I have four Roombas of three different models (I blame Steve for telling me about “deals”). I think I may have too many. Regardless, the one thing they all have in common is a hacked together BlueTooth connection so I can run various software on them remotely. While I haven’t really talked a lot about those “various softwares”, I’m really excited about a project I’m working on now, working title of RooCluster.

RooCluster is a command-and-control application designed for the special needs of  multiple robots operating in the same space, or over large multi-room spaces. Each Roomba is being fitted with an RFID tag, which, in coordiation with some more wireless access points, allows me to triangulate where a Roomba is and its travel vector (sometimes, math is cool). This information can help RooCluster avoid nasty Roomba-on-Roomba collisions, and also presents the possibility of meta-virtual walls.

If you have a Roomba, you probably have a virtual wall – the little pylon that sends out an infrared beam that the Roombas treat just like a wall. With some work, RooCluster should be able to honor coordinate-based lines (which could, in turn, form other shapes) and effectively “wall-off” areas without needing a physical barrier, or a battery-sucking virtual wall. You can also overlay the position and vector data onto floorplans, and see exactly where the Roombas are, and where they’re going.

Of course, you can also use it to make your Roombas dance with each other.

Or joust.

I have a Roomba. Hal Arthur is, in fact, the most useful gadget I’ve ever acquired, and I have had a lot of gadgets over the years. Ironically, it’s the most useful gadget most anyone would have, if they were willing to give it a chance. Yes, Roombas install themselves as members of the family quite quickly, and as such near demand to be named. I was a skeptic until I saw one in action – an old 4th generation that you can’t even get this side of eBay.

The Roomba is not just a robotic vacuum that deftly navigates my house while eviscerating dust-bunnies, eradicating hundreds-of-miles of girl-hair, hoarding vast oceans of bird feathers and seed husks, scarfing up long-lost receipts under my bed, and pushing a long-lost fork out from under my couch…. DAILY… Nay, it is in fact a development platform openly accessible and encouraged by the manufacturer! How many hardware companies encourage you to take apart and build upon their technologies? Without voiding the warranty?

You 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, or suck with a soldering iron. iRobot provides (free) documentation on the SCI and some sample code to get developers started, and from there the possibilities are really endless. I have some gumstix gear on order after successfully prototyping some onboard control systems over a serial cable, which will essentially add a WiFi-accessible Linux computer directly into the chassis, and fully able to control the Roomba (more to come on that project)… Possibilities include tying in GPS, cameras (ala motion sensing), infrared, scheduling, adaptive behavior, etc.

Friend: People are morons and anyone who buys a Roomba in specific.
Me: You know I own a Roomba, right?
Friend: I did not.

While I never resorted to name-calling, I was skeptical of their value or utility for quite a while until experience and research brushed it aside and I took iRobot up on a 30-day trial. I won’t be sending it back. I’m happily a moron who hasn’t had to vacuum- yet still has near-spotless, practically no-maintenance carpets, rugs, and hardwood floors- in a loooong time.