If you have a Roomba (low cost robotic vacuum cleaner) laying around collecting dust and you're a lucky owner of the Wii & Wii Fit Balance Board, then these DIY Roomba hacks are for you! :)

"Ron" Tajima from Japan has been hacking the heck out of his Roomba. Tajima's pad doesn't look that big so his Roomba is probably always sitting idle in it's charger. To keep his Roomba active, Tajima decided to hack it so that it's controlled by his Wiimote and Wii Balance Board. Check out the videos below of Tajima using his Roomba as a regular vacuum using the Wiimote and the "Surfing" hack where he uses the Wii Balance Board to control his Roomba.

If you'd like to attempt any of these Roomba hacks, whether it be the Roomba Controlled w/Wiimote (Wiimba project) or Roomba Controlled w/Wii Balance Board (Surfin'ba project), you'll need the following:

• Wiiuse (http://wiiuse.net):
  This C library is needed to connect to your Nintendo Wii remotes. It supports IR tracking, motion sensing, nunchuk, classic controller and Guitar Hero 3 controllers.
• Hacking Roomba: ExtremeTech
  This book will teach you to do the following to your Roomba: build a serial interface tether, setup the Bluetooth interface, install Linux on your Roomba, rig Wi-Fi to your Roomba and many more things to Assimilate your Roomba
• How to build a Roomba Bluetooth Interface
• A few braincells

Roomba hacked to be controlled with the Wiimote

Roomba hacked to be controlled via the Wii Fit Balance Board