Microsoft Robotics Tutorials with iRobot Create

Question

Hello everyone,

I have started doing the tutorials that use a Lego NXT. Now, I have an iRobot create (Roomba) in my possession which is connected to the laptop using a USB-Serial cable (I need to use the I/O pins for other sensors so Bluetooth is not an option). So, I replaced the command line argument for the mindstorm with some manifests I saw for the iRobot but none of them seem to expose a method to listen to the bumper on the iRobot.

Also, I fired up a dssnode as stated in the iRobot create tut (to be able to get joystick + other input) and I don't see any SerialPort variable in the webpage that is navigated to to specify the com port (I have on the other hand been able to use realterm to communicate with it). What steps do I need to take so that at least the tutorials can be tried out on my robot?

Thanks,

Shriphani P

Answer 1

To listen to the bumper, there is an “iRobot® Generic Contact Sensor” service. For example, the iRobot.DriveBumper.manifest (in samples/Config) uses this. Also, you should be able to configure the serial port, baud rate, etc. for the “iRobot® Create/Roomba” service via System Services > Service Directory > /irobot/<guid> in the web interface (or in the Properties pane in DSS Manifest Editor or even manually in the iRobot.config.xml).

Hope this helps, have fun!

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply. Changing my default browser to IE opened up the config page for me.