First and last post of 2025... We on toddler time now fam :D
ISSUE:
Now that Neato has finally kicked the bucket (and all robot vacuums of their servers), our much loved D5 has become a bit less useful. We can still push the power button to start a manual (and unoptimized) route, but can't do so remotely... So no more vacuuming the house twice when we are out and about D:
IMMEDIATE FIX:
Continue using manual route until... (see below).
PROPOSAL:
Luckily some very smart bananas (Philip2809) have figured out that you can control the D5 (and many other models) via the debug port with the help of an ESP32 & Home Assistant. Currently interfacing to the debug port is done in two ways, the first looking quite cyberpunk and the latter requiring you to disassemble the whole robot:
But I though, why not have a bit more fun with it and design my own rigid-flex PCBA that sits nicely on the bumper. Initially I was thinking of placing the PCBA and cover on the top of bumper and running the flex underneath, but I soon found that there is a pinch point where the flex would exit. Plus there would be some tight bend radiuses which are far from ideal for a continuously (though minor) moving assembly:
Then I though about placing it on the side (position 2 below), but this would mean the right side of robot would not be able to run as close to the wall as before. So the next best position is at the front of the bumper, directly above the debug port (position 3 below). Sure this loses a bit of front bumper space, but it does mean the flex region of PCBA is short and does not have any complex bends:
DECISION:
Front of bumper (position 3) it is. Next step, figure out rigid-flex PCBA constrains from my very crude 3D scan (which you can get here):
