November 11th, 2006

[...] Here’s a fun DIY project for a lazy weekend: a phone-controlled Roomba hack using “RoombaCtrl”, “a small Java program for your Bluetooth- and J2ME-compatible phone.” More information here. Ever since Bluetooth adapters for Roombas appeared, I’ve wanted to control my Roomba with a cell phone. Thankfully, Mobile Processing wraps up the ugly details, like Processing does for normal Java. It makes writing little programs for your phone pretty easy, and makes whipping up a program to control a Roomba possible [...]

Left by 我不喜欢-Blog » Top 5 Most Creative Cell Phone Mods on November 24th, 2006

[...] Here are some links to Roomba projects that will show that the Roomba is not all work and no play. A big list of hacks reside here. Here is a look at the robot’s guts. Here is a guys blog posting about his Roomba hacking that includes this remote controled (via a bluetooth cellphone) roomba. Here is a musical Roomba with video included. Of course, my Roomba hacking will be feature only on the billstron blog. Stay tuned… [...]

Left by BillstronBlog » Blog Archive » roomba… Roomba… ROOmba… ROOMBa… ROOMBA… ROOMBA!!! on December 24th, 2006

I tried doing this but its not working .. please help :) e mail me if posible .. thank you

Left by bond on December 25th, 2006

On my v3i the program runs and finds my bluesmirf but never finds the serial port. Has anyone overcome this problem?

Left by v3iuser on January 22nd, 2007

Hey i was just wondering if you could help me out. I have a siemens sx66 pocketpc and im having trouble running it. It comes with a midLet manager and installer, but its not reconizing the jar file to install.

Left by Dan on February 18th, 2007

Hi Dan,
Sorry, I have no experience with WinCE devices. In my limited experience with diferent cell phones, I just sent the jar file to the phone and then ran it.

Left by todbot on February 18th, 2007

Trackback from http://dotmad.blogspot.com/2007/06/four-hairy-tips-for-dog-owners.html

Left by Adi on June 15th, 2007

Hello Tod,

I’ve download your .jar and .jad files to my PocketPC Jasjam (HT) Running Windows Mobile 5, and when I execute your application I got an error “Invalid Java Arvhive (jar)”.

Do you have any idea what is it?

Thanks.

Left by Daniel on July 20th, 2007

No clue. I’ve not done much J2ME programming lately. You should try going to the Mobile Processing site and downloading some of the examples onto your device and see if those work.

Left by todbot on July 31st, 2007

Will that work with a samsung upstage?

Left by ryvrnynph on August 17th, 2007

In my experience, JAD and JAR files can be tricky sometime - what runs on one architecture may not run on another. Often this is caused by having one line in the Manifest file be incorrect for whatever architecture you are running on. This is something that only the developer of the JAD/JAR can fix. My guess is that the JAD and JAR were created using an SDK that wasn’t really geared toward developing for PocketPC or WindowsCE devices. I spent several years as a J2ME game developer, and unfortunately each architecture requires its own tweaks.

I would love to see someone develop a BREW version of a Roomba controller as well. BREW is the C/C++ environment that runs on carriers like Verizon and AllTel, carriers where there are no Java enabled phones. In my area (San Diego), Verizon has the best quality network for voice calls, but Verizon keeps a very tight lid on the distribution of BREW applications. I think it will still be a couple years or so before BREW apps become as freely distributable as J2ME apps.

Are there any other devices you plan to control with your Bluetooth cell phone? It might be even more fun to control your neighbors’ Roomba instead! ;-)

Left by Marc Ilgen on August 18th, 2007

Hey Tod. Need sum help here. I have the iRobot Create and I have an RS232 Blue-tooth adapter. Is it possible at all to configure the adapter with my create? plz… =] thanx

Left by Thom on December 31st, 2007

[...] can build a serial interface, bluetooth interface, gamepad interface, Wiimote interface, cellphone interface … and you can buy the vast majority of those via third-parties if you value time over money, [...]

Left by Roominations on the Roomba @ M@Blog on April 2nd, 2008

[...] out this hack for controlling the bluetooth Roomba with a bluetooth [...]

Left by Control Your Roomba via BlueTooth | Hack N Mod on July 20th, 2008

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