Documenting Fiomba, a project to turn old Roombas into smart ones.
Warning: This project is for makers, not people who are just getting started with Raspberry Pi.
To make Fiomba, first get a Roomba to USB cable from iRobot.
Then, you're going to need a 5v converter from Adafruit.
You'll also need a USB adapter because you're going to be using a Pi Zero. And of course you'll need a SD card too.
Don't forget your Roomba! Fiomba works with Roombas in the 500 and 600 series. In my case, I had to get an OSMOPod from iRobot.
And the backbone for Fiomba is Home Assistant, so make sure that's set up with MQTT.
Okay! Let's get started!
First, you'll need to set up the SD card. Use Raspbian Lite. Some great guides are these:
- https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/2
- https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/headless.md
Enable SSH. Yay! Your SD card is ready!
Now, find a good power source. Make sure it has at least 2 amps, or 2000 mA. It shouldn't be too massive; don't use one with greater than 3 amps or 3000 mA. Put the SD card into your Pi Zero's microSD slot. Ready? Use a microUSB cable to plug a cable into the port that says "PWR". The green LED should start flickering! Now, wait 1 minute.
Install ssh on your computer. If you're not on the latest version of Windows, you may need to download PUTTY. Make sure you download the full version.
Okay! Now, connect to the same network as your Pi Zero. Open the terminal, and type in:
ssh pi@raspberrypi
If it works, it should say something like
The authenticity of host 'raspberrypi (192.168.something.something)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:somethingsomethingsomething.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
If it says something other than 192.168.something.something, then there's a problem. Type in "no" and press enter. Otherwise, it worked, so type in "yes" and press enter!
Next, you should type in sudo raspi-config. Use the arrow keys and enter to navigate. Get everything set up. Yay!
Now you need to download fiomba. Type this in and press enter:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/KTibow/fiomba/master/fiomba.py
That should download fiomba. You need to edit it, though. Type this in and press enter:
nano fiomba.py
Navigate with the arrow keys, and change the Home Assistant creds. Press Ctrl+X and enter to save.
Okay! Now, type in sudo shutdown now. That'll shut down the pi. After 30 seconds or 5 seconds after the pi's led stops blinking, unplug it. Yay! On to hardware!