Hey there everyone! I'm looking forward to meeting my fellow Ez-B robot builders.

It has been a pretty exciting few months, since the launch of the Ez-B. I've been working on plenty of new features for it. Including a Roomba interface!

With the Roomba interface to the Ez-B, you will be able to remote control your Roomba via bluetooth. You will also be able to add additional sensors to the board. I think this will be a wicked feature for the project. How about adding a camera to the Roomba and be able to remote control vacuum your home from the office?

I also have a joystick module that is near completion. It will be implemented in both the SDK and ARC. The new module will allow you to assign servos to the joystick and control their positions. You will be able to remote control your robot, while adding autonomous and object detection capabilities in code.

It will be fun building with you, DJ

What version of the Atmel processor does the EZ-B board use ?

The EZ-B uses a 40 pin microchip pic 18f4685 @ 40 mhz

Just curious: will shipments be affected by the Canadian postal strike? Thanks!

Canadian postal strike will affect outgoing shipments minimally compared to us receiving packages. The outgoing shipments rumoured to have a small delay of 2-3 days. Of course, there are exceptions to that and some might take a few days longer.

Great to hear - thanks! I'm eagerly anticipating the EZ-B.

Hello,

I just received the EZ-B on Friday 6/24/2011. So far I gave it power, watched the white flashing led light on the board and the red led flashing on the bluetooth module until it stopped when it connected to my computer via bluetooth. There is no problem with the connection as my computer bluetooth devices states it is connected and the led lights are not flashing. It recognizes the ez-b as Linvor? Is that another name for the board? The com port it is recommending is Com 12 port there is also a Com 13 but your manual says to go with the lower numbered port. I connected a servo to the digital "D0" slot and tried configuring it in the move control, then servo, then either horizontal or vertical configuration, I select D0, then save, but when I go to use the slide bar to test the servo for movement it does not move. Am I missing a step? Are there more steps to configure the servo that I am missing?

Thank you,

Leo

Hi,

Looks like its all working ok the EZ-B does as you say show up as Linvor. One easy way to test it is via ARC and the Utilities drop down menu where you can turn the hardware status LED on and off then everything is definately working ok

If your servo doesn't move check you plugged it in the right way round thats easy to get wrong.

Good luck

:)

Thank you winstn60,

Thanks for the response. Yes, the utilities drop down menu where it says hardware status led on/off works when I select off the white led goes off, and on the white led is lit on the EZ-B. The servo I am testing on digital slot DO has the black wire facing the outside of board. I currently have ARC version 11 installed (I tried cross referencing here on the release notes but it only has release dates but not the version number). Is there another version? I do not know why it is not working when I test the servo after configuring. Is there any other suggestion? Am I missing something?

Again thanks for the help,

Leo

Hey there Baldeagle!

The servo is connected backward. The pins are labelled GND, +5, Signal from inside to out. The balck wire will be GND and should be facing inside of the board.

OK now thats embarrassing It works great !! I'll be honest I automatically assumed the ground was to the outside of the board because of many servo controllers I have used in the past. My bad, never assume. I can't wait to dig deeper into this board and I'm sure I will have many questions throughout my build.

Thank you,

Leo

At least nothing got fried (save for your ego) when you plugged the servos in wrong. I did the same thing with my first Pololu dual motor driver and it fried both the logic and the driver chips in about 2 seconds flat - yes, as in big puff of smoke. It probably would have been ok had I been using the EZ-B for power (5V) but I was using an external 12V supply.

Whenever I do something stupid like that I always think of my brother-in-law's motto (he's a carpenter): "measure twice, cut once"...

I have fried one of my ADC channels on my EZ-B board by connecting it straight to the supply battery!! not clever. Still I have loads more left to play with

A mechanics motto "tighten the nut until it snaps and then back it off half a turn"

Ouch on frying your EZ-B. The EZ-B can have separate power for servo's correct?

I have a logitech joystick that I was configuring and must say I am really impressed on how easy it is to configure the joystick buttons in ARC however I would like to go wireless and use a PS3 bluetooth game remote for controlling the EZ-B.

Does anyone know how it can be done? Can the PS3 bluetooth game remote work with EZ-B? If so what would be the necessary steps? Do I have to download additional programs?

As always thanks for the help

Well I only fried one channel everything else works ok

I use a PS3 joystick but not via bluetooth. The drivers to use the PS3 Joystick with a PC with a cable were released recently on the net but I haven't seen a bluetooth set of drivers as yet

There are other Bluetooth/wireless joysticks you can use

For under $15 this little guy works great for me: Wireless Cordless Blue LED PC Gamepad Shock Controller

I like the clear plastic shell but I'll most likely be pulling out all the bright blue LEDs at some point - they're an annoying waste of battery power...

radmeck i just got that controller thanks to your link love the joystick just dont like all the led lights they just about blind you.cant beat the price one thing whats up with the blue water inside?

Not quite sure what the deal is with the liquid other than to "enhance" the effects of the LEDs. Either way, just break out the de-soldering equipment and pull out those LEDs (you can probably even use snips to cut them out). I've pulled so many LEDs I'll never need to buy any!

Radmeck I just realized you can turn the Led's off on that remote when you go to turn it on put it in the middle instead of on.

Radmeck im not sure if you knew this about the remote.

Hello, Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. I am new to all this, but it looks very cool. So I order the EZ-B board. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to ship? When I go to check my order this is what I get.

474 9/1/2011 11:17:56 AM $99.00 Step 1) New Order

Do you know what this means?

Thanks BC.

Hello, Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. I am new to all this, but it looks very cool. So I order the EZ-B board. Can anyone tell me how long it takes to ship? When I go to check my order this is what I get.

474 9/1/2011 11:17:56 AM $99.00 Step 1) New Order

Do you know what this means?

Thanks BC.

Good moorning,

When I connect the ez-b (v3) board, the led blink in orange and I connect to the computer via bluetooth but the ARC can't connect to the board.

The orange color is normal?.

I try it in 4 computers, windows XP, vista and Windows 7. All the computers can connect to the board but the ARC does not see the board.

Can you help me?

Did you use the correct COM port?

And does the EZ-b's own led blink or also the red LED on the bluetooth module?

Also try this link. There is a video with detailed instructions on how to connect to the EZ-B: Clickity

The ez-b led, blink in orange and the bluetooth is red, not blinking. I see the video and see that the led of the ez-b is white (or blue) not orange when the board is connected. Thanks to all.

Every EZ-B has a different color LED That was my little idea

To make sure i understand...

1. Orange LED blinks
2. Red LED does not blink

Does the Red LED not blink when it is connected to power?

Does the Red LED stop blinking during the connection attempt?

The situation is:

1. orange led blink, since the board is power up.
2. when the board is associated via bluetooth with the pc, the led of the bluetooth module, does not blink and the pc tell my that the connection is established. Then i go to the ez-bilther and try to connect to the board, but ez-b don't see the board. Thanks in advance.

Can you try it with only one program running on your computer. Only load ARC. Do not load any other programs.

1. Provide power to the EZ-B
2. Both lights on the EZ-B should be flashing
3. Close down all running programs on your computer
4. Load ARC from the Start Menu
5. Select the communication port for the EZ-B in the Connection Control in ARC
6. Press the "Connect" button next to the communication port in ARC
7. Both lights should stop flashing and the ARC will connect

If that process does not work, then your EZ-B must be damaged. Can you please email us high resolution pictures of the bottom and top of the EZ-B? support at ez-robot.com

Sometimes I have a similar problem where i will lose the connection but it wont let me re-establish it. i found that wiggling the bluetooth card or slightly lifting and reseating it helps. --Troy

I had the same program for a long time. i found that using a more powerful accu helps a lot. --Niek

My bluetooth on my laptop will have trouble establishing a connection sometimes. The only way to resolve it is to turn my WIFI off and then back on again. (Cycle the power to the WIFI which also powers the bluetooth)... Then it starts working.

I'm not sure what it does that, it just does.

Is there a warranty on the EZ-B and if so, what is the time period?

There are no moving parts for the ez-b. And it is an exposed hobbyist/expiremental circuit board puts us in a very difficult position to offer a customer warranty. No companies that are in our industry provide a warranty of a product that was used.

There is a memory location stored on the chip that keeps statistical information about the use of the EZ-B. Helps us know what the board was used for before it broke. Also tells us that it was indeed working if someone tries to say otherwise.

If you received it and it worked but stopped working, then we'd have to assume it was damaged by mis-use. We can discuss the damage to the board for repair, however. Usually repair is a damaged I/C and that is something we can send you to do yourself.

We've had a few boards come to us that were damaged by mis-use that we have repaired for a fee. Because it is electrical, there is an internet of knowledge available to understand shorts, polarity, and our documentation specifies max voltage ranges.

What issues are you experiencing?

My Bluetooth Module disconnects after a short period of time. I then have great difficulty getting it to connect again.

Sounds like your bluetooth on the laptop. Do you have a switch to turn the WIFI on and off on your laptop? If so, cycle that switch for a few seconds and then back on again.

I have that happen quite often. When it disconnects, you may have to cycle the power on the EZ-B also. Not often, but sometimes you may.

Bluetooth is kind of silly. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. At least in windows anyway

If your module works once, it will always work. Electronics don't fail that way. Unless there is a loose solder connection. You can diagnose that easily by picking up the board and moving it around.

Also make sure your I/O isn't drawing TOO much current for the battery supply. The EZ-B has voltage regulators that will supply a lot of current, but only as much as the batteries have. So if you are using the 5 AA pack, then don't expect too much usage with many servos. My Wall-E only gets about 60 minutes with 5 AA's when it's full-on

Rechargable AA's are even worse for power. They supply less voltage, and usually the the same or less amps. Plus they generally wear out quickly after multiple recharges.

Don't confuse the bluetooth dropping with a faulty module

Thanks. I have been only using rechargeable batteries so I will make a change to the normal type. Hopefully I will be able to get back to building. The new ARC is brilliant by the way. One of my favourite additions is the Script Console. Also the ability to search the Forums and the Remember Me checkbox are also really useful additions to the website. Perhaps you could apply your programming skills in a really advanced occupation. I am sure they will need people like you.

Thanks Creativita That's really nice feedback. Words like that help fuel my passion for the project.

If you can provide me with a list of peripherals you have connected to your EZ-B when it fails, that might help diagnose the issue.

Hello there,

My name is Alon,

Im new here and in the great world of robotics.

I lookd at the EZ-B kit and it looks great.

Before i start i would like to know if the EZ-b would work on the 15 inch R2D2 from hasbro. its a voice command operated. Can i use EZ-B to improve it and make him otonomus and use the voice command and sound that the R2 have??

Have some one try this mode?

About me :

Im atoy collector, i have never workd with programing and robotics, and i would be happy to start my way in the robotics fan world.

DJ i love the work you did on Wall-E

Hope to mod my R2 unit

HAVE A GREAT DAY

Alon

@alondav77 Hello, you sure can! I have one sitting in the lab waiting to fit the EZ-B. You can put the EZ-B in anything you can dream up That's the best part!

I'm glad you like Wall-e, he's one of my favorites

You'll be able to make the R2D2 a lot cooler with the EZ-Robot Kit. He'll be able to do waaaaaay more stuff with it. And don't worry about programming.... To start, you won't need to do any programming.

Happy to know, thanks DJ

i'll be ordering your EZ-B soon and i'll be happy to get some tips how to do it

Have a great day

DJ,

Have ordered the kit. Wondering if a "version" is being planned for iOS or other operating systems? It would be nice (for a change) if an operating system change would not create a hardware redesign. Perhaps an 'interface" from the Bluetooth to the PC, then an interface to the iOS as a separate controller? Most interfaces I have seen lately are WiFi, which would be the easiest to interface to iOS.

Thoughts?

Hi

You can use the HTTP Server to connect your iOS device through the PC to the EZ-B. There is over 100,000 lines of code for the EZ-Robot Platform - it would take a very long time to port over. There are also limitations with the user interface, screen real estate and processor speed with portable devices. You'll find the Forum Search feature will help you find most of these answers as it is discussed often

DJ I got a problem with my EZ-B. I already did firmware and used it and it worked. Then today I tried to the EZ-B but all it had was a blank and no ports so how do I fix this? Thanks Sonic40191

@sonic40191, please make a new thread for your problem, it will draw more attention. When you make the new thread please make your problem clearer. What had no ports and was blank? Is the EZ-B paired with the PC? What version of ARC are you using? What are you trying to do?

The EZ-B connectivity issues

Yes the EZ-B is paired with the PC. But that one day I went into ARC The board connection thing for board one I made that arrow go down and all there was was a blank spot not COM ports no nothing. I really need help thanks sonic40191

What OS are you using? What version of ARC are you using?

If no COM ports were in the list you have an issue with Windows. If the EZ-B is paired it will have 2 COM ports in Windows, if you don't have the COM ports check the settings of the EZ-Robot device in Devices and Printers, make sure the services are enabled. Check your device manager to ensure there are no problems. Make sure bluetooth is turned on.

It's very rare to have no COM ports on a PC.

Sounds like you need to pair the ezb to the computer. No com ports means the ezb is not paired. Or, your Bluetooth is disabled. Follow our tutorial to pair the ezb to your computer: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials

If your ezb is paired but still no com ports, delete the pair under Bluetooth devices and reboot your computer

Hello everyone, my name is Scott.

One of my Instructors is a robotics enthusiast, and I'm really wanting to learn as much as I can about basic robotics. I really want the Hex bot kit you are selling. But until I can afford it I want to just be a part of the discussions and community. Like Alon said, I'm more than happy to join the ranks of the RL Robotics Fandom.

And if I ever get good enough at it I could program the robo-teddybear to freak people out.

Welcome to the family! You're going to enjoy this community. Try using the forum search as some topics have been covered pretty well. Don't be afraid to ask questions. We are all learning from each other as we go and topics are constantly evolving. Again, welcome!

Thank you for the warm welcome.

As I have almost no knowledge of robotics, aside from scifi, wheres the best place to start looking. Or is it best to just jump in and grab whatever's interesting?