Tod E. Kurt
The Roomba has become a rugged yet inexpensive peripheral robotics platform. Remotely controlling it with a desktop PC is well understood, but limits the utility as a research robot. By providing a capable on-board intelligence, the Roomba can be made autonomous and enable the installation of additional senses and actuators. With the addition of a sub-$100 wireless router, the Roomba can cut the tether and have an on-board embedded Linux system with built-in Wi-Fi and USB. The addition of USB allows the use of a wide-range of additional peripherals supported by Linux such as cameras, flash memory, and other science payloads.
Subjects: 17. Robotics; 8. Enabling Technologies
Submitted: Jan 26, 2007