Hack your Roomba (officially!)

Roomba fans have been hacking their vacs for almost as long as the round robots have been on the market, but they haven't always had the blessing of Roomba-maker iRobot. That started to change earlier this year, when iRobot began pre-installing the software needed to control the bot via its serial port (above). Now, iRobot is going one further with the release of the iRobot Serial Control Interface, which will make it easier for owners of older Roombas to get the bots to do their bidding. Of course, actually using the SCI to mod your Roomba may void your warranty, but you knew that already. At least the folks at iRobot recognize that there's a market for hackers out there, and if you're ready to void your warranty, they may as well help you do it.

[Via GoRobotics.net]

[xej @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Wait, so they give you the materials you need to void their warranty? Smart! Less payouts!

[Kat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

I think what we need is a no-holds-barred three way deathmatch between the Roomba, Asimo, and Qrio to see which is truly the ultimate robot of the modern day.

Despite its size, I think the roomba could actually win that battle, All it would have to do is position itself beneath the qrio or asimo and move quick enough to mess up their foothold and down they go.

If these robots are really going to become supreme overlords, they should start showing their capabilities off now, get the dominance started early and all.

[Hedgework @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Great! After my Roomba Discovery has ago long croaked, they empower the masses.

[Al Scagnetti @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

This is a little scarey, if you ask me. Rise up and unite, fellow humans!

http://www.humansunitedagainstrobots.com

[shawn @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

why do people hack their Roombas, what can they really do

[Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

They hack their Roombas because they want to put Emulators on it.

[cmonkey @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

Nice! It's about time. My friend and I attempted to reverse engineer the serial interface on the Roomba about a year ago. We got some interesting debug info out of it, but we couldn't send it commands. This firmware update will make it entirely possible and not too difficult to hack.

#5. People hack Roombas because they are a (sort of) well built robotic platform in a nice form factor. The sensors (bump, cliff, IR, wheel revolutions) and motors are already in place.

[Google Nazi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:37AM]

They hack their roomba's because there is a DOOM hack to play on the roomba. It's a little dry but it still works decent.