Frank

I did read the article that you wrote on the 650 in the above link. I noticed that you said to use the UART instead of the send serial. I am actually connected to pin three on the Roomba which you said has been changed on the newer Roombas. You said that you other people have also had trouble with this connection.

I am pretty unfamiliar with the UART connections. Could you tell me where I can get Richard R's design or the link to the information so I can learn to connect to the UART and use Richard Rs motion script. It seems the UART is the way to go

I know I need to to do this sometime. I guess now's the time.

@Ellis, I suggest that you start with the sample project that Richard R made as shown in the pics below. You should be able to check and see if the Movement Panel drives your Roomba correctly.

In regards to my saying "pin 3" had changed, that was a typo... I was talking about the "DD-BRC pin" which is "pin 5"... sorry. That is the pin the previously could be used to wake up a Create 1 Roomba that doesn't work on a Create 2

I have tried a couple of ways to wake up the Create 2 Roomba. One way was by using a servo on the EZB controller to push the button and the second way was a SwitchBot controlled by my phone

Please keep sending updates on your telepresence project as it progresses. I'm very interested in your project

Regards, Frank

Thanks Frank that gives me motivation.

I have a question. I thought UART connectors have 4 wires but there are only 3 pins on the UART port on the Ezb..

How would I wire the UART port to the Create 2 plug? What pins on the Create cable would the three wires from the Ezb be connected to.

Does the Ezb use three wires ground, transmit and receive?

What are the wires black, red and white carrying. Black ground, red transmit and white receive or black ground, white transmit and red recieve?

I am trying to learn how to work with the UART.

@Ellis, This weekend I'll connect back up my EZB-based Roomba so I can better document the steps

frank

Thanks so much Frank. I am excited about getting my telepresence robot going.

Update: I have finally figured it out on the UARL. I was looking at the wrong ports. There is only 1 UART per board and it is labeled by pin. I am going to try tomorrow to wire it and install custom movement panel.

Let you know how it goes.

Thanks Ellis

@Ellis I just uploaded a public project "EZB Roomba Basic" that is a very simple version that you can test. I also set the speed to very slow which can be adjusted. This is based on the sample the Richard R published

I put very few features in it with the idea of adding more later when you are ready such as using Roomba power, remotely pushing the "Clean" button to get started and adding a mount for the iPad FaceTime feature with the plan of it being a telepresence robot

It uses UART1 TX/D5 to connect to the Roomba Pin 3 RX. This will also work with the Create 2. I'm using the Roomba 650 which is the basis for a Create 2, but contains the cleaning brushes.

It has a mobile interface, camera, Movement Panel and Init and Dock scripts

Here is a video... note that when docking the Roomba 650 activates the brushes

As for your above question of 3 wire verses 4 wire UART connections, 3 wire is fine as the ground is common.

The UART RX input would be connected to the Roomba TX pin 4

Feel free to ask any question, this forum has a LOT of Roomba experts

Regards, Frank

Thanks Frank

I would like someone to look over the following informations to make sure I have done everything correctly before I start the Roomba Create 2.

I have rewired my Roomba to the UART port (Black 4 wire Plug on Ezb microcontroller).

I connected Roomba pin 3 Recieve (purple wire) to RX on Ezb UART port.

I connected Roomba pin 4 Transmit (Black wire) to TX on Ezb UART port.

I connected Roomba pin 7 Ground (orange wire) to GND on Ezb UART port.

See picture below:

I am going to use Richard's Test Plugin.

@Ellis, I don't see the plugin you are referring to, but if it uses UART 0 that is correct... but just to be clear...

EZB UART TX pin should connect to Roomba RX pin... this is used to control the Roomba

The use of the Roomba TX pin connecting back to the UART RX pin is just for reading back any status that may be of interest... its not for controlling the Roomba

The way your description reads is that you are connecting UART TX to Roomba TX and UART RX to Roomba RX... this would NOT work

By the way, in the example I created I'm using UART 1 just in case you decide to try that too

Regards, Frank