Roomba Control via Vera

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

I’ve copied the Roomba’s IR codes and able to resend them and control Roomba using the GC-100, CommandFussion & my iPhone, but not having much luck getting the IR codes into Vera.

I would then use something like the GC iTach’s with blaster’s to be able to send “Clean” & “Dock” commands and control them through Vera.

Does anyone know how I can get IR codes into Vera?

JOD.

#2

@JOD,
If you have the pronto codes somewhere already, you can start with this posting:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=4542.msg24677#msg24677

and rename/edit the LG files that @strangely posted there, and sub-in your Pronto codes as appropriate. You then upload as a plugin, create an “device” from it, then associate with the GC100 and you’ll be all set (via Advanced/Scenes) to use them to drive your Roomba to do things.

#3

http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11545#p66462 ?

#4

Am I allowed to change the “Tuning:1” part within “urn:micasaverde-com:service:Tuning:1” & the urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:Tuning1 to “Clean” or “Dock”?

JOD.

#5

[quote=“JOD, post:4, topic:168380”]Am I allowed to change the “Tuning:1” part within “urn:micasaverde-com:service:Tuning:1” & the urn:micasaverde-com:serviceId:Tuning1 to “Clean” or “Dock”?

JOD.[/quote]
So the IR stuff in MCV’s world is implemented as a [fixed] number of ServiceId’s, along with a DeviceType. An IR Plugin simply implements the one or more of the [fixed] Actions, from one or more of these [fixed] ServiceId’s, and declares itself to be an IR-Device by specifying the right DeviceType.

There’s no clearly defined behavior for IR-Devices that step off this beaten path, at least from a “pure” IR standpoint.

ie. What would a Control Point do if it saw a different ServiceId (such as) or different Action within that ServiceId?

Technically, use of different ServiceId’s isn’t prohibited (although you’re supposed to use one from your own domain). This is how we’re all defining new things, the only trick is that it may or may-not be recognized by something “expecting” a pure IR Set of ServiceId/Actions.

ie. Not sure what SQRemote’s going to do with that, both “now” and in future revs, since it’s off-spec.

Folks are starting to hit this with IR-Airconditioners. Technically MCV’s stuff is IR-AV, so there’s a fixed set of stuff that works for AV-Control. You can always just map “unused” Actions, from existing AV ServiceId’s, to do the things you want. There’s a long list of these available to map if that’s the road you take (it’s what I’d do)

#6

Thanks @guessed.

I’m not going to change them then and it’s no big deal to leave them as is, I was just curious if it made a difference to change them.
Plus, I need to get it to work first. ;D

JOD.

#7

@JOD: Did you ever get this to work? I have just started reading Hacking Roomba and am thinking about adding a wifi module to my Roomba.

#8

Unfortunately not. It’s still on my to-do list though.

JOD.

#9

I tried to control my Roomba via the code set in my Harmony 890 and had no success getting that to work. The idea was that if I got it to work then I’d have replicated the codes and created a plugin for it.

I remember reading somewhere that the later roombas had very tricky IR implementations/frequencies and needed something special I think!?

#10

My wife just showed me the Roomba (iRobot) vacs and I thought (like we all would on here), “hey, I wonder if Vera can use a plugin to control or monitor this thing?”… hence me re-awakening this topic. The New Roomba 790 has RF remote but no wifi. … any thoughts?

#11

I guess the easiest way would be through the serial port, and a WiFi to serial adapter.

#12

I think IRobot uses zigbee so no Vera potential. But, the LG Homebot can be controlled via, either RF or IR, I forget which. Apparently it is also much more efficient than the Roomba. The drawback is that is doesn’t have as large a following so DIY repairs are limited due to lack of knowledge and new/used parts. For example I picked up a box of three working Roomba’s (Need batteries) and one for parts which I sourced for free on freecycle several weeks ago.

#13

I never heard of the LG Homebot. Looks like it’s not available in the US yet?

#14

http://www.amazon.com/LG-LrV590S-Hom-Bot-1-0-Vacuum/dp/B009G4CXA6

Cheaper than the 790 also I believe.

#15

Further research reveals the more likely candidate to talk to Vera with an API The Sharp COCOROBO.

#16

I have a feeling I will be investigating Vera and Roomba stuff in the near future.

#17

So I found a cool wifi device. The site is a bit strange (thank goodness for Google Translate) but I e-mailed them and am on the waiting list.

Website is http://www.roomba-wifi-remote.com/ and email is info@roomba-wifi-remote.com .

Even without Vera, my wife loves firing up her new Roomba and walking away to do other stuff :slight_smile: . Hope to tie Vera to Roomba soon though!

#18

Nice Find! How do these things cost?

#19

Apparently as a pre-order (before Jan 10) they are 30 I mean 50 Euros (sorry, I typo-ed the price :-[ — for accurate pricing see their website). Not sure about shipping yet. If you e-mail them they respond within a day. They promised me a shipping quote update sometime soon.

#20

My only worry would be if the extra height it adds would cause it to get stuck somewhere. As it is mine currently only just clears my AV cabinet marginally, and also my kitchen cabinets.

Seems pretty reasonable. I might just get one for the cool factor alone at that price! :slight_smile: