The next time you set off for a long day in the coal mines,
forget the canary – bring your Roomba along instead! While we
are pretty sure that canaries are no longer used in the mining
industry, this Roomba hack could make a suitable replacement if
they were. A team from the Public Laboratory for Open Technology
and Science (PLOTS) recently showed off a Roomba which they
modified to test an area’s air quality. Using an Arduino and a
volatile organic chemical (VOC) detecting air quality sensor,
the Roomba goes about its normal business, lighting an LED any
time it encounters overly contaminated air. When captured via a
long exposure image, the process creates a “bad air” map of
sorts, with the polluted areas highlighted by the glow of the
LED. While the Roomba currently only detects VOCs, the team
plans on adding additional sensors in the near future to expand
its functionality. The Roomba is merely a proof of concept at
the moment, but we imagine that similar technology will be
adapted for use in unmanned exp