Re: [EXTERNAL] [gentoo-user] gentoo robot vacuum

[james]

On 11/7/19 1:55 PM, Laurence Perkins wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, 2019-10-03 at 20:13 -0400, james wrote:
>> Gentoo community,
>>
>> Robotic vacuum cleaners are all the rage nowadays.
>> I'd like to buy/build one, that also has remote camera (so I can see
>> what troubles it is having by reviewing stored video) find it easy,
>> and
>> make sure it's not just banging against the wall. I'm not so
>> interested
>> in a slick, massively miniturized model, as much as I am
>> something where I can get to the firmware, or is completely open
>> sourced; so I can fix/enhance the thing.
>> If it's already done, then my searches have missed it, or a
>> community
>> work on such linux centric solutions to automating home/small-office
>> flooring.
>>
>> Anyone know of such a robotic vacuum that is basically very open, if
>> not
>> completely open source?
>>
>> Gentoo friendly vaccuum?
>>
>>
>> Lawnmower is next on the list.
>>
>> All suggestions and comments are most welcome.
>>
>> James
>>
>
> I don't know of any current models that have open firmware, but a bunch
> of the older ones have a serial interface that you can attach to and
> send them commands.  People used to tape a Pi or something and a camera
> to the top of them and then program them to do all sorts of things.  I
> suspect that's still your best bet.  Most of them don't have a lot of
> brains, just a simple response pattern that will eventually cover the
> whole room and maybe an IR homing system to let it find its dock again
> when the battery runs low.
>
> LMP
>

Interesting approach. I guess I could match this with wireless ethernet 
embedded device, with the serial port for interoperability. I would have 
thought somebody would have already set this up.....

thanks,
James