Lumpy's Roomba Rover

Lumpy

Canada

Hey All!

Picked up one of those cheapy arduino wheeled platforms. It came with those cheesy yellow motors and yellow rimmed wheels. The wheels did not spin very straight. E-Bay Linky

I was disassembling a box bot I had built with some Roomba wheels and got to thinking.

Amazingly they interface perfectly to the platform.

Here is the platform with the cheap wheels removed.

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Here it is with the wheels slipped in.

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Close-up of how perfectly they slip in. Basically a friction fit.

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Bottom plate with the (2) H-Bridges mounted.

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Just waiting on some misc connectors and such to finish it off. Unsure if I'll mount the EZ-B top side or on the bottom plate.

This will be my son's project. He's five and loves our hobby. He's going to make a "body" to color and paint.

More updates as we progress.

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United Kingdom
#2  

That's awesome.

I almost got one of those platforms the other day (desperately seeking a decent platform for test bot) but was unsure of the quality so didn't bother. But looking at that, if I can source some affordable Roomba Wheels over here it'll be a great platform.

#3  

That is sweet! I love the modular aspect of it. It is neat and tidy.

#4  

Awesome those wheels are great I have a couple in a drawer I was going to use for a wheeled robot.

Canada
#5  

It's been running great. I does need a little more juice to run the motors (12V).

I'm going to try Rich's Ping script this weekend with it.

Cheap and simple build.

#6  

Looking up specs some roombas run their wheel motors at 19 volts , so your not over volting them at 12

Canada
#7  

I figured they needed some more juice. I was using 7.4V LiPo's and it was running a wee bit slow.

Rich, Email me your shipping address. Lumpy692002@hotmail.com

#8  

All the Roomba models 4XX, 4XXX, 5XX, 6XX, and 7XX use a 14.4 vdc battery pack. The firmware is designed to shut the Roomba down when the voltage goes below 12 vdc. With a fully charged battery the stored voltage will be between 16 and 18.5 volts. The power supplies used to charge the various Roombas come in several styles. Some output 22 vdc at .75 and 1.25 amps while others output .75 amps at 22.5 vdc.