Roomba Report

Roomba

In the UVic computer science department’s real-time systems course, CSC 460/560, we have been using the iRobot Roomba as a platform for mobile distributed real-time systems.  The Roomba, controlled over its serial port by a microcontroller, gives students access to its motors and sensors through an interface that’s easy to use.  They can then focus on real-time software design instead of mechanical design or low-level details such as actuator control and analog and digital sensor I/O.  iRobot provides a very good document presenting the Roomba Serial Command Interface [PDF, 262 KB], or SCI.  This report expands upon the SCI manual by summarizing some of its information and recording some details that we have discovered.

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