Database Info

Parallel/Serial ports for PPCs

Hi There
Does anyone know if there is such a thing as a mini-USB to Serial (or parallel) device on the market? Something that would provide PPCs like the K-JAM/WIZARD with a serial/parallel port.
I know they are available for desktop PCs, but what about hand-helds?
Ken

not without USB host. However you can use bluetooth to serial. I got ones of these:-
http://www.merlinbluetooth.co.uk/merlinbluetooth/promi-bluetooth-module-p-33.html

Bluetooth-serial
Thanks for that; it looks great, so I will (I imagine) need to get some software to read/write to that device.
At the device end I should be able to configure some Data Acquisition circuitry.
My problem is that I don't get access to the Vario/K-JAM until Christmas Day - it's a present from my wife - so I have no idea about writing stuff to access the bluetooth system Does it present itself as some sort of I/O?
I've just bought the NSBASIC/CE, so I was hoping to be able to write the necessary stuff with that.
The K-JAM looks a great bit of kit, but I'm never satisfied until I can get two-way interaction with the outside world in both Digital and analogue.
Thanks again,
Ken

It appears as a com port "COM5" on mine. You can open it just like normal using CreateFile / WriteFile etc

GNSS Internet Radio and Built in GPS

Hello,
I am new to the forum and also the owner of an HTC Fuze. I have been playing around recently with the GPS on the phone and got me thinking. I live in NY and we have a CORS network of gps base stations that are fed by the use of ntrip.
I was wondering if their was any way to use the gps signal on my phone and the connection to this CORS network to give me sub inch accuracy on my phone...then not sure what I would do with it then. But I do live on a farm and I would like to see some type of precision agricultural use.
I guess I need a way to have the GPS on the phone talk with the GNSS internet radio and then give me spot on guidance and such.
Please let me know your thoughts or if I need to explain better.
Thanks,
Clayton

bump
bump. Any ideas? Anyone

Great idea cwrisrey !
That will save the cost of a geodetic device, which is many times the cost of a Fuze. Further, it will lead the accuracy of the buildin GPS into millimum class.
Not dig into this further, would you go further to tell these:
Is that CORS data encrypted?
Is that accessible through public internet or VPN?
Is there copy right or intellectuall property right issue involved? (I don't think so, but better make it clear first)
Once again, great idea. Please do remember to update this thread once you got any progress. Thanks.

More info
Hello wg5566,
This site would probably answer alot of your questions clearer than I could:
http://www6.nysdot.gov/spiderweb/frmIndex.aspx
* Is that CORS data encrypted?
-I don't believe so, I think that it is just a form of compression, to distribute across the internet.
* Is that accessible through public internet or VPN?
Yes, the NYS CORS anyway. It accessible from the public internet (although they require you to register with them) But I believe there are other free streams. I also believe it was modeled after being able to be sent threw GPRS.
* Is there copy right or intellectuall property right issue involved? (I don't think so, but better make it clear first)
-I believe the ntrip is based on a GNU, I think the source code is available. http://igs.bkg.bund.de/index_ntrip_down.htm
Windows CE version:
http://www.ilmb.gov.bc.ca/crgb/gsr/downloads/installGNSS.CAB
Please, let me know your thoughts...
Thanks,
Clayton

My fast thoughts:
First make sure there is no satisfied freeware currently available for WM.
If so please ask a moderator to move this to the development & hackings section. And Add tyis sentence on the title: Call for developers for revolutionary GPS app!
I'm sure somebody here can develop this. You know the geodetic device was invented many years ago with very weak profiles comparing to current WM devices. The hardware on our phone should be capable to deal with these calculations, and the WM Pro platform should be capable to support such an app. Anyway it should not be a biggy for many masters here. But it is a biggy for gps users with high accuracy demand for any reason.
Edit: Did you try install that wince cab on your phone? I think some of WINCE apps can just run on WM. Please backup your data first.
Edit2: I tried to install it on my device, at first it did not show up in start menu, then I found the cab just put files and shortcut in the folder names in French. But there is no registry involved in the cab. Only three files. And then program UI itself is in English. Just run the executable from the folder will go right out of the box. So please try it. I did not try to connect & loggin yet, due to not registered account.
Edit3: Looks like the cab is only access the data from internet, convert the data format and export the data, but we still need a geodetic/gps software to process/use the data.
Disclaimer: I attatched these three files for the only purppose of exchanging software developement infomation. Anybody if download it please do not use it for any purppose other than this. Thanx.

Some thoughts on the subject
Hi All,
The idea of using NTRIP to make a Windows Mobile GPS device sub-meter accurate crossed my mind. After some research I found this thread.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any software capable of doing this. My idea is that it should be possible to accomplish this goal, using a combination of existing tools (which would be really cool!).
As wg5566 notes, there is a (WM) tool called GNSS Internet Radio, which is capable of downloading NTRIP corrections. It turns out this software works, but does have some flaws. Someone wrote another open source tool which is better (?), but unfortunately it isn't built for Windows Mobile (see: http://lefebure.com/software/).
More searching revealed a (dead?) project on codeplex: SharpGPS. It's an unfinished demo. It does however seem to be designed to do exactly what we're suggesting in this thread.
My idea: Completing the WM version of SharpGPS with parts of GNSS Internet radio / lefebure NTRIP client should result in a tool that's capable of upgrading a WM devices' gps signal to sub-meter accuracy through RTK/DGPS corrections over NTRIP.
Any ideas / suggestions about this?

It's already been done for the commercial market
Land surveyors, construction companies, and farmers use RTK GPS and RTK GNSS correction services on a regular basis. Some are free and some are paid subscription. They can be either NTRIP protocol with casters or individual TCP or UDP connections. Examples of software available are Carlson SurvCE and MicroSurvey. Read Carlson's support site for how they deal with the data flow using such networks on SurvCE (Windows Mobile and CE).
I have worked in land surveying using such equipment, and it generally requires dual frequency receivers, RTK corrections, and high quality antennas to achieve 1-2cm 95% CI horizontal precision. The current GPS chips in cell phones are only single frequency and so the best you could expect under ideal conditions is 2'-3' precision using some form of differential correction like WAAS or beacon or DGPS via NTRIP. Under average conditions, the precision will likely be in the 10-20' range. The dual frequency receivers take care of the large errors caused by radio waves traveling through the ionosphere.
Due to the limitations of batteries, antennas, and space for more chips in cellphones, the future of location accuracy will likely include some combination of GPS/GLONASS and cellular radio signal frequency timing calculations from cell towers. True Position, with its U-TDOA technology, is one example of measuring the time differences of cell phone radio waves using cell towers with known coordinates. Rumors (from surveying journals) have it that there are current patents in place that can allow for sub foot precision using such methods when sufficient cell towers are present for multilateration.

Has anyone found success on this topic? WM or Android...

Would be very interested, since there is a free NTRIP feed available in Switzerland... anyone?

*bump* it up

Been there still trying. Problem is no carrier phase off internal gps.

Grimli said:
Hi All,
The idea of using NTRIP to make a Windows Mobile GPS device sub-meter accurate crossed my mind. After some research I found this thread.
As wg5566 notes, there is a (WM) tool called GNSS Internet Radio, which is capable of downloading NTRIP corrections. It turns out this software works, but does have some flaws. Someone wrote another open source tool which is better (?), but unfortunately it isn't built for Windows Mobile (see: /lefebure.com/software/).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lance lefebure is a really cool guy I'm sure he wouldn't have any problem building a wm version but it is going to takea lot more than that to get rtk to a cell phone.

Very good ,thanks.

Ed hardy bikini said:
Very good ,thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are confused just ask questions and I will do my best to answer them. I am in the ag industry and deal with RTK networks and different ways of connecting them and tons of different gps units on a daily basis.

Look at this:
http://stakemill.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/ashtech-mobile-mapper-100-supports-esri-arcpad-10-0/
and this:
http://www.ashtech.com/-2359.kjsp?RH=1272644205746&RF=1270806507068
Is that still a phone !?

wg5566 said:
Look at this:
Is that still a phone !?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope PDA with support for external GPS with a builtin reciever that even sees glonass satellites (russian constelation). That was made specifically to do RTK mapping. It does have a GSM radio for data to connect to the cors.

Phone positioning using CORS
To perform a CORS (Network Reference correction we need a GGA stream from the GPS in your device. This allows us to remove the anomalies and provde the correction stream. As phones use a sirf II chip or similar they do not have input capability to output the NMEA stream to achieve this.

This one works great! it will connect to an Rtk receiver and get the nmea string from it or will use the internal GPS to be able to register on the CORS network. It will then stream the corrections over Bluetooth to a receiver or even a repeater radio. It won't however correct the internal GPS. http://antrip.dyndns.biz/Home/DownloadTrial

Serial port kernel and wlan.ko, ready to go

Find included a 2.6.27 kernel and corresponding wlan.ko with serial port enabled. This will work with JF, mikhael's build and so on that use the 2.6.27 kernel. Wifi works, bluetooth works, all that stuff works.
Serial port is /dev/ttyMSM2 with default at 9600 baud. I am turning my ADP into the brains of a UAV, so this should let me control servos with it.
Have fun! 2.6.29 (or whatever will be current) coming when I get off my lazy bum and move to it.
Installation is the usual "rename to update.zip, put in sdcard, start the phone in recovery mode" dealie.
BACK UP YOUR BOOT.IMG AND /SYSTEM/LIB/MODULES/WLAN.KO if you want to revert!

Here's a newer version with a terminal program (dterm, recompiled for g1/g2), or just the terminal by itself. If you flash the terminal ends up in /system/sbin and automatically goes to /dev/ttyMSM2 (see source), again it's just dterm with some cleanups.
By the way, does anyone care about this stuff at all?
I couldn't upload the kernel so here it is http://www.spirit-plumber.com/portfolio/robotics/kernel_serial_term.zip

It sounds very promising/interesting but I'm not exactly sure what it does. Does is it enable accessing the baseband via serial or something? This is something that was used on the original iPhone to try to unlock it.
I think if you explain more clearly what it does then more people will seem interested, & remember no contribution here is a bad one, someone will have a use for it.

It gives you a serial port that can be used as a device rather than just for debugging, as shown here
http://www.instructables.com/id/Android_G1_Serial_Cable/ (not by me btw) This software stuff makes it usable for general purpose IO. That allows a G1 and an inexpensive microcontroller, arduino/picaxe/etc to control servos, talk to a second GPS, and so on.
I develop autopilots for RC planes and the G1 would be a great platform for that since it has a gps, compass, accelerometer and camera already integrated in a relatively small/light package.
Also, ROBOTS! http://hackaday.com/2009/01/25/forknife-android-g1-controlled-robot/ This was done using the audio port, but having a serial port on board bypasses all the DTMF stuff and allows for a lot more bandwidth. (Also not by me, if you do want to see stuff by me, search spiritplumber on youtube!)

I'm also very interested in such a kernel as a friend and I are interested in interfacing a phone to a serial robot controller.
However, I am currently running Cyanogen 4.0.4 on a MyTouch and loading this kernel effectively breaks the phone. No radio, GPS, etc. and many apps are missing/broken. The serial port does work and we got it talking with our robot but otherwise it's not much use to me.
So atm it's either a phone or an overly expensive microcontroller but not both.

You could submit the patches to cyanogen to see if he'd be willing to incorporate it in his build.

this is kernel version 2.6.27 and i think the build you use has kernel 2.6.29 which is why everything'd break. i will build 2.6.29 at some point, for now use a build that still use .27? i useJF151 with good results.

Hi, I'm interested in this stuff, I just wonder how can I use this to interface G1 to Arduino? any idea/tips will be helpful. TIA.

You end up with a new device, /dev/ttyMSM2 which is a standard issue serial port that can be used to talk to microcontrollers. The voltage is 2.8V which means it will work with a 5V micro in the phone-->micro direction, but if you want to go the other way you'll need a divider.
(see the other thread i posted in for a schematic)

I should probably get cracking on a donut version

Wow
Interesting stuff. I just wish I had the ability to take advantage of this. I think this would bring it one step closer to being able to use the G1 as an OBD-II car scanner. But I'm afraid that will take way more technical ability than I have.

Not really...
http://www.suntekstore.com/OBD2-16Pin-to-DB9-Serial-Port-Adapter-Cable-.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Android_G1_Serial_Cable/
+ my kernel

Nice work
spiritplumber said:
...
I develop autopilots for RC planes and the G1 would be a great platform for that since it has a gps, compass, accelerometer and camera already integrated in a relatively small/light package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Genius! Well done for bringing this all together!!!!
I found your thread while trying to investigate the same project you've done already - making an autonomous drone using the G1 !!!
- I'd be very interested to see videos/info/photos of your drone.
I've seen all the bespoke UAV controllers on DIYdrone.com, but was more interested in the challenge of making my G1 with all it's sensors directly control a servo controller board via serial.
I'm a bit worried that the screen must stay on, which will burn through the G1's battery in no time! - is this still necessary?
I'm really impressed and thankful for what you have done, and making it public!!!
I'm currently on Cyanogen 4.0.4. so I guess the first step is to back track to an earlier Kernel version...
Unless you're close to rebuilding 2.6.29 ???
Thanks for the 'instructables' for the cable too, I've ordered the bits and hope to test in the next few days - ironically I found that before this thread!

Hmmm...
I've just studied your cable making instructions and have some questions!
The USB-Serial converter board... is that any use at all other than a PC interface?
I shouldnt actually need this to talk directly to another serial device from my G1?
- I got the impression the USB/Serial board was to convert the G1's USB to Serial...
Could I send a serial TX messages directly from the break-out board to a serial RX pin... (Servo controller) does that sounds correct?
Sorry for the torrent of questions...

If you want to talk to a different device you just need to flip pins 2 and 3 on the serial port and use a male rather than female connector so yes you can definitely do that!
In fact you can do two at the same time: Here's me using the G1 to relay data from a GPS to a servo controller. If you'd like the schematics for that let me know. If you have any sort of work related to this DEFINITELY let me know.
By the way, I'm using a 74HTC14 for doing the level shifting and inverting: it's a very cheap part and also has the advantage of cleaning up the waveform nicely. Or you can use some transistors.
EDIT: Attachment is being stupid so go here for photos: http://spirit-plumber.com/robotseverywhere/gallery/images/other/gphone/

spiritplumber said:
If you want to talk to a different device you just need to flip pins 2 and 3 on the serial port and use a male rather than female connector so yes you can definitely do that!
In fact you can do two at the same time: Here's me using the G1 to relay data from a GPS to a servo controller. If you'd like the schematics for that let me know. If you have any sort of work related to this DEFINITELY let me know.
By the way, I'm using a 74HTC14 for doing the level shifting and inverting: it's a very cheap part and also has the advantage of cleaning up the waveform nicely. Or you can use some transistors.
EDIT: Attachment is being stupid so go here for photos: http://spirit-plumber.com/robotseverywhere/gallery/images/other/gphone/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Spiritp,
Thanks for your comments, I'll give that a whirl then!
I'll definitely keep you posted!
My basic plan is:
Use accelerometer for auto-leveling control, use pre-defined GPS routes so I know the take-off / landing site altitude above sea level, and eventually get the G1 to take photo's at GPS waypoints.
Probably ambitious considering my electronics knowledge, but I'll keep you posted with progress.
If you have any pointers of how to send Serial commands from within the Android App layer, I'd really appreciate it.
With so many 'rooted' applications doing kernel based tasks I'm pretty sure it'll be possible... but I'm also fairly green on linux & java, so this will be a challenge for sure. (Time to hack my way through other people's work and understand what's going on!!!)
Thanks for your response,
Andy

spiritplumber said:
By the way, I'm using a 74HTC14 for doing the level shifting and inverting: it's a very cheap part and also has the advantage of cleaning up the waveform nicely. Or you can use some transistors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question 1:
When you say 'level shifting' is this to bring the TX/RX voltage to the same level? (i.e. 5v --> 5v, rather than 2.8v --> 5v)
Question 2:
If I plugged a 5v serial device into the G1's RX connector, would this damage the G1?
Question 3:
Please help explain how non-printing byte-level data (Servo commands) can be sent from DTerm... I've had a poke around on the internet but with no success...
Question 4:
I have installed your Kernel/DTerm... which runs DTerm ok, but the commands 'ls' return the error 'not found'.
- which worked before adopting your kernel..
Is this normal? How can I fix this?
EDIT:
Ok, I think I'm half way there... I've now bought one of these:
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=194
//

spiritplumber said:
If you want to talk to a different device you just need to flip pins 2 and 3 on the serial port and use a male rather than female connector so yes you can definitely do that!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reminds me of the HP48 token ring networks. http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=3603 In essence, device 1 would transmit data to device 2. Device 2 would see that the packet was meant for a different device and retransmit the packet to device 3, the intended recipient. If device 2 had been transmitting a packet to device 1, it would have passed through 3 on the way back around. Adding another device to the network was as simple as breaking the chain and adding a new one. Building the cables to do that wouldn't be too difficult.

Level shifting:
Internally the G1 uses 2.8 volts. This is nice if you've a 5V interface because:
On going G1--->other part, 2.8 is high enough to register as "high", you may need a pullup resistor (try 10k).
On going other part--->G1 you just need a voltage divider! That's two resistors of equal value, this makes the other part effectively output at 2.5v which the G1 will happily accept! (If this confuses you, see "voltage divider" on wikipedia..... it's literally just 2 parts). Here's a picture on page 5: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=496976&page=2
If you need to do stuff in that sense I recommend just having the servo controller take in ascii stuff. Or you can modify dterm. Or I can give you a modified copy of dterm that has that functionality let me know!
If you use a 3.3V microcontroller such as the Parallax Propeller, just slap two 1KOhm resistors on the rx and tx lines and go do stuff: it works.
Controlling servos via G1 is very painless and easy, I already do that, let me know if you want tips.T

spiritplumber said:
Level shifting:
Internally the G1 uses 2.8 volts. This is nice if you've a 5V interface because:
On going G1--->other part, 2.8 is high enough to register as "high", you may need a pullup resistor (try 10k).
On going other part--->G1 you just need a voltage divider! That's two resistors of equal value, this makes the other part effectively output at 2.5v which the G1 will happily accept! (If this confuses you, see "voltage divider" on wikipedia..... it's literally just 2 parts). Here's a picture on page 5: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=496976&page=2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's excellent, I think I have a solution for the voltage, but thanks a lot for your electronics expertise!!!!!!!
spiritplumber said:
If you need to do stuff in that sense I recommend just having the servo controller take in ascii stuff. Or you can modify dterm. Or I can give you a modified copy of dterm that has that functionality let me know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually using a Pololu micro serial servo controller (SSC) - I'm fairly sure it doesnt support ASCII characters, the manual only explains how to compile a '3 byte sequence' :
To set the servo position, send a sequence of three bytes. The first byte is a syncronization value that must always be 255. Byte 2 is the servo number, and it can be 0-254. Byte 3 is the position to which you want the servo to move, also 0-254. (sync= 0xFF,servo= 0x00-0xFE,position= 0x00-0xFE)
If you can help / let me know how to modify dterm I would really appreciate it!!
Although I'm still not sure how I'm going to access this from the Android Application layer - making calculations from accelerometer & GPS, then sending the calculated servo movement down to a kernel app?
Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated!
spiritplumber said:
Controlling servos via G1 is very painless and easy, I already do that, let me know if you want tips.T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would find any tips interesting !!!
Thanks again for your comments & help, you're making this project far easier than I could have hoped!!!!! hopefully I will be able offer you help in my areas of expertise some day!
- I'm an application developer by day, using VB.net/Sybase Powerbuilder/Pocketbuilder/SQL/Microsoft-based network admin.
Just a quick final question (for today!!) - my Wlan seems to have been knocked out by your kernel image... the android manager can see AP's but always reports that it was unsuccessful when trying to connect.. and ideas?
- I'm on JF1.51 ADP1, no other mods or changes.
Andy

[APP]Pixie Network Monitor (Wireshark/Kismet for Android)

So... I'm rather new here and I'm not 100% sure that this is the correct forum to post this in (since I know it says "xda developed apps/games only"). However, I have seen commercial Android apps discussed here before... so... *shrug*.
Let me first say that I am not the developer... I just think this app should get some attention.
Pixie Network Monitor by 9bitlabs (would post a link but my account is restricted. ;-) )
It is a network monitoring app similar to Wireshark, but for Android. It is $4.99 on the Android market, it requires root, and it does not work on all phones (since not all phones can have their wifi put into promiscuous mode). There is a companion app called "Pixie Probe" available on the market for free. Pixie Probe will determine whether or not your phone is compatible with Pixie.
I have tested it out on my Evo (running CM6.1 RC1) and it seems to work amazingly well.
Pixie does not contain all of the features of Wireshark/Kismet. This is from the Pixie FAQ:
Q: What's the difference between Pixie and a desktop tool like Kismet?
A: The biggest difference between the tools lies in how they interface with the network. Kismet interacts directly with the wireless adapter and places it in monitor mode, allowing it to hear any packet over the wifi, even if it is not associated with a network. This can be problematic with some hardware, but many of the newer wifi chipsets work great with Kismet.
Pixie, on the other hand, is constrained by Android. Rather than expose the wifi adapter as an 802.11b device, Android actually hides all of that functionality: the wifi connection actually appears to system processes as a plain old Ethernet device. This means that we don't get monitor mode and we also don't get to see wifi-specific data, such as beacons and associate/disassociate packets.
On the plus side, Pixie runs in your pocket and that's harder to do with Kismet, unless you have very large pockets. Pixie is also significantly easier to set up for folks without Linux experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Pixie website gives very detailed information about the app, so I suggest you go there if you want more info.
In any case, I hope other people find it useful.

Rooting the Anki Vector Robot - a robot that runs Android

Hi,
my name is Melanie, I'm part of an effort to root the Vector robot made by Anki.
Anki has recently gone into administration, with the IP of the company winding up as collateral for an emergency loan that was never paid back.
Vector is very much dependent on the "cloud", namely, Anki's servers running on AWS. The SSL certificate for these servers is due to expire in September. There is little chance of it being renewed since the company has no funds.
A group of tech-savvy owners have got together on Discord to discuss how to help Vector survive the coming demise of his servers. They had already collected a not insignificant amount of information in the form of datasheets and observations as well as images of the internals of the robot and images of jigs Anki used during development.
I'm bringing this project to this forum because, internally, Vector is really a phone without the GSM part.
He is powered by a Qualcomm APQ8009 (Snapdragon 212), which has been paired with a combination ram/flash chip by Kingston, 04EMCP04-NL3DM627. There is also a Wifi/BLE module and a screen and 4 microphones.
The Snapdragon runs an Android boot loader and Linux kerner version 3.18.66-perf.
This is where he becomes different from a phone in that he doesn't start Zygote, but rather runs a number of daemons from systemd.
As shipped, there is no user accessible wired IO.
There are a number of wirepads on the PCB, as well as unpopulated pads for a micro USB port. When I joined the project, the serial port was already known, but while it provides a boot log, there is no getty on it.
The USB port had to this point not been successfully activated.
Since I'm a hardware person, that is where i placed my lever. I populated the USB port and started digging. Finally I found a solder pad labeled F_USB which was not even close tot he USB port, but turned out to be a boot mode pin from the CPU. Pulling it to VCC made the USB port enumerate in EDL mode. Qualcomm call it QDL or QDLoader, but it basically an interface to the ROM in the CPU, just like phones have.
From this I managed to grab a CPU ID but not much more.
Meanwhile, we reverse-engineered the phone app that comes with it and are currently writing a general purpose library to talk to Vector over BLE.
At this point, I found that I was facing a thicket of software, mostly either cracked or containing malware, or both, but very little legit options.
I see a few options to go forward on this:
- Find a software that can talk to the Snapdragon 212 to extract the current image
- Desolder the flash to extract the image via a programmer
- Desolder the CPU to access the flash's data lines without having to heat the flash, which could corrupt it
The last two options are bound to be destructive and all us owners have found a connection to their robots and are loath to sacrifice them. Also, they require a bit of investment and are, because of that, no quick wins.
I'm hoping that someone here may have the missing pieces I need to get from QDL 9008 mode to an image of the flash on my disk. We believe we have another way to flash it, not needing the USB port, but we don't have an image to try it with and flashing something like all zeroes would needlessly destroy a robot.
- Melanie
PS: I would post links but I'm too young to do so. There is a google group called "Project Victor" that has the info we have so far called anki-vector-rooting, a.k.a. Project Victor.

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!forum/anki-vector-rooting
You are welcome to PM links to me and I will post them as a work around.

hope the best!

Link to Project Vector
http://projectvictor.my.to/
Sent from my ocean using XDA Labs