How to begin creating a Roomba wifi remote plugin?

Plugins & Plugin Development General Plugin Discussion
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[quote=“LightsOn, post:60, topic:174190”]Hi Chuck,

Great work - still motoring on I see :slight_smile:

My board just arrived today - any chance of a PM to me stating a ‘brain dump’ of what you did to get the basics up and running? e.g basic good practice for instalation and set up on my network so I can conrtrol through my network by sending http commands or similar. In return once i have mine set up i shall add a “how to” somewher that you could use in a link to the pluck in your building.

P.S for future thought (much more in the future) a signal to say the Rommba got stuck would be ace if possible? as then (for me at least) i can check where it was hiding once i recive an email notification or similar - thus making sure Rooma is retruned to base when I get in as I have ofter found it hiding somwhere and its not untill several days have gone by that I ntoice it did not get back to base and has thus not be cleaning as required.[/quote]

Yes, I think I can make your set up go pretty quickly…

First use your PC with a wifi connection and turn off your local LAN’s wifi. Go to the wifi settings and uncheck “automatically connect” so that your PC doesn’t try to reconnect again until you want it to!

Okay, now I assume you already have the wifi remote plugged into the Roomba and the LED is blinking once a second. This means it is in “ad hoc” mode. No problem. Search available wifi networks and you will find a “Roomba WR” ad hoc network. Connect to it.

Now open up (Google Chrome browser is best) or IE Explorer and type in 10.0.0.1 to connect to the Roomba wifi remote. Use “user” and “wifiremote” as your password. You should now have access to the wifiremote settings. You can even test it out at this point before you make changes to encourage you to go to the next step :slight_smile: .

Okay… now you want to switch from ad hoc and have the wifi remote connect directly to your LAN via wifi. You will need to know your router’s IP address (usually 192.168.1.1). Go into the wifi settings (left hand side) and uncheck “self network”. Now type in your LAN wifi station ID and the access password. Change the dropdown for security to match yours (I am using WPA2). Leave the rest alone for now and click on “save”. This will allow your router to set a dynamic IP for now (we’ll change it in a few minutes).

Now restart your wifi network access and open your router to see the IP for Roomba. It’s MAC will start with “001EC…” to help you find it in the router’s list.

Now access the Roomba wifi remote using the new IP (probably something like 192-168.1.10)…

Go back to your wifi settings and on the lower half, uncheck DHCP and type in your Router’s IP and the Roomba’s IP. Leave the rest and click on save again…

If all goes well, in a few minutes, you will be able to log back in via Roomba’s IP and have it clean. Then you will need a plugin for vera to do if from beyond your lan… what I am working on now :slight_smile: .

Hope this helps!

62

Fantastic - Mnay thnaks indeed - sounds similar to setting up the RFID stuff i did with the Wifly modual. Will try when I get hom - well after the antic of V-day anyway! dont want to get in too much trouble! ;D

Thanks again - will let you know how I get on.

63

I had to re-do many times. To reset Roomba Wifi Remote to Ad Hoc (to start from scratch) just press the pin button on the board for 5-6 seconds. Then start all over again. You’ll get it eventually!!!

Definitely make sure you disable wifi LAN connection from “auto” or it will step over the Roomba Ad hoc while you are trying to connect via ad hoc 10.0.0.1

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Thnaks again Chuck - will let you know how I get on :slight_smile:

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My evening is booked too but I’ll be back at it tomorrow. Wife deserves my full attention instead of my PC tonight!

66

Damn, this is harder then I thought it would be :-[ . My LUA programming book should be here Monday. I decided create a backup and then try to upload my files to Vera for fun. Looks like I have no control buttons on my device box. I guess it’s back to the 'ole drawing board.

I just am not sure how to “create” the new device that will serve as my control buttons to instruct Roomba via Vera.

Chuck

67

I would locate another .json file on your Vera that has simple buttons that don’t act like radio buttons (as in, when you press the button it doesn’t reflect the state of the device, all it does is perform an action). Then copy those bits of that .json file into your D_Roomba1.json and make sure it invokes your Clean and Home actions. Pay particular attention to using your service ID, not whatever service ID those buttons were for originally.

Good luck!

watou

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[quote=“watou, post:67, topic:174190”]I would locate another .json file on your Vera that has simple buttons that don’t act like radio buttons (as in, when you press the button it doesn’t reflect the state of the device, all it does is perform an action). Then copy those bits of that .json file into your D_Roomba1.json and make sure it invokes your Clean and Home actions. Pay particular attention to using your service ID, not whatever service ID those buttons were for originally.

Good luck!

watou[/quote]

Hmm… haven’t found one yet. All of my (json files) seem reflect a state from what I can tell. Gonna dig through some more files.

69

[glow=red,2,300]Roadblocked[/glow]

Really looking forward to getting my programming book tomorrow because I am temporarily STUCK!

Also, how do I clip images of buttons and so on in my postings like others do?

??? ??? ???

70

Hi Chuck,

Sory for the delay.

Okay so my board arrived, and I am up and running to the same stage you are - great news! :slight_smile:

In terms of adding images - you just screan capture what you need and upload it as an attachments - or do you mean something else?

I have been thinking about this plugin and wanted to ask if you intend initialy just to add HTTP send commands through vera to activate actions such as clean etc? if so for the time being this could be done through multipal scenes and LUA code of course. This may empower us to “play” with things to help in finaliseing what functioanlity over and above the standard functions that would be useful to have as looking at the possibilities that are far in excess of what I had expected. In essence this plugin could be an easy, clean / dock button pluging all the way through to 20+ different actions such as bateriy levels and notification when stuck etc etc.

Thansk again for you help so far and I shall help with this plug in development where I can :slight_smile:

71

[quote=“LightsOn, post:70, topic:174190”]Hi Chuck,

Sory for the delay.

Okay so my board arrived, and I am up and running to the same stage you are - great news! :slight_smile:

In terms of adding images - you just screen capture what you need and upload it as an attachments - or do you mean something else?

I have been thinking about this plugin and wanted to ask if you intend initially just to add HTTP send commands through Vera to activate actions such as clean etc? if so for the time being this could be done through multiple scenes and LUA code of course. This may empower us to “play” with things to help in finalizing what functionality over and above the standard functions that would be useful to have as looking at the possibilities that are far in excess of what I had expected. In essence this plugin could be an easy, clean / dock button plugin all the way through to 20+ different actions such as battery levels and notification when stuck etc etc.

Thanks again for you help so far and I shall help with this plug in development where I can :-)[/quote]

I can call the Clean and Dock commands, but the others require code. I envision a plug-in with clean and dock buttons, maybe a user remote (similar to the PT camera for Foscam in case you can watch your Roomba with ipcams like I can). Would like to know if Roomba gets “stuck” and also battery level and if dust bin is full… that would be a really great mid-level plug-in. For now I am picking up my Lua programming manual tonight and will be trying to figure out how to get a 1st go plugin that just gives me batter level and a “Clean” and "Dock button. Would like to know “status” for when cleaning and when docked / charging. That would be very cool.

Xavi mentioned a couple of guys are willing to help with the plug-in (Richard S and ???)… I could use some seasoned programmers to help teach me how to do this stuff correctly! Getting the Json, “D” “I” and “S” files to work together is more confusing to me then it should be!!!

Anyway, I refuse to surrender. I am going to get this to work darn it all!!!

Chuck

72

Could anybody of you post a pic of the mounted wifi device on the roomba? I am having a hard time to imagine how this looks like.

@chuck: A great way to understand how plugins are done ist to have a look at a very simple plugin. A simple one to start of with would be the “Virtual Switch”.

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[quote=“chixxi, post:72, topic:174190”]Could anybody of you post a pic of the mounted wifi device on the roomba? I am having a hard time to imagine how this looks like.

@chuck: A great way to understand how plugins are done ist to have a look at a very simple plugin. A simple one to start of with would be the “Virtual Switch”.[/quote]

I attached a couple of pictures with the device mounted on my 790. Pardon the dust! I did add some inexpensive adhesive bumpers to protect the card from impact because my Roomba must go under some furniture with arched openings. Crude, but effective :slight_smile: .

[URL=http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z12/chuck1026/IMG_20130220_052943_605.jpg]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z12/chuck1026/IMG_20130220_052943_605.jpg[/URL]

[URL=http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z12/chuck1026/IMG_20130220_052743_790.jpg]http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z12/chuck1026/IMG_20130220_052743_790.jpg[/URL]

I have been studying the Lua book and I will back up and just study a simple plugin to see how the json and three xml files coexist.

Chuck

74

Hi chuck,

What’s the latest? Any progress?

Also I noticed the rwremote seems to got to sleep on the roomba - do you know how to you wake it up?

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2

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[quote=“LightsOn, post:74, topic:174190”]Hi chuck,

What’s the latest? Any progress?

Also I noticed the rwremote seems to got to sleep on the roomba - do you know how to you wake it up?

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2[/quote]

No progress at all :frowning: . Last few days I have been spinning — off topic stuff — the company I work for has announced out of the blue that the factory I work at as an engineer in the Marketing group will be closed by 2014.

Anyway, back on topic, I have not had issues with any hibernation mode. I am directly connected via my LAN. In fact, I just used the Roomba wifi remote page to fire it up to see if it was standing by - and it was.

I need to spend more time with my Lua manual and figure this out. I better start small or else I am never going to get anywhere. I better get real talented at this and fast, as it may be a new career move.

76

Really sorry to hear about your situation. I’ve been there myself. Luckily I have a job now but I’m making about 65% of what I used to :frowning:

But, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel! If you do get really good at this I’m sure there are many people willing to pay for various plugins that are well maintained. I would certainly be willing to contribute for a functional Roomba plugin. It would be great to tell it to start, dock, be able to run a scene if it gets stuck, turn off other sensors when it’s running and so on.

77

Hi chuck,

Sory to hear your news, all will be well though I am sue, always a bit of a shock though.

Sadly my rwremote seems to power down? E.g it stops flashing and can’t be reached via web page? Not sure yet if this is happening only when the router power cyckles though so will need to check that.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2

78

[quote=“LightsOn, post:77, topic:174190”]Hi chuck,

Sory to hear your news, all will be well though I am sue, always a bit of a shock though.

Sadly my rwremote seems to power down? E.g it stops flashing and can’t be reached via web page? Not sure yet if this is happening only when the router power cyckles though so will need to check that.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2[/quote]

Thanks. Sorry I have been absent on here. Mine is not powering down as you describe. It consistently flashes once every 3 seconds when connected to my LAN. If my router crashes, the remote will default back to ad-hoc and need to be re-configured to connect to my LAN, but that is rare.

Chuck

79

Hi @chuck,

Yup mine also now seems fine and issue is also related to if router reboots, however I can just remove mine and plug it back in and it reconects without needing anouther set up which is good.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2

80

[quote=“LightsOn, post:79, topic:174190”]Hi @chuck,

Yup mine also now seems fine and issue is also related to if router reboots, however I can just remove mine and plug it back in and it reconects without needing anouther set up which is good.

Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk 2[/quote]
Mine seems to do the same thing.