A few weeks back, my partner showed me this image, and I thought, "Alright, I can tackle this. And maybe make it a bit fancier. Challenge accepted."

Same IKEA box, different approach.

I purchased the same IKEA Hol side table, but I opted for a different strategy. The side door wasn't going to work for me because the vacuuming robot needs a clear path.

Requirements and research.

To make it cool (and a bit challenging for a non-professional like me, just a hobbyist), I set three goals for this project:

• I should be able to open/close the door using Alexa.
• The system should be able to detect when the robot is leaving its base and open the door.
• The system should be able to detect when the robot is returning to its base and close the door.

For the first goal, I used SincrinPro, and it was a breeze. Not a big deal.

To tackle the next two goals, after exploring options, I settled on using an Infrared sensor. This way, I can determine when the robot is in or out of its base.

Proof of concept.

At this stage, it was time to code and start validating the plan.

I must say it worked quite well. The only issue I ran into is that the robot leaves the base faster than the actuator opens the door, but that's okay. I can live with it. In future versions, maybe I'll try to get another actuator that works faster.

Here you can find the code of this project.

Design and print the final PCB and the enclosure.

Once the system was tested and I was happy with it, I decided to design a PCB for it. This was my first time, so don't judge me. As I said, I'm not a pro, just a hobbyist.

After getting all the components mounted on the PCB, I designed the enclosure and 3D-printed it.

The final result turned out pretty good, and I'm more than happy with it.