
iRobot Announces Create 2: An Updated, Hackable Roomba - spectruman
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/irobot-announces-create-2-an-updated-hackable-roomba#.VIhxkpKzS9U.hackernews
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ivankirigin
I used to work for iRobot's research devision, which isn't on the same team as
the Roomba folks.

I'm really excited to see this come back! I'm a bit surprised they haven't
taken advantage of the smart phone revolution since 2007. There should be a
dock for your phone. The basics would involve beaming back sensor data and
sending movement comments. The phone would also come with a camera.

Basically I'm wondering why they didn't build a better Romo
[http://www.romotive.com/](http://www.romotive.com/)

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Fuzzwah
Looks like they've signed up for the R-Pi revolution instead.

[http://www.irobot.com/~/media/MainSite/PDFs/About/STEM/Creat...](http://www.irobot.com/~/media/MainSite/PDFs/About/STEM/Create/RaspberryPi_Tutorial.pdf)

Makes me happy, since I'm a card carrying R-Pi nut.

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soylentcola
Yeah, I'd prefer something like Pi as well. Rather than using my phone (which
I would like to keep free for typical phone stuff) or buying a second device
(can be awfully pricey), a RPi would be more flexible and potentially more
affordable for students and tinkerers.

I'm sure plenty of us have an older smartphone around for projects and
experiments but I think that just as many people sell or trade theirs in for a
discount. That doesn't even take into consideration the issue with the variety
of devices and types of docks out there. Something like a Pi is meant to be
hacked and modded to fit into different use cases and you aren't automatically
paying (both in terms of money and performance) for all of the overhead of
general smartphone hardware and software.

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ivankirigin
I have 8 old iphones in my house.

There are literally billions of old smartphones waiting for a good use.

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discardorama
If I'm reading it correctly, the Create series does _not_ have the vacuum
components.

I used to be a big fan of iRobot, but after going through 4 of their robots, I
have soured on them. Their batteries would die right after the warranty period
ended. Plastic parts broke off from regular use. Each of them ended in the
recycling bin after 1.5 - 2 years of use.

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alttag
I had similar issues, but opted to go the route of replacing the battery
rather than the whole Roomba. It's worked well for me.

In addition, Amazon reviews point to some third-party batteries that
supposedly last even longer than iRobot ones.

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whoisthemachine
Same here, I just replaced the battery with a cheaper third-party battery when
the original ran out and get about 45-60 minutes of runtime out of it still
after 2 years.

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djb_hackernews
I bought the original Create when it came out in 2007. It was an awesome piece
of tech back then, very stable/rugged, reasonable low level API, extendable,
and yes "hackable".

The only downsides was the interface felt old even for 2007, which was a
serial port (you'd see a lot of Create projects driving around with a laptop
sitting on top of it). And the "battery pack" was useless and ran on I think
12 AA batteries which lasted about 10 minutes.

I got the bluetooth upgrade, which was $50 and the rechargeable battery pack
and charge station which was probably another $100.

It's awesome to see the Create 2 includes a rechargeable battery pack AND
charge station. It references Arduino and Raspberry Pi but there doesn't seem
to be any special integration.

Can anyone find the exact sensors included? Same as the original Create?

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Fuzzwah
I can't find a simple list of the sensors. But reading through this:

[http://www.irobot.com/~/media/MainSite/PDFs/About/STEM/Creat...](http://www.irobot.com/~/media/MainSite/PDFs/About/STEM/Create/create_2_Open_Interface_Spec.pdf)

And based on the fact the Create 2 is based on the 600 series I checked the
wikipedia entry and figure the list will be:

    
    
      * Bump sensors (left and right)
      * Wheel drop sensors (left and right)
      * Four infrared "cliff sensors"
      * Acoustic-based dirt sensors
      * Optical sensor located in front of the vacuum bin
      * Virtual Wall Lighthouse sensor

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jason_slack
Very cool, I bet I could get my younger kids interested in programming if we
could chase the cats around :-)

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agumonkey
Reminded me of the bigtrak
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trak)

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swalsh
This is an excellent opportunity to create a DJ roomba.

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neuromancer2701
The original ROS turtle bot used the first Create. When Willow Garage
refreshed it a couple years ago and a korean company redesigned the Create.
[http://kobuki.yujinrobot.com/home-
en/about/specifications/](http://kobuki.yujinrobot.com/home-
en/about/specifications/)

I wonder how this second gen Create compares to the Kobuki base.

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seidler
Sorry, if it doesn't have LIDAR, I don't want it.

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Symmetry
An onboard LIDAR would make it quite a bit more expensive. I think if I were
to play with one of these I would find a friend with an unused Kinect and use
that for the sensing.

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iandanforth
What do you think about the Neato? Many robot hobbyists will buy one just to
get its scanning range finder and it's in the same price range as a roomba.

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Animats
Now that would be more interesting. The Roomba is sense-deprived for a robot.
It doesn't know where it is, and navigates by bumping into stuff. That's kind
of lame. Hobbyists had those in the 1980s. Grey Walters' "turtles" did that in
the late 1940s. Computing has made some progress since then.

By now, a hobbyist robot should have at least 2D SLAM, able to map its
surroundings and navigate using the map.

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firefoxNX11
Clicking the buy now link is taking me to the NL site. anyone else seeing
this?

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tehaugmenter
Does this link work for you?

[http://store.irobot.com/irobot-create-2-programmable-
robot/p...](http://store.irobot.com/irobot-create-2-programmable-
robot/product.jsp?productId=54235736&cp=2591511)

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firefoxNX11
Nope. Gets redirected to irobot.nl

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tehaugmenter
I looked into it a bit and it states the following:

> _At this time, we are able to ship within the United States and Canada
> only._

Might be the reason for the redirect?

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angmar5
Modular and open does not equal "Hackable". Just saying.

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mcphage
What else would you like it to be?

