WiFi > RF receiver/trasmitter chip

I found in the last project that the RF communication wasn't very reliable, even after adding the radiohead library. Instead, I found a much simpler solution; a Particle photon. All I had to do was wire it in place of the arduino nano and it was time to start coding. The code is available here: https://github.com/arturju/roombaPhoton

If WiFi, then much easier

The Particle photon opens the door to many different connectivity and control options. The easiest I found was by using IFTTT to connect the google assisant and the Particle services. After downloading the app, I created a new applet, selected the Google Assistant as the trigger service, and set the phrase 'clean the house' as the trigger. I know, not very creative. If the trigger is detected, IFTTT will call on the Particle service to trigger a function on the device connected to my roomba.

The function is received with a number as input and this tells the roomba what to do; clean or dock.

Assisting, Finally

With the services linked up I can tell my phone it's time to clean the house and watch the roomba respond in a few seconds. This can come in handy if I want the roomba to start cleaning after I've left the house - it get's a bit loud if you're in the same room. Maybe I can set up a geofence around my apartment to clean when I've left the house. Or link it with google calendar and have it activate on whenever there is a 'clean house' calendar entry. Definitely a lot of possibilities for this setup.