Create General Discussion

Interfacing iRobot Create with LabVIEW

elgeeko — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:12:19 GMT

An embedded systems engineer at National Instruments published a complete LabVIEW implementation of the iRobot Create Open Interface (OI). LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment that is the backbone of Lego Mindstorms and NXT Toolkit, and is popular in the First Robotics Competition (FRC).

The library can be used to control the iRobot Create wirelessly from a desktop or laptop using a Bluetooth or XBee bridge (such as the BAM module), or autonomously using an ARM controller or a single-board RIO.

The library is available for free download, http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12910 .

Regarding 433 MHz RF Transceiver (#27982) modules

amy — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:50:48 GMT

I was trying to use the 433 MHz RF Transceiver (#27982) modules for 8 bit data transmission on two iRobot create command modules. I am reading the data through UART on MTTY. I had programmed earlier using 433 MHz RF Transceiver (#27997), it was working fine but with the new module i am simply getting garbage values. I have configured Tx - 1 (PC1), data - 1 (PC0), and Rx - 0 (PC1) and data - 0 (PC0) and I am not understanding where I am going wrong. If I am trying to transmit say (11111111) the output I am getting is some value say 01010000 or something different. I am attaching the code for your reference.

Thanking you. Awaiting your reply.

iRobot Create Not Switching on.

Curious — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 11:59:07 GMT

I am using a rechargiable battery pack from iRobot.

It has been charged fully, i.e. I see a green light (not blinking).

When I try to power on (switch on) the iRobot Create, it is NOT switching on and no LED lights turn on or blink either.

If you have come accross this earlier let me know how it was resolved.

I tried even using the battery pack with alkaline batteries (new ones) but same issue.

Thx.

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Where to buy the "Create"?

xiaomi — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 06:15:06 GMT

Official store is out of stock and I cannot find anywhere else selling it.

I will be in States for a week next week and really want to get one. (create doesn't ship internationally.)

Please help :)

Where to get a Create now that the iRobot store is out of stock

robzarry — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:49:11 GMT

I need to get a create for a school course I am teaching. The iRobot store is out of stock and it looks like they won't have them back until mid-April, which is too late for me. Looked on eBay and did some searching on Google but couldn't find one. Thoughts?

How to order the iRobot Create from Germany?

BDifferent — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:16:54 GMT

Hello,

I am interested in obtaining an iRobot Create. On the German iRobot site the "Create" can not be ordered. When trying to visit the US page, I am redirected to the German page immediately. Howeve, via the Google cache I found that the Create can be ordered from the US. Where/how can I get the "Create" from Germany?

Thanks in advance,

BDifferent

Power LED and iCreate remain on.

UnscentedCreate — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:25:04 GMT

I have been using my create wirelessly with a Blackfin microcontroller.

Somehow, I have managed to create a situation in which the create's Power LED and Power never turn off.

Has anyone else had issues with the create being unable to turn off?

-UnscentedCreate

Using LabVIEW Embedded to control the Irobot

muya — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:42:07 GMT

UC Berkeley created a great document.

http://decibel.ni.com/content/thread/3282?tstart=0

Morse Code Generator for Command Module

jpq — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:02:50 GMT

I put a similar message over on the googlepages site, but I thought I'd put it here as well.

I've just started working with the Create and the Command Module and am exploring its capabilities. I currently don't have any other sensors hooked up to the Command Module, but I needed to start getting feedback from the program. I didn't have an LCD handy and for other reasons, I want to try and do as much without adding external I/O as possible. So, I wrote a morse code generator for the create/command module combination. I looked around and didn't see anything like it on the WWW. It works like this:

1) I used 14 songs to encode all dit-dah combinations from DIT to DAH DAH DAH. These songs are then either letters or morse code letter fragments. The encodings are in an initialized array to minimize memory space on the Command Module. This way all morse code letters are encoded either as one song or playing two songs back to back. There is another array which encodes the delay length that the Create module needs to wait after sending one of the partial fragments of the morse character.

2) A similar array was created that maps the characters A-Z, 0-9, as well as select punctuation to the two songs needed to create that letter.

I then use sprintf to print messages to a buffer and then call a playmorse function to listen to the message. It works well when debugging code and reporting on the states of variables.

Very shortly, I am going to start "taking data" on the Create's motion using my digital camera in movie mode and by having the feedback in morse, I intend to capture reports from the Create in the audio portion of the file for later analysis.

Cheers, John

Typo in the Open Interface Documentation?

zek32 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:49:13 GMT

In the Open Interface documentation (pg 17) about the Low Side Drivers and Wheel Overcurrents (packet ID 14) It lists the following as the protocol

------------------------------------------------------

|Bit | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |

| | left wheel | right wheel | LD-2 | LD-0 | LD-1 |

------------------------------------------------------

Is LD-1 actually before LD-0?

Also I know that the OI has some inaccuracies. Is there a document that has been released that corrects those?

Thanks

Questions about methods of interfacing with Create

zek32 — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:08:54 GMT

I am working on creating a high level interface for the iRobot Create. Currently I would like to explore options in two areas: first controlling with a small mounted computer using C,C++, or C#, second is using Microsoft Robotics Studio or Player to create a server on the mounted computer and control the robot remotely. I was wondering if you could provide any additional information about what work has been done in either of these two areas. Thank you very much.

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Dynamic/kinetic model of Create

McFly — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:20:57 GMT

Hello,

I would like to ask if someone has a dynamic/kinetic model of the Create, like a Modelica model, a Matlab model, or any model written in any other modeling language.

Regards,

Martin

Create Robot with new rootooth (firefly)

gkannan — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:57:31 GMT

Hi friends, i got a new rootooth firefly from sparkfun. The robot is not responding to the command sent through the rootooth. I got into the command mode of the firefly using the command '$$$' in the hyperterminal and got acknowlegment 'CMD'. I am not able to get into the data mode and make the create robot respond to the command sent. But it works really well with the older rootooth sparkfun. The baud rate of iRobot create seems like it can either be 9600 or 56700. I could'n find proper documentation for the new rootooth firefly. I tried calling the firefly rootooth support centre, but no good solution was provided. I would really appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

Guru

Create robot with New Rootooth

iDestroy — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:19:43 GMT

Hello,

Recently aquired a new Rootooth from Sparkfun and noticed they are using a different BlueTooth radio. Cannot get the Create robot to respond to commands sent, tried the older Sparkfun Rootooth with success. I have tried following the instruction on changing the baud rate and other parameters but still cannot get the Create to respond. Has anyone figured out why it does not work?

Thanks.

Roomba attachments for Create

jlenchner — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:29:01 GMT

Now that I have a Create I am noticing that my office could use a good vacuuming. Is there a way to get whatever accessories are required so that my Create can function as a Roomba or do I have to separately purcahse a Roomba?

iRobot Create C++ Framework

dankrusi — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:43:36 GMT

Dear iRobot Community,

Is anyone interested in a iRobot Create C++ Framework? For my Bachelor Thesis we have been working on a flexible framework written in C++. It is designed to run on a x86 computer (such as a laptop) which controls the iRobot Create.

If enough people are interested we will maintain a SourceForge project for the entire codebase as well as support any devs using it.

More infos from SourceForge:

C++ framework designed to support iRobot Create developers with a comprehensive set of Controllers, Tasks, Schedulers, Movement Trackers, et cetera. Allows interfacing with hardware or in an emulated environment. Compiles on Linux, OS X, and Windows.

The emss iRobot Create Framework is a collection of interacting modules written in C++ designed to support iRobot Create developers with a comprehensive set of Controllers, Tasks, Schedulers, Movement Trackers, et cetera. The framework provides not only an interface with the iRobot Create hardware, but also a completely emulated interface which mimics the hardware in every sense. Along with core components for controlling the robot, the framework also features a set of GUI widgets for drawing maps and navigational paths as well as joysticks, control panels and more. The emss framework compiles on Linux, OS X, and Windows.

The emss iRobot Create Framework is a great platform for anyone wishing to program the iRobot Create hardware. Written in C++ and utilizing the Qt framework, emss compiles on Linux, OS X, and Windows. It is designed for 'high-power' robots which feature some sort of x86 computer as a controller, such as a top-mounted laptop. With almost a year of development at the University of Applied Sciences in Rapperswil, the framework is now ready to be shared with the community. One of the most attractive features of the framework is the complete emulation of the iRobot Create hardware - a feature very valuable when writing and testing different algorithms. The framework is split into different modules which allow different implementations to be loaded. This design proves to be flexible for different project needs and remains as a useful source base.

We believe the community can make use of the emss framework for their own robotics projects, especially in cases where the focus is a third-party application which needs an underlying robot.

A paper on the emss Framework can be found at http://archive.dankrusi.com/emss/emssDocumentation.pdf (Chapter 4: Software).

iRobot in a High School Computer Fair

bitoffish — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 18:12:40 GMT

Hello, I am helping run a programming competition in a High School Computer Fair, and some students are interested in submitting an iRobot or Lego Mindstorms project into the programming category. It's obvious that programming these robots requires a good deal of programming, but I am unfamiliar with what languages are supported by iRobot. Before we make a decision to allow the project or not, I would be interested in some feedback from the iRobot community. What options are available for programming these robots?

how to change password?

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