damonkohler.com

I managed to put together a wireless accelerometer the other night using my two new XBees, an Arduino XBee shield, an XBee Explorer USB, an ADXL330, and some Python. I struggled a bit with some of it, so here's what I learned: First, a parts list. XBee 2mW Series 2.5 Chip Antenna Arduino XBee (with XBee Series 2.5 module) XBee Explorer USB ADXL330 I'm not sure exactly what the specs are on the XBee that comes with the Arduino shield. But, it is definitely a series 2.5. The first thing to do is to configure and upgrade the firmware on your XBees. To do that, you'll need X-CTU (for the firmware upgrade at least, but it's also nice for configuration) which, unfortunately, is only available for Windows. But, it works fine from VMware. First up, the XBee we'll hook up to the computer to read incoming data from the accelerometer: Plug one of the XBees into the Explorer (it's also possible to do this from the Arduino shield by shifting the two XBee/USB jumpers to USB

This morning, I turned on my Scooba and it started beeping a scale of tones and blinking all its lights in sequence. After an hour or so of resetting, cleaning, disassembling, researching, and scratching my head, I stumbled across the solution on Roomba Review. But, for me at least, it was even easier than all of that. I don't have any of my own pictures for this procedure, but it's pretty straight forward. Remove the battery and power. Remove the two screws holding the bumper shell in place and remove it. Carefully peel up the sticker with the control buttons on it. This sticker is actually the control panel. There is a data cable attached to it just below the "Clean" button. Be careful not to break it! Clean the surface under the sticker with some isopropyl alcohol. (I didn't actually have to do this, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt.) Gently replace the "sticker" (i.e. control panel) and make sure it's completely flat. Check to see if it wor