I am trying to hack the Roomba 430 series (red) for obstacle avoidance. Not the roomba itself just the electronics.
I want to make it wearable to assist my partially blind daughter navigate better. Is there a schematic anywhere of
the electronics I will need to have the sensors activate a small vibrator or buzzer or servo? Any assistance would
be appreciated. My goal is to emit a beam perhaps 3 inches wide 3’ ft. out from her body that will intensify the nearer
she gets to an object so she can tell if she is walking into anything.
That is a very interesting project and rather than hacking a Roomba, we’d strongly suggest creating a system from scratch.
Note that iRobot really does not provide full details about their robots, the schematics etc.
You may be able to remove some of the sensors, but would suggest more application appropriate items.
Non-contact distance sensors:
IR: robotshop.com/en/infrared-light-sensors.html
Ultrasonic: robotshop.com/en/ultrasonic- … nders.html
Quite a few people tend more towards ultrasonic as they can be used outdoors more easily.
There are many microcontrollers you can use, but a simple microcontroller with easy IO:
robotshop.com/en/dfrobot-rom … a-328.html
The choice is really up to you.
As far as feedback, your idea of small pager motors is good, and you might also consider small servos:
robotshop.com/en/miniature-v … otors.html
robotshop.com/en/misc-servo-en.html
A servo motor’s pressure would give an idea of the distance
You might try to create a wearable pack:
robotshop.com/en/wearable-technology.html
robotshop.com/en/arduino-lil … RB-Spa-187
robotshop.com/en/arduino-lil … =RB-Spa-71
robotshop.com/en/flora-accel … RB-Ada-117
Wikipedia article: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_substitution