Our summer interns, Jimmy and Owen, have been hard at work on their Internet of Things project.  This week they got the Roomba connected to a Raspberry Pi over a serial connection. From there, they can SSH into the Pi over a WiFi connection and issue commands directly to the Roomba, and collect data from the Roomba. Ultimately, the Pi+Roomba will be autonomous, roaming around on its own and capturing environmental data.

Next they’ll be working on an inductive charging circuit to charge a LiPo battery to power the Pi independently of the Roomba, and giving the Roomba “sight” so it can identify where it is in 2D space as it takes environmental samples.

Stay tuned to our blog for future updates from the guys as they continue to report their progress.