HAY GUYS

***FatsDomino*** · Jun 14, 2006, 10:09 AM

Hey guys I'm sure you guys have heard of the Roomba before. That small vacuum robot. Yeah that thing.

Well I was flipping through Technology Review and I saw kind of crazy stuff people were doing with this thing. Apparantly it's an amatuer robot fanatics dream come true. People are adding bluetooth and wifi and cameras and all kinds of fun stuff to it. Some people are even using it as a remote control tank to recreate games like Frogger and Pac-Man. How cool is that?

Anyway, here's a cool snippet of the article:

Originally Posted by Technology Review May/June 2006 pg 33

How It's Been Hacked
The Roomba's low price and SCI port have made it a tempting entry-level platform for robotics experiments. Sites such as roombareview.com and roomba.pbwiki.com have sprung up, where enthusiasts can trade tips on hacks such as cobbling together Bluetooth or Wi-Fi remote controls out of spare parts. One Bluetooth-enabled Roomba was given a green fabric pelt and was used in a real-life Frogger game at the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX, this year (www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2006/03/realfrogger_tec.html), and ThingM's Tod E. Kurt is collaborating on a live-action Pac-Man re-creation, with reprogrammed Roombas dressed up as Pac-Man and ghosts, navigating a maze and vacuuming up tissue paper dots. RoombaNet (people.csail.mit.edu/bpadams/roomba), created as part of a PhD thesis, is a tiny computer that rides on the robot and can be used to control it wirelessly. And if you want to see a Roomba in action www.vacuumcleanerlive.com has hooked a spycam to a Roomba for a first-person (first-robot?) streaming video.

All and all I think this kicks ass. What do you guys think? =D

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Infernal Monkey · Local time: Jun 15, 2006, 01:16 AM

That Pac-Man idea is basically the greatest thing anyone has ever thought of. Ever. I wish my vacuum cleaner was this cool.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

kilfrg7864 · Jun 14, 2006, 11:30 AM

thats friggen awesome. Nutitn better than sneding a small vaccum ove a buzy freeway ^^

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Magic · Jun 15, 2006, 06:57 PM

Didn't the Japanese just make a female robot? We seem to be a little behind.

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PiccoloNamek · Local time: Jun 15, 2006, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by Magic

Didn't the Japanese just make a female robot? We seem to be a little behind.

Yeah, it could speak and move and had super-realistic skin. It was like a persocom, only without the 'com. The roomba has nothing on her.

But still, Pac-Man with a roomba? Friggin' awesome.

I was speaking idiomatically.