RoombaComm is Java library for communicating and controlling the Roomba. It works on any operating system that RXTX supports. This includes Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. It also works with Processing. It will soon work with Flash and Max/MSP.
It’s been a work in progress for several months and has gotten a little better as I work through improving it for the book
Several bugs have been fixed, particularly with respect to Bluetooth on Windows. See the README for some info on that.
Tested systems:
– Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) : usb serial & bluetooth
– Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) : usb serial & bluetooth
– Windows 2000 : usb serial & bluetooth
– Gumstix Linux : built-in serial
Tested adapters:
– Homemade RS-232 adapter
– Homemade Bluetooth adapter
– RooStick USB adapter
Demo command-line programs include:
– DriveRealTime — Drive your Roomba with cursor keys
– RTTTLPlay — Play monophonic ringtones on your Roomba
– Spiral — Roomba drives in ever expanding spiral
– Waggle — Roomba wags like a dog
– BumpTurn — Roomba drives around by itself, avoiding things
– Spy — Read your Roomba’s mind while it works
– Tribble — Roomba purrs and sometimes barks
– RoombaCommTest — Roomba GUI remote control panel (not command-line)
Processing demos include:
– RoombaTune — Play your Roomba like a musical instrument
– RoombaRing — Play RTTTL ringtones on a Roomba
– RoombaView — Full instrument panel and remote control
This is what RoombaView looks like:
Download:
– full package: roombacomm-0.95.zip
– Processing library: roombacomm-processing-0.95.zip
Docs:
– javadoc
– README-0.95
– the source tree
Hi Charlie,
It’s not abandoned per se, I just haven’t had time to update it. The official location for the code is now on the Hacking Roomba site: http://hackingroomba.com/code/roombacomm/
The error messages you see in Processing are because Processing changed the name of some of its functions slightly. “framerate” to “frameRate” is the most common change, and you can try that out really quickly in the .pde sketch file you’re trying to run.
The recent changes in Processing are all fairly minor and you can see them all at: http://processing.org/reference/changes.html
Hey Tod,
First off, thanks for all your work on this. It’s really pretty impressive. I’m trying to run roombacomm, but I’m getting a “this code must be updated” error in processing 0154. Is this project abandoned, or are you planning to update the source?
Thanks again!