inexpensive wifi for roomba

[pasky]

My main interest is powering the router when the roomba roams the flat; when it docks, I can connect the router to wall power instead too. I do not actually have a docking station with this roomba now, so I need to do it manually anyway. If I will ever get a docking station, I think it wouldn't be that difficult to make a custom "parallel" docking station for the router too.

The Wifi-to-serial adapter looks nice, but it's as much as half of the price of the router (+ who-knows-how-much shipping) so not cheap at all, and the huge disadvantage is that you cannot hook up any extra sensors like a webcam and a mic + speaker, which is crucial for my project.

Well, I have now ordered both the router and parts for the LM2596T circuit, all should arrive here in some 10 days, I will report on my progress when I get my hands on the stuff.

[bhylak]

Of course you could just get a decent rechargable battery pack and wire it up to the router.

[pasky]

Sure, it's actually likely it will later end up that way, but this is somewhat simpler solution for now and I will need the voltage stabilizer for the router all the same.

[pasky]

Hi! I have made some progress now; I successfully hooked up my Asus WL500 GPv2 on the Roomba and can also control it over wifi + ssh now. Powering the Asus is still not solved, but I will probably get a separate battery for it anyway to maximize the total running uptime. I'm documenting my progress at http://brmlab.cz/project/brmbot_turing