Roomba Support - RooWiFi

I just picked up this http://www.roomba-wifi-remote.com/ and I noted that it works with MiCasaVerde: http://www.roomba-wifi-remote.com/home-automation/

I think it would be great if we could get SmartThings integration too. It’d be nice to set up smart apps to run Roomba - e.g. if no presence tags are nearby for 30mins, run Roomba. If presence tags arrive while Roomba is running, send Roomba back to its dock.

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This is a third-party add-on module to the roomba? If you connect to the IP of the Wifi adapter (port 9001), what kind of output does it give you? It says it supports “Roomba Wi-Fi Remote is Robotics, TCP/IP sockets, Ajax, JSON, XML, C, Python, Java…” If it does support standard TCP connections, that could be very promising. I’m going to start digging into socket connections for ST soon, and I’d imagine it would be reasonably similar (at least the setup). This will require local IP access, which ST does not currently support (beta firmware that does support it is coming out shortly).

Super interesting - but without the actual device in-hand, it may be hard to say for certain. Very promising, though - seems like a great device. Does it work well for you?

The new Roomba Wi-Fi Remote Wi-Fi v2 incorporates multiple files accessible by URL. Use XML or JSON to perform robot telemetry reading from your web application.

Its funny this came up. I sent Urman a link to it last week. :slight_smile:

Had some time to play with this now. I like it, but I feel like it is not reaching its potential without integration with my smartapps. Until it can be integrated, the only real value is being able to start roomba manually when away from home and being able to manually drive roomba to a spot on the ground that needs cleaning and getting it to do a spot clean there. The upside is that the developers left so many ways to communicate with this thing. The web interface is fine, if a bit slower than I would like. The iOS app is more responsive. You can get roomba to start cleaning/dock simply by visiting URLs:
http://Roomba IP/roomba.cgi?button=CLEAN
http://Roomba IP/roomba.cgi?button=SPOT
http://Roomba IP/roomba.cgi?button=DOCK

Similarly, there is an XML file stored on the Roomba webserver that is updated every 500ms that shows the current status of all of Roomba’s sensors. I figure it would be easy enough to parse this file into readable information for the purposes of alerts and getting the current status of roomba.

I’ve never done any network programming, so I’m not sure how to connect to Roomba over port 9001, but this would probably be the best way to communicate with it. I’m guessing that this is how the iOS app communicates with it.

Gateway or Transparent Mode RooWifi is an easy way to start developing applications to communicate with a device using standard TCP / IP Sockets. User completely forgets about the physical layer and accesses directly the robot through software developed (or not) by himself to send the SCI commands. When RooWifi module is working, it waits for a remote connection on TCP port 9001 (independently of the connection status with web server). When the connection is established, the web interface controls are disabled and the Wi-Fi Remote module becomes a Gateway between application and your iRobot Roomba like through the SCI interface directly. Using the Gateway Mode, Wi-Fi Remote stops being Transparent only when it detects a Wake-Up command. From the user side, to make a Wake-Up command to the robot it just has to send a unique Wake-up command. In this moment, the robot starts the process to be able to receive the next commands. Wi-Fi Remote uses an 115200 link to communicate with the iRobot Roomba. If this value has been modified, be sure to reboot Roomba with the clean button or rebooting the Socket to let the iRobot reconfigure the transmission rate automatically. (Read SCI Manual from iRobot). Please read the SCI iRobot Specification because some specific SCI commands put the robot in idle modes disabling the correct operation of Clean, Spot and Dock functions when the buttons are pressed. If you want to manage your iRobot Roomba using the embedded web server remember to close the TCP/IP Socket.

I was thinking about doing the same thing with an xbee module plug in to connect with the Smart Things Hub. I’m awaiting the arrival of my ST and will let you know how it proceeds.

Inspiration came from

http://blog.lucaseckels.com/2009/04/01/xbee-adapter-for-roomba/

@benzyne, XBee’s are not compatible with ST. ST can only talk to Zigbee devices that implement HA profile and XBee’s are not HA.

Thanks @Col. Hack. I’ll look into a Zigbee HA device then.

This would be awesome! I’d love to hook up Rudy (my roomba).

Does anyone know anything about Thinking Cleaner? It looks like it will be released next month and states API support.

http://www.thinkingcleaner.com/

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@zj4x4 whoa… very cool!

The project is now on Kickstarter http://kck.st/1utn9Xa

Some Xbees have full support for the ZCL, and the HA profile just sits on top of the ZCL. The ST hub can definitely communicate with an Xbee, it just may not be as straight forward as you think. Check out @JohnR 's write-up here: http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/157233-Propeller-to-SmartThings-(communicating-with-the-ZigBee-HA-public-profile)

If anyone is interested in supporting Thinking Cleaner project, go back them guys on Kickstarter http://kck.st/1utn9Xa, the project still needs a lot of backers to reach the goal.

Roomba support via thinking cleaner is complete. See the thread.

Has anyone got Roowifi to work with ST? I’ve ordered a unit to try with my Roomba 790. Would love to connect it to ST!

Does it work with Roomba 860 and 880? Or is it solely for the newest iRobot releases?

I am very interested on getting roomba (mine is a 650 series) started and docked with Alexa or google home. This upstanding gentleman Robert Ciesnick http://enlightme.info/ has it hooked up to his system using RooWifi and Alexa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erMakq0Z950&index=25&list=PLiXGtogi1Y6cqXadodxYSQFGgVGCI79ym

Also Micasa Verde works with RooWifi so a complete integration with ST shouldnt be that hard for someone that knows and not someone like me that just aspires :smile: granted that RoWifi wifi signal sucks i had to boost mine for it to connect to my router and i have a very nice router.

However for now i will settle for I am trying to just connect my Alexa to Roberts system running on a Rasberrry Pi and just say start cleaning and stop cleaning or dock … really i think that’s all someone can ask from roomba anyhow nothing spectacular.

Just wanted to relight the conversation
thank you
Denis

Well now that the ThinkingCleaner project is dead… Does anyone feel like resurrecting the RooWiFi plugin development? I’ve just taken delivery of a new RooWiFi, from the most recent batch, so would love to be able to integrate

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Well… Here goes Nothing! Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated