Out of curiousity, does anybody know the platform and programming language used to program the Roomba? I'm not so much talking about aftermarket kits but what is used to implement the algorithm at the factory?
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1look here: http://hackingroomba.com – z - Jun 09 '09 at 16:18
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1Try here, too. http://roombadevtools.com/ – SPWorley Jun 09 '09 at 16:26
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He did kind of mention that it wasn't aftermarket hacking he was interested in. – chaos Jun 09 '09 at 16:29
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Are you thinking of programming the onboard computer or just talking to it over the serial connection? – Matthew Whited Jun 09 '09 at 16:45
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Neither really. I'm just curious about the implementation – kmorris511 Jun 09 '09 at 17:13
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Well if you are just wondering what they wrote it in it was probably Assembly and C... maybe C++ – Matthew Whited Jun 09 '09 at 23:15
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Per this link, Roomba's microcontroller is a Freescale (ex-Motorola) MC9S12E -- what iRobot specifically uses in terms of programming languages may be their trade secret, but I believe such devices are typically programmed in assembly and C, e.g. with this kit.
Alex Martelli
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I was doing some dev work on a iRobot Create. I'm using WinAVR and the code is in C.
You can get a dev kit for under $300.00
Mark Roxberry
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The Linux Journal had an article about using Python with the iRobot Create which is based off the Roomba.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10262
It may not be what they use in the factory, but it looks like it would be the best way to hack a Roomba-esque floor crawling bot.
Tim Swast
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