MultiRoombaRover/outline.md

esp32 firmware

• hooked up to the roomba's UART on pins 16 and 17
• pin 5 is connected to the roomba's BRC pin
  • pulse the BRC pin low for 1 second every minute to keep the roomba awake
• connect to wifi
• connect to the server
• get a full frame of sensor group 100 from the roomba every 500ms
  • send it to the server over the sensor UDP stream
• listen to the server's control UDP stream (per roomba) and do the following accordingly:
  • set wheel speeds
  • seek dock
  • enable OI
  • safe mode
  • full mode
  • play song
  • load song

esp32 -> server communication

• one UDP stream to the esp32 for controlling the roomba
  • might look like this:
    • left wheel speed
    • right wheel speed
    • OI mode
    • seek dock?
  • blasts out at a constant rate from the server for each roomba
  • the esp32 will listen, and follow the latest command that it sees
• one UDP stream from the esp32 to the server for sending sensor data frames and other telemetry
  • one full frame of sensor data per datagram
  • send raw sensor data, the server will decode it
  • add other telemetry from the esp32, like signal strength, etc.
  • maybe use this stream as a sign that the esp32 is still running healthily?

nodejs server

• KISS
• decode the sensor data from each roomba
• can support multiple roombas connected from the ground up
• keep it simple, worry about getting the esp32 firmware right.
  • but the server DOES have to exist for testing
• IS the web server, hosts an entire static folder for the web UI

server -> web UI communication

• socket.io
• don't do anything fancy with the socket.io setup
  • it works fine out of the box, we will optimize it later

the web UI

• KISS
• plain old html. no styling even. just bare minimum for testing
• what it needs to do:
  • allow user to select the roomba from a list
  • make the selected roomba drive with WASD
  • have buttons to set the OI mode, and tell the roomba to dock
  • show a plain list of the sensor data from the selected roomba

general javascript programming guidelines (applies to the web UI too)

• everything ES6
  • one entrypoint file in the web UI
• everything modular
• everything easy to read, understand, and work on
• comment where you think is best to describe whats going on

closing notes

• keep the user input path (web UI -> server -> roomba) as light and responsive as possible. responsiveness is key for this.
• responsiveness is the name of the game. The future of this program is teleoperation over the internet, with a camera on each roomba. keyboard inputs from the user must be near instant.
• on the esp32 firmware side of things, sensor data is second priority to having a responsive control system
  • but sensor data DOES have to exist.
• the future of this project will involve assigning one roomba to a user, make the server able to do that from the ground up.