Remotely operated vehicles are increasingly integral to modern operations, with bomb disposal robots serving as some of the earliest pioneers of robotics. This presentation provides a deep technical analysis into the architecture and 25-year evolution of iRobot’s PackBot. Originally developed by iRobot, creators of the Roomba vacuum, the PackBot saw extensive use while keeping operators safe. However, beneath its ruggedized exterior lies an ecosystem built on legacy open-source software, and commercial off-the-shelf hardware.
Despite two decades of iterative hardware improvements, the PackBot’s software stack has remained largely static, running on legacy distributions of Linux and relying heavily on Python 2.5 for core functionality in its second-generation and later models. Attendees will be taken through a comprehensive hardware teardown and introduction to my PackBot. We will map the system across the Operator Control Unit (OCU), the radio links, and the robot itself. Finally, we will detail the reverse-engineering process used to gain access to each component, analyze the control protocols, and demonstrate how a hacker can customize and make a PackBot into something new.
My PackBot, Boomba, will also be present at the talk and be available the entire week for autographs or to pass the butter.