Android device draws power via usb

I’m noticing that when my Android device is connected to Ralph/RoboCORE via the provided USB cable it is drawing power from the batteries. It isn’t enough to charge the device, but it is enough to keep it from discharging. This results in a very short life span for the 6AA batteries. Are there plans to provide a USB cable that does not supply the Android device with power? Or is there a way to disable this with the current hardware?

Unfortunately, USB cable without supply line just won’t work. Android devices require voltage to be present on the bus in order to proper recognize and enumerate connected device. All that is available is to swich USB mode to charging (> 1A) or non-charging mode (100mA) via sys.enableUsbCharging and sys.disableUsbCharging.