My EZBv4 finally arrived after nearly 2 weeks (not ezrobots fault at all, just Hobbyking being slow and a postal strike)
As much as Im sure I will love this device, and I already love the software, some first impressions/things I need to rant about in the hope they can be improved in the future.
The "powerbase" has to be the most useless piece of injection molded plastic in robotic history. Its enormous, roughly twice the volume of the controller itself, but only contains a fuse and a barrel plug. A barrel plug that no one can use, because almost no 5/6v power brick will provide enough power and no lipo or battery pack ever uses that connector. Why not provide screw terminals instead, or deans, or xt60 or all of them or anything that will actually be used? Sure you can buy an adapter to go from a useless barrel plug to screw terminals so you can finally solder it to a usable connector; whats the point of doing it that way?
Secondly, despite being enormous, there is no way to actually mount it on anything. No screw or bolt holes, no mounting plate.. even designing a 3d printed holder is going to be far from obvious because of its weird and featureless shape. Its likely going to need glue or holes drilled in it to mount it. And even then, it wont be very secure because the controller board doesnt mount very firmly in it. Its only held in place by the flimsy power connector. Despite the relative complexity of the mold, there are no clips to secure it.
In short, its useless, Im better off taking off the shell from the controller itself, soldering a connector directly to the board (with an inline fuse) and throw the "powerbase" in the bin. Seriously DJ, injection molds arent cheap, but back to the design board for this part!
The speaker, I didnt have high hopes, but its even worse than I feared. Okay, to be expected I guess and I know I can connect my own, but still. Maybe if you are going to design a use more useful powerbase, you can add a larger and more useful speaker to it?
One last little suggestion; after connecting the ezb to my home wifi, the ezb helpfully tells me its connected, but that would be 10x more helpful if it also spoke its IP address. I know, there is a built in scanner in the software, but its painfully slow (Fing on android to the rescue).
enough ranting, now lets find out what it can do
Hiya vertigo, This is just a guess but I'm wondering if the power base was designed for the multitude of robots that EZ-Robot markets. I've never owned one so I don't know for sure. However, if that's true, it may be that the developer kit is more of an afterthought; a way to supply ud with the brain rather than having to purchase an entire robot. Initially, I was going to design my own power base using some oil clay, taking a mold, and casting it in resin. But luckily I found a way to make it work for iRobot and it looks pretty good. I'm with you though on the barrel plug. I'd rather have terminals. Or possibly spring clips like on the back of a speaker cabinet.
I think the base (dodecagon body) used in adventurebot six and flipper is a better option. It has a built in battery, switch and you can actually use blocks and servo's. Just remove controller board from EZB and install it in the new base. https://www.ez-robot.com/Shop/AccessoriesDetails.aspx?productNumber=1501
The shell for the EZB v4 is made to press into the body of all the Revolution series robots. I totally get what you mean about the base feeling a little large, I have removed the case for two projects so far. At the same time the case really is not designed specifically for DIY and fitting into small spaces.
Ya, that power base is totally useless for a lot of DIY builders. I have a pile of them sitting in a bin. I'm pretty sure the power base was designed around the Deans connector that sticks out the bottom of the main EZB case. EZ Robot must have been trying to help us DUY builders with the power base to give us an easy way to power the unit because of the power input being on the underside of the EZB. However it's a pain in the but design for DIY builders by locationing the power input on the bottom. The reason this connector is coming out the bottom of the EZB so it will plug easily into the Revolution robots and that's the only reason I can figure out. I've removed all the Deans Connectors from all my EZB's and replaced the power input with pigtails running out the sid of the main case and added Molex connectors for easy connection/disconnection.
Side Power Input mod
Sound Output modIf you don't like the power base just take the board out and toss the case. You can mount the board easily anywhere in your bot and hook up a decent speaker while you're at it. The time spent wining about it would have seen the job done. It is after all, the awesomeness of the board you will be using anyway.
Lol, no one reads product information I guess
Touché. I do agree with the plug design in terms of the DIY market, its a bit awkward, but considering the focus of the V4 in education, its a fair design choice. Perhaps the next version will have a new option!;)