darticus
USA
Asked
— Edited
Is this a student toy or adult project. This sounds interesting but it needs to be expandable. I worked with ER1 and AIBO ER7. Is this something I could get into? Suggestions and price help needed!
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Good luck and have fun!
on this page ubove you see PRODUCTS click on that and you see all prices from
robots and parts.
the word store doesn exist,i dont see it it says products now.
and goodmorning to you to
This is a thinker,tinker,modifiable, hackable, and very useful program for ALL beginners
I have just sit in my chair (ezboy) and just put parts together and and re-do. Cause i know with the module i can make it be alive.
So buy it - just have to wait for the shipping (LOL)
THANKS to DJ & EZBOT
Rick
am 52 years old.and there are more here on site.
tutorial jd robot
Alan
Just download ARC on your laptop and see, I agree with RR that W7 might be a minimum, but give it ago, it's free!
You don't need any H/W to play around with ARC, and it's the best way to learn before you order any H/W.
Chris.
laptops win7
You can load ARC Mobile on an iPad. It can control most (but not all) functions. However if you want to program your own functionality, you need to do that on a Windows PC, you then save your project to EZ-Cloud and download it on the iPad in ARC Mobile.
Alan
You can also find cheap laptips, netbooks, and tablets on eBay (the Acer w3-800 is a favorite of many of us. Small but reasonably powerful, and cheap).
Alan
Alan
Alan
I checked them out but don't want to order the wrong thing. I know I need windows 7 or better I think but what about the resolution? They list this and I don't know if its enough. What about tablet or lap top? Is there a model that will just be fine so I don't buy the wrong one?
Will this walmart special work?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-11.6-Stream-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Celeron-Processor-2GB-Memory-32GB-Hard-Drive-Windows-8.1-and-Microsoft-Office-365-Personal-1-yr-subscription/39073484
I have an apple Ipad model MD366LL/A 3rd GEN will this get me started? Thanks again Ron
You can use the iPad, but there are some limitations as mentioned earlier in this thread. If you want to use the preprogrammed JD example projects available, you can use the iPad, but if you want to do some of your own custom functions or use some of the other options not supported for the mobile app, you will need a PC, laptop, Windows tablet.
Below is a link for a reasonably priced refurbished Acer W3...
m.ebay.com/itm/Acer-Tablet-8-1-Touch-Screen-1-8-GHz-Dual-core-2-Core-32-GB-W3-810-1600-/262031597527?nav=SEARCH
Or an Acer laptop...
m.ebay.com/itm/Acer-ES1-711-Intel-Quad-Core-17-3-4GB-500GB-DVDRW-WiFi-Win-8-1-/301795867568?nav=SEARCH
Click here for the ARC software tutorial,
Or click here for the mobile app user guide.
Hope that helps.
My head is about to blow from all of the info you shared with me today. I think Santa better get ready to carry the load this year. I did see a special at brookstone today with 25 percent off. So I'm good so far for JD. I have my Ipad and did as you said downloaded the mobile app to my Ipad. Now to raise some money to get a tablet or laptop to program this thing. I don't know how Manufacturer refurbished is so a little cautious. Thats a great deal on ebay for 75 dollars if they really work ok. I guess I can't work with the downloads until I get a tablet. Wanting to do something but I guess I'll have to wait! Does the ARC do the same things that are in the mobile app in the Ipad? Thanks Ron
Anyhow, there are plenty of cheap "new" laptops and tablets around if you spend a bit of time and do a bit of web surfing. If you find something you're interested in but not sure about, ask here and myself and the guys here will help you out.
I get the Santa thing but I'm 66 years old and can't touch this until Christmas. What is the age limit on this Santa thing.
I have ARC loaded on my XP laptop but thats a NO GO. I have ARC MOBILE on my 3rd gen Ipad and seems good. But I don't think I can do anything with this stuff until SANTA gets here! Any thoughts of what I should do to get ready for the big Freakin' day! Thanks Ron
Probably the best thing to do right now is make yourself familiar with JD, ARC, and the mobile app by looking through and completing the relevent tutorials found in the learn section to give you a head start for when you receive the hardware.
BTW, I don't think there is an age limit on the Santa thing. I think he will pay a visit to anyone who has been good.
Now which is better a small laptop or a tablet? Never had a small tablet but maybe small is good. I know they mention resolution being 1024x768 Min 1920x1080 Max and windows 8.1 and ram amounts. With the smaller Acer W3 tablet with Windows 8 is there any problem with speed or resolution. Thats a good price! Do you put Norton in it or keep it out? Maybe you turn Norton off when working with JD? Thanks Ron
I guess it's really down to personal taste and what your comfortable using... touch screen or physical keyboard. Me personally, I like to use a laptop for writing scripts for my robot projects as I find it quicker to use a physical keyboard, and use the W3 for controlling the robots as two of the ones I have built (not revolution bot's) have a W3 onboard the robots themselves. Another robot I built does not have a tablet onboard, so I use my laptop of iPhone.
In regards to antivirus, I use AVG free which is very basic, but does what I need it to and has no problems with EZ-B connections. There has been reported problems using Norton A/V in the past, and is highlighted here, so please be aware of that. That being said, disabling Norton, Avast and McAfee should allow connection issues with an EZ-B with no problems.
Alan
Alan
Alan
The W3 tablet is perfect for ARC (and more).
The W3 updated to Windows 10 was seamless and posed no problems (not even a driver issue for mine last weekend)
Norton is bad. Avoid at all costs. To elaborate on Richard's metaphor (of sorts), Using Norton on a PC is like trying to drive with a club still on the wheel. If AV is important to you I'd suggest either AVG Free or Avast Free if you're cheap like me. Both do a good job of protecting you. But common sense does work so much better.
I held off upgrading to Windows 10 for a while and only did so last weekend so I can't really make any justified comments on if it's better than 8.1, but it is. Everything seems to work so far at least.
I'm checking it out better now.
I keep getting stuck on the 4gb 8.1 small laptops refurbished and the tablet and new or refurbished. Did you guys buy refurbished from the guy on ebay at 75.00 for the tablet? http://www.ebay.com/itm/262031597527
Thanks all Ron
Just remember Santa knows if you have been bad or good so don't disappoint JD.
Ron R
I think we are all saying the W3-810-1600 is the one to get.
I'm checking it out better now.
I keep getting stuck on the 4gb 8.1 small laptops refurbished and the tablet and new or refurbished. Did you guys buy refurbished from the guy on ebay at 75.00 for the tablet? http://www.ebay.com/itm/262031597527
Thanks all Ron
I bought new, I would buy new again, I'd rather have the manufacturer warranty and assurance of a quality product than risk (however small) getting something not worth more than a doorstop.
FYI the battery issue was nothing major and has since been fixed via a bios update. Any new W3 shouldn't have any issues with the battery unless through misuse.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Laptop-Latitude-Windows-8-1-Core-2-Duo-4GB-Ram-DVDRW-WIFI-Computer-Win-8-HD-/151760795227? Thanks Ron
Alan
Alan
It depends on what you see yourself doing with the robot. Since you're just starting out with this whole thing, it will be a while before you will be to the point of experimenting with the basic JD body. Therefore, in the near term anyway, it would be mostly replacement parts you would be looking for. Some things to have on hand to keep the fun going in case parts go bad. For that I would recommend a couple of lever servos. If one of those binds and you don't notice it in time, they can burn out. And, of course, like anything else, they can just go bad, or be bad right out of the box.
There are two rotary servos in the body, but they rarely seem to go bad. So I doubt you will need them.
The EZB-4 (the brain) is protected from misuse in many ways, so it is a pretty reliable device. Still it can be damaged by over voltage to certain inputs. If you have someone willing to foot the bill for one of those that would be a "nice to have" component. OTOH, you can get a lot of extra servos and sensors for that same price.
The blocks are generally for experimenting with different configurations of the robot body. You are not likely to need any of those for a while yet. I would not consider them to be essential. However, they are cheap, so why not? I'm talking about the small cubes here. The longer ones are not needed until you're ready to do serious modifications. The only thing I can think of that you would need a block for now would be the Ultrasonic Distance Sensor.
Generally, you only need one distance sensor (if any). Usually it would go into the slot on JDs chest. As I said above, you will need one of the small blocks to easily mount it. Again, while fun and useful, it's not something you will need right away. You have a long (and fun) learning curve ahead of you yet just using what comes with the JD. Things like the distance sensor (ping sensor), while easy enough to add, can be tricky to actually get working with the robot itself. Especially with a JD bi-ped robot. It's much easier to use with a rolling robot. This is because JD does not turn easily. Nor does the body rotate. That makes using the sensor to sweep the area problematic. Not to mention physically avoiding obstacles in the first place. I suppose you could glue it to the top of his head. Then it could move about in all directions. Too bad there is not one built into the head. The camera is built in, however, and could also be used for obstacle avoidance. But that's an advanced sort of thing.
So a distance sensor is not as useful with a JD as with a wheeled robot or a robot like Six. Those types of robots are also more easily adapted to being a "platform" for mounting additional functions. For example something like adding a servo to cause the sensor to move in an arc, actually sweeping the area like radar.
there you puch it in at the bottem chest.4 in 1 sensor
The orientation sensor will tell JD whether he is standing, lying face down or lying on his back.... This will allow him to determine what's the best method of getting back up on his feet again if he should fall.... I guess you will have to determine if this will be a useful feature or not...
4 in 1 sensor
with the video comes also a big code.
see post #13
code 4 in 1
yes the isis thing is bad.
I see the code. I don't know how you would install it but I'LL study it a bit and when the time comes maybe I'll get some help here. Thanks RON
Once your new laptop arrives (unless it needs to wait for Santa too), you should download and install ARC and start looking at the tutorials and sample projects. It will all start to make sense when you actually get your hands on the software, and you can actually do quite a lot of things without it being connected to your JD.
Alan
There is a button on the top of this website entitled LEARN. Press that button. That is called a menu link, and there are a few menu links such as Products, Software and Community (where you are now).
The LEARN menu option is where you learn about your ez-robot. There is a video that explains the learn section when you click on it.
I would start by taking the course for your robot. If your robot is JD, take the course entitled JD.
I downloaded the EZ- Builder download. Now its in the 8.1 windows computer but I can find it again once I turned it off and on . Not on desk top! Where is it? I also downloaded EZ BIT library. How do I find this on startup? Too use to windows XP. This must be somewhere to use. Thanks Ron
You can also use the "Tiles" page and use the search option there (located in the top right hand corner). What you can then do, is to right click on the ARC option then click on "Pin to taskbar" which will make it easier for you to find in the future. You may also have an ARC tile on that page too.
What "things" do you mean by "pop out"? if you mean the charm bar, move your mouse pointer to the very edge of the right hand side of the screen. Then quickly swipe your finger from right to left on your mouse/track pad to bring the charm bar out. It takes a little practice, but you'll get the hang of it.
A piece of advice, play about with the laptop first before jumping in to ARC, and if your stuck on anything, there's lots of "how to's" on the internet regarding using Windows 8 which you should find helpful.
here some more pics
by a mini mous,much easier.
yes you can do some stuff,open windows and see what it is.
the scroll on a mous is the middle roller you can puch fort&backwarts.
avery window has this key? when you click on it it will bring you to the tutorial.
i will make a pic for you in a moment
Alan
I did check it out and its overwhelming! A lot of stuff. Is there a simple way to get me to try something like understand speech and reacting to it? Is there a step by step you could tell me and maybe I'll get the Idea if I do it. I did hit open and viewed JD assembly instructions. Thanks Ron
Understanding speech and reacting to it are two different things.
The "understanding speech" part is basically entering the phrase or word you want the computer to understand. The word "understand" is not quite appropriate in this context. A better word would be "respond."
That's what the ARC program does. It responds. It understands nothing. When you use the Speech Recognition control, that control has no idea what you are saying. That is to say, it does not break down the phrase and try to interpret the words and give them meaning. All it does is look for a match in the list of phrases you typed in. When, and if, it finds a match, it responds. It works on the whole phrase. A match is only made if it matches the whole thing. Not just one of the words. Also, a "phrase" can be just one word.
How does it respond? That's the other issue. It responds by what you type into the corresponding code (Command) area. Note; it only responds to the phrase it matched. Any other phrases and their corresponding code do nothing. They could just as well not even be there. They only come into play if a match is found to their phrase. But writing code is a whole other issue. And it's the hard part. I know some on here may tell you it's easy to write code using the script language. That's true to a certain extent. It's knowing what instructions go where and how to start that's the hard part.
The thing to keep in mind is that writing code for the Speech Recognition control is no different than writing code for anything else in ARC. No matter what control you put it in, it does the same thing.
So, let's do a simple example. Click on the gear icon in the Speech Recognition control. Type (or copy and paste) this into a free box under the area labeled Phrase in the Speech Recognition control setup:
Code:
Then type (or copy and paste) this into the area labeled Command right across from where you entered the phrase:
Code:
Click "Save" at the bottom left.
Note; the print instruction does not send anything to your printer, but to the screen instead.
Now, making sure the little box next to the word "Pause" (top left of the Speech Recognition control) is unchecked, speak the phrase "This is a test" into the microphone.
If all went well you should see the following in the black area at the bottom of the control.
Code:
It should appear again every time you say the phrase. The number in parenthesis on the first line may be different, however. The Speech Recognition control responded to the phrase it matched by executing the code you wrote in the code input area for that phrase.
Let's carry the example one step further before concluding. Click the gear icon again to bring up the data entry screen. BTW, I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but you can reduce the window from full screen to a separate window by clicking the little box symbol in the upper right just like any Windows window. This can often make it easier to work with. Unfortunately it doesn't remember that and you have to do it every time you call it up.
Now go to the box where the print command was entered and click anywhere in it. That will cause the pencil icon to appear. Click it. You should see a new window appear with the print instruction already in it.
This new window can be resized as you like. I usually make it much wider for easier entry of the code. In this case it will remember that setting and come up the same way the next time.
What you want to do now is add another instruction. Note; every instruction MUST be placed on it's own line. You can place it directly under the first line or you can skip lines if you like. Up to you. Type or copy the following:
Code:
Click Save and then save again.
If all went well again, you should hear the same thing that was displayed before (as well as being displayed again).
Hope that helped at least a little.
Read the following tutorial for an explanation of how to use speech recognition, and what all of the functions do in the speech recognition control...
Speech recognition tutorial
Plus, there's tons of other tutorials in the learn section of this website. Take the time to read through them when you can, as you will get a lot of information from them.
voice from the laptop you have.
you own poses or sound you made.
red under lined is how you must wright it in left side of the script
If you add a script control to your project, or any control that has a script editor, there is a script menu in the right hand side that explains what each script command does. I have also posted the script manual here on the website...
EZ-Script Manual
Glad to hear you thngs are going well for you. One thing that would help on our end though is if you would put the screen name of the person you are addressing at the top of your post so we can tell to whom you are directing your comments. And perhaps be a bit more specific. For instance when you said Fantastic! It all worked exactly correct! what were you referring to?
At first I thought you were talking to someone named Ron since there is no comma or line feed between the word thanks and Ron.
I will try to remember. You must be an English Major. Thanks!
Another question- When we program in script on the computer is this info sent to JD's memory through wireless communication when we hit save? Anyone know how this works? Thanks
OK got it, I guess JD is useless without the computer on. Can JD run a program without your computer on? Now what would be the difference between running windows 8.1 and running an Ipad with ARC? Just learning sorry.
So is an Arduino and every other micro controller based robot.... Unless of course all you want to do is to follow a line or run around trying not to bump into things, then you're golden with an arduino.... Any robot worth anything uses the power of the PC in one form or another... The future of robotics is PC based... Micro controllers (for robotic use anyway) are quickly going the way of the dinosaur...
By using the PC to control a robot (as Richard R mentioned above) you are able to do many things at the same time with a robot. This also allows your robot to have access to all of the data that is available to your computer including the internet. This is the reason that all really usable robots run in a tethered mode. Tethered doesn't mean attached by a wire, but means that the robot controller is connected to something else that is driving it.
You can use a combination of approaches to robotics by using arduinos or micro controllers as subsystems. These subsystems would handle one part of your robot and pass that information back to the main robot controller and thus the PC. This allows the load of monitoring specific devices to be done off of the main PC and thus reduce the load on the main processor or communications paths used to communicate to the PC from the main controller. If your son is accepted to MIT, this would probably be the approach that they would take in teaching him about robotics. This allows a level of abstraction which allows the programmer to make sure that a particular system is working correctly prior to integrating it into the entire robot solution.
This is also how JD works in some areas. The camera module gathers information in its own subsystem and returns that data to the EZ-B. The eyes manage themselves and receive data from the EZ-B. The EZ-B simply sends the commands to tell the eye subsystem what to do. It then does it. The EZ-B sends commands to the camera and receives data. It doesn't need to handle the load of converting the data to an image, but instead receives the image and sends it to the PC to do something with it. It is also how Servos work. There is a controller board in each of the servos that receives a command from the EZ-B which allows it to then move the motor until the potentiometer reaches the location specified by the command. This is handled inside of each servo motor. Each servo motor is its own subsystem. The camera is its own subsystem and the lights in the eyes are their own subsystems. These are all already coded to handle what they are meant to handle so you don't have to do any of that. They are complete and ready to use so they are just devices.
If you wanted to combine some of these devices to work together automatically without having to worry about how they will interact with other things, you could setup a subsystem that would stop the motors on the robot if something was withing say 12 inches of the robot. This could be done through ARC or through a custom subsystem that takes the load off of the PC running ARC. This could also be handled through C# and the SDK or a number of other ways. If you chose to do this through a custom developed subsystem you would be using an arduino or micro controller. If this is all that you are doing with this subsystem, it would be silly not to just use ARC to handle this function.
This is the reason that the product is not a toy but could be used as one. This product allows the user to get as advanced or simple as they want to get with robotics. It also allows the user to have an extreme amount of untapped power through the use of the PC/Iphone/Android or whatever is used to control the robot. It allows the user of the product to grow in robotics and take the product wherever they want to take it.
The capabilities of ARC Mobile (on iOS or Android) are significantly less than those on a PC. You can make the robot move and make sounds, and you can see through its camera, but it can't do speech recognition and I believe the camera tracking functions are also not available yet.
If you want to develop your own capabilities for JD, you need to create them on the PC, but you can then upload to the EZ-Cloud and download to an iPad or other supported mobile device and use them. Without a PC, you are limited to the JD sample app, or any apps that others have marked public when they uploaded them.
Alan
A lot of MY old memory refreshed! Years ago I worked with ER1 which carried a laptop on his mainframe. It really was fun but the company folded and most of us went out of it due to lack of parts. This seems like its going to be great if Santa ever gives me JD. I did get the computer early to work with ARC so I'm learning from all of you and reading a lot. I'm also able to try some stuff that you guys are sharing with me to try Like the speech recognition tutorial from yesterday. Thanks All!
LOL, no, not an Engilsh major (thank goodness). Just that certain punctuation and annotations go a long way towards understanding one another when all you have is the written word.
So, where do you stand now? I've noticed you have asked several questions in various posts but I have no real idea as to whether you still need them answered or not. Perhaps you could write another post listing the questions you still have that you feel you need help with. I realize that without the robot you are limited, nonetheless there are still many things you can do and see (and hear) results.
As you said, the sheer volume of tutorials is overwhelming. It can be especially frustrating when all you want to do is write programs without having to wade through all the introductory stuff first. You're impatient to see something happen. I can certainly understand that. As you have seen, you don't have to know everything about the Speech Recognition control to use it. It's doubly bad when you don't even have your robot yet. Same thing happened to me. I had to wait for a month to get mine because of delays in manufacturing. So I played around with the software and used the designer to put together robot parts to see how they would look as a whole. Learned a lot during that time so I could hit the ground running when my JD showed up.
With all that in mind, I can write posts for things you can try out, assuming the last one I did was helpful. Of course, you may already be past the elementary things I did in that post, but, again, I don't know.
I am an inpatient brat at my old age!
I did do some examples with speech recognition that were shared with me and that really said a lot on how you do this programing thing. Just wondered if there was another project I could try to reinforce the writing of programming that someone can share that would demo another capability without having freakin' JD. This could keep me busy for several minutes. Than I just read for 20 days! WOW!
PS I need a custom Santa suit to fit JD! LOL
Dell Laptop Latitude Windows 8.1 Core 2 Duo 4GB Ram DVDRW WIFI Computer Win 8 HD
Here is a screen shot of what the computer says is in it. Unless I'm reading it wrong its only 2 GB RAM NOT THE 4GB
Can anyone confirm its wrong or am I reading something wrong. Thanks Ron
Alan
If you wish, some local computer repair shops can upgrade the ram for you. I wouldn't trust Best Buy prices, although it won't hurt to check comparison
This was the ad on ebay and on my receipt
Dell Laptop Latitude Windows 8.1 Core 2 Duo 4GB Ram DVDRW WIFI Computer Win 8 HD
Thanks Ron
pics or chort video can be helpfull.
you mean the dean connector?
The deans plug was pushing in but tightened the screw inside and all is good. Thanks Ron
great to hear.
Alan
If JD would have fallen over, then it must have been standing up. I refer you back to the JD tutorials as has already been suggested by Alan and Richard...
http://www.ez-robot.com/Tutorials/Course/1
I turn on JD while on his back and the servos move into an incorrect slightly out of alignment position but as soon as JD connects WiFi the servos go to 90 degrees and all are good. Is this the correct workings for JD when turned on?
One servo in the ankle is off by about 10 degrees and I guess I would have to fine tune it unless you can adjust this with a Phillips head and move the gear. I don't know how you can get at it. Any one get at this servo? I can't seem to get into the fine tune screen for the servos. How do you get to this screen? Thanks all Ron
This is the correct workings for pretty much any robot that has servos. Servos will nearly always pulse (move a tiny bit) when power is supplied with no signal.
You have to take the foot apart to get at the ankle servo. There are screws on the bottom.
There is probably already a fine tune setup (servo profile) for your robot. You can call it up by clicking the "Projects" tab at the top, then click the icon with the 3 green gears ("Configure" ) over on the right.
If you have not already set up a servo profile, all the numbers will be 0. Clicking and holding on a box will allow you to adjust the number in the box by moving the mouse up or down. Once done, save it under any name you wish.
EDIT Made a mistake above. To change the numbers in the servo control boxes in the servo Profile setup window you need to click the + or - button on the given box. Not move the mouse up or down. And that won;t even work unless you have a connection established to the robot.
I couldn't bet back to connect to JD once I recharged him. What I am doing to connect to him is loading ARC, hitting connect to wifi and than trying some tricks like sitting etc. Is it possible these servos can jam? JD sometimes can't finish the routine and I have to turn him off and redo from the beginning. Is there a way to check sticky servo. Slowly getting there. Just trying to pick your brains as you probably had my problems. By the way this fell out of JD's foot. Is this a servo cover? See pics. Thanks all Ron
can you feel if any servo is hot?
What happens when you try to run those same servos through their full range using a frame in the Autopositioner control (1 to 180)? Does one seem to go farther than the other then too? Do either of them hit the physical limit of their movement before reaching 1 or 180 as indicated in the servo control box?
EDIT: As Nomad said, that thing that fell out is the cover for the bottom of the ankle servo. There should have been four long thin screws holding it on. If you didn't take it off that is a manufacturing defect. It could have jammed the ankle servo. It should be placed back on the ankle servo (assuming it's not an extra one that was left inside). You could take a couple of screws off an existing servo (from diagonally opposite ends) and use them to screw the cover back on. It needs to be on to keep the motor in place and protect the electronics.
I would have liked to have gotten hold of 8 of those covers. Would have saved me from having to cut off and grind down some on 8 lever servos I modified recently to work on a Meccanoid robot. Next time I'll ask DJ if they have something like that first. Come to think of it, I could have used rotary servos instead like I originally wanted to since they had brackets on both ends. Darn!
1) Flashing blue = the ezb is in wp not connected to ARC
2) Flashing green = ezb is in client mode, not connected to ARC
3) Solid blue = the ezb is in wp and "is" connected to ARC
4) Solid green = ezb is in client mode and "is" connected to ARC
Common reasons for chronic wifi disconnects...
1) Low battery voltage, using AAs or cheap low output wall adapters
2) Crappy wifi router (in Client mode)
3) Crappy wifi adapter in your PC
4) Out of wifi range
5) software like antivirus interfering with connections
What and how would I use that Autopositioner control feature? Is there a section that tells how to use it? Gotta take that foot apart and see whats the deal with that servo cover. Thanks Ron
As for all the questions - have you viewed the assembly videos in the learn section for the jd course? They are helpful to follow along with. You can witness the entire assembly process. Every step is documented in videos. Even how to fine tune the servos. All of the questions that are being asked can be answered easier by watching the videos. I believe it's much harder to read about the solution than to actually watch a real demonstration.
Regarding wifi disconnect. The question that needs to be answered is this, and do not ignore the question, please answer it:
Does the disconnect make a "disconnect" sound of a "boot up" chime?
This is an important question to answer. Because if it is a disconnect sound, then the issue is with the PC of either software or wifi troubled. If the sound is a boot up chime, then the issue is with the power pin due to "forcing/snapping the ezb into the body" as mentioned in previous posts. The power pin can be adjusted by using the learn section and viewing the well documented lesson found in the jd course under trouble shooting.
Once you get it, it'll all click in your head and make sense. You're doing great, don't give up
I got a jd for my younger brother for Christmas. He put it together and had it dancing in about 15 minutes. On the same token, I've given jd to other friends and they struggled for half a day!
The best so far is my 7 year old nephew, he put his robot together this Christmas by himself in 12 minutes - which was 3 minutes less than my brother haha. Sure showed him!
When he appears to jam he stops dead. Eyes still lit but doing nothing. Will check out further today. Ron
I will check things more today. Good to hear I might still get this going. Ron
I'm going to make the assumption here that you are using the JD Example Project and you already have an Autopositioner in it.
The Auto Position control is on the upper right. On that control is a gear icon on the upper left. Click it. That will bring up the setup window. It will already be set to the "Frames" tab.
On the upper right is a check box labeled "Realtime Update" in red letters. Make sure that box is unchecked for now. Below that check box are 3 buttons, and below the last button ( "Remove Frame" ) is a rectangular box with the names of various frames. From that list choose "Calibrate."
Now, be careful because JD will go to the calibrate position when you click "Transition To." It should transition to that position ar a reasonable speed, but I have found that if this the first time you click the transition button, it will tend to jump to the new position. Anyway, click "Transition To" button now.
Once all this is done, click the box labeled "Realtime Update".
From this point on, whatever changes you make in this frame will cause JD to immediately move accordingly.
All the control boxes should have the number 90 in them. Find the one which corresponds to one of the servos you mentioned in your previous post. Move the mouse cursor over that box and click and hold the left mouse button. As you move the mouse up and down the servo should move at the same time. You may have to hold JD up with your other hand to allow the servo the freedom to move.
Run the number in the box all the way down to 1 (not 0) and observe the servo to see if it goes nearly all the way it physically can as you do so. There should be some movement, even if slight, all the way. If it stops moving significantly before you get to 1, there is a problem. For example, if you get down to 10 and, as you keep going down, the servo does not move, something is wrong.
Do the same for the other direction by going up to the max of 180. Again, as you near 180 be sure to watch to see the servo moves some even as you get close to 180.
Do the same for the other servo.
Since you were saying one went farther than the other, this test will allow you to see if they are both going full distance. If not there can be several reasons why not.
1) The servo lever is way off. This would show up as the servo lever not making it to it's max or min position in one direction and going to it's max or min too soon in the other.
2) somewhere in the initialization script (or a script you are running) the travel of the servo has been limited by the SetServoMin or SetServoMax (or both) script instructions.
3) The servo is simply physically or electronically defective.
Once you are done with doing whatever you need to do, be sure to set the servo control boxes you changed back to 90.
Hopefully these directions will help you to determine which problem you have.
Speaking of the bottom covers of the ankle servo, I was wondering if those covers (or the servos themselves) could be purchased separately?
I could have used those covers recently. Would have saved me from severely modifying the bottom covers (White part) on some lever servos to work for a Meccanoid. That, or just ordering 8 of the ankle servos and using them directly instead. Too late for me now, but I know of at least one other person who plans to do the same thing.
Thanks for all that info and I will try to use it later.
I disconnected all the plugs in the back of JD and ran ARC. Everything connected fine and no loose connection at the deans plug this way.
I than installed all the servos etc. again to see if I put them in the wrong places. I ran ARC and connected to JD. I hit bow and he did it but jerking with each move delaying as he moved. I tried again and the same thing. Tried to get him to do fly and he jerked into a flight position stopped stood there bent over black screen came up saying disconnected no sound from JD and program locked up. Had to shut down computer to get out.
How long does the battery in JD work for. Recharging and trying again. Thanks all Ron
MY wife mentioned the wireless items in the house. Like phone, cable, speakers, etc. Unplugged all and he seems to be working. Now a little fine tune and maybe good to go. Gonna miss my TV etc. but shoot JD is happy!
I still wanna check the Auto Position thing. As soon as I plug the wireless TV cable in the red light in JD starts to glow on and off and he gets jerky in his applications like bow. Thanks all Ron
Changing to Client mode can also help a great deal (even though you are then sharing the same channel with the other devices, you are sharing it on the same WLAN so there is less contention).
Alan
How do you get to where you can change the WIfi Channel. Its working fine with me turning off the wireless cable unit but wondered from what you said would a different channel allow me to leave it turned on. At least I know JD is not a defect NO jamming works great!
Also my windows 8.1 is asking me to upgrade to 10. Will this screw up any of the JD stuff I did already? Is 10 much better? Thanks Ron
Turn JD on and connect to it's Wifi, then open your web browser and go to http://192.168.1.1 which will open the EZ-B's web page.
Click on the Wifi AP Mode button on the left, and the second item on the page that opens is the WiFi channel. It defaults to channel 1, which is also the default for almost every Wifi device out there. Try 6 or 11 (you want to go at least 5 channels up from the busy one for full frequency separation).
A few people have had issues with ARC upgrades after doing a Windows 10 upgrade. I had no issues, but to be safe you can save your JD project to the cloud and uninstall ARC first if you want. I have windows 10 on four machines, and the two that were Windows 8.1 both have far fewer WiFi problems (and fewer problems in general) than they did previously. The third machine started as Windows 7 and never had WiFi problems, but it works better on Windows 10 in all ways - boot faster, runs faster, less problems in general, and it is a really old slow machine. I was surprised it was up-gradable. (the fourth I got with Windows 10 already installed). However, @Oldbotbuilder had WiFi problems after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, so your mileage may vary.
Alan
You change the radio channel on your access point if you are using client mode, and on the ezb if you are using AP mode. It is normally labeled Channel on the Web page used to manage your access point or router.
Thanks for that help.
I guess I should think about the upgrade. Maybe because I don't have much of this computer now would be the time to upgrade. If I change the channel of wifi does that change anything with my Router DSL for online? Thanks Ron
Don't worry about the uninstall /re-install of ARC. DJ just fixed the issue in today's release.
From the past I try to let the computer offer the update rather than me getting the wrong thing. I did go to get it as you said but it says system down now, so I'll try later. I updated DJ's newest ARC and to wait for 10.
TRIED to update to 10 5 times won't let me do it. says system is down. HELP! Thanks Later!
Is it normal for JD to walk if you say move forward or something he recognizes as robot move forward, when you don't want him to move? Is he moving because I have the window open for a verbal command? Just wanted to know how to keep him from doing things you don't want at certain times. Especially when programing him. Thanks Ron
On the bottom right hand corner of your computer screen, you may see a little Windows icon. Click on this and it will take you to the Windows 10 download page (I refer you back to post number 54).
It's good that you are going through the activities in the learn section, as a lot of what you have asked so far is covered in the relevent tutorials. It's a goldmine of useful information which you should find helpful.
Going to the update windows flag at the bottom right brings me to hit to upgrade button and everything in my computer matches to get updated but it keeps saying system down. I went to the site of window and same thing. Thanks Ron