Improving Makeblock (Call to the Community!)

#9

Hello shaiss

Thanks for your suggestion for us, and we are sorry for these troubles which appeared on makeblock forum.
Now I will give you my opinion.

  1. Actually, Forum signup is broken down some time ago, and now we have sloved this problem. In addition, we are building the new makeblock official website, its functions will be more complete.
  2. For the problem of 25mm motors, we have released the relevant post on http://forum.makeblock.cc/t/notification-replacement-of-25mm-defective-motor/917 we will consider to creat a complete form like you said.
  3. We will arrange a support staff to solve the feedback from US daytime. However, most problem of our product need to be tested before find a solution, so it might take some time.
  4. We will consider the Online support service in our new official website.
  5. We will update dicumentation and post which version is the latest.
  6. For the instruction of ultimate kit, we are sorry that we only prepared a instruction for mechanical arm, we will complete the rest of instructions of the ultimate kit soon.
  7. We will check and update our software and make sure each users will install the latest version.
  8. For the software bugs, we have considered to report them, but we think fix it is prior, then we will release the new verion. The makeblock libraries should be downloaded into Arduino IDE, we can not add them into it, in future we will release the update news to our users.
  9. Good suggest for the “Startup guide”
  10. People buy our kit from RadioShack will be still in quality guarantee, and we will give them enough support get a good experience about Makeblock robot kits!

Thanks for your support to Makeblock, and we will do our best to make our forum better!

Best Regards

Peter

#10

Good thread!
Regarding CAD models for parts and assemblies - you should find them here: https://grabcad.com/makeblock-1/projects/public?sort=recently-added This also includes some of the undocumented ones.

I also want to add that since Makeblock is a 100% Chinese company, I don’t expect a US level of support. Companies that offer this, will usually add significant markup to the product, so I really prefer the way it is now? They also offer a chat on their site during chinese business hours that I have used on several occasions.

They sure don’t follow the forum very well, but if you reach out via email/twitter you will usually receive a response. Just as above, the reply will often misunderstand several things. Their English isn’t all that good, but I do think that they are trying to improve. At least I’ve been told that several employees now take English lessons :slight_smile:

J

#11

@peterlee thank you for taking the time to reply to the comments!
In reply to your comments:
2. yes you have, but read through the thread and you’ll notice that people are still having issues and struggling on how to get replacements. A form will significantly reduce the effort for this process
3. The problem is getting a response first, then the solution. At least someone to say “I understand the issue and will work to find a solution, please allow 24hrs for our reply” is better than the nothing most of us get.
8. I think better documentation would help here as well as squashing the bugs.
10. The problem with the RadioShack kits is not the support, infact, people with RadioShack seem to get the same low level of support as everyone else who buys direct, kickstarter, or through a distributor in their country. The issue is that the kits our outdated. IE old manuals & broken motors. People are buying these kits at discounted prices and getting excited at the possibilities. But quickly frustrated when they realize what they received is an older product. And since RadioShack could care less to support them, they come to MakeBlock. A simple post “RadioShack Buyers: Please Read” that summarizes the motor issues, provides current documentation, and any other issues would help. I can see someone from the community putting this together in a days worth of hours. Till then, we’re looking to @makeblock

I have to disagree here. We’re not asking that Makeblock establish a North America presence or hire a 3rd party support company in North America. All we’re asking is that someone in their China office work a 2nd shift so they start their day when the North American’s do. If anything, this would help get through issues twice as fast since they only have one or two people today.

I completely missed this. But the hard part is their Chinese Business hours seem to start around 2300 EST or 2000 PST. This isn’t very practical for someone in the US to sit near midnight to start troubleshooting the product with their chat. If they started several hours earlier or had a 2nd shift this wouldn’t be an issue.

This is part of the problem. Responses here and where you posted are sporadic at best. We don’t expect real time responses, but a 24hr turnaround would be nice.

This happens often with Foreign barriers. But I can’t imagine that there isn’t someone they can hire at a reasonable rate that understands the North American culture or others and can help facilitate support.

In the end, we got a response and it’s a step in the right direction!

#12

Absolutely. I was (and am) extremely disappointed with my experience so far. I have no issue with the product per se, but the tutorials need to be worked on ASAP. You should get a tutorial with your product that sets you up with an at least basic understanding of how makeblock works. I admit I am no genius but I know my way around computers(on a really basic level) and I was in the absolute dark on how to make this thing work. And it was really disheartening. Another thing: The ME Orion Baseboard must ABSOLUTELY come with this warning: THIS THING CAN ONLY HOLD ONE PROGRAM AT A TIME. That’s why by default the buzzer doesn’t even work, just the distance detector or whatever it is called.

#13

Yeah, the mBot line follower program doesn’t even work right now. I’m spending a lot of time just trying to get it working.

#14

@peterlee The problem is not so much the speed of a reaction from Makeblock. The problem is that often time we do not get any answer at all. Just to give few examples from my own comment history (I saw many other examples in other threads)


No comment on the connector angle from Makeblock. Only comments on the weak motors. At the end @shaiss figured I had outdated manual.


App upgrade promised “in a few days”, almost two months later, the app is still broken.


No useful answer from Makeblock. In the mean time, the docs were uploaded to the TFT LCD product page. I just commented on the thread. The support seeming didn’t even understood our question.

http://forum.makeblock.cc/t/bluetooth-issue/1152 and many other threads about bluetooth issues.
E.g. http://forum.makeblock.cc/t/me-bluetooth-character-reception/955 The only thing we ever heard from Makeblock was updating the firmware. (rather unrelated to the problem)

http://forum.makeblock.cc/t/poor-experience-with-ultimate-robot-kit-radioshack-version/893 Four month old thread with pretty much the same feedback others posted here. Almost zero interaction from Makeblock team (much like here). But new FAQ section was created (likely as a direct response to this thread). Also the information about the replacement motors was made more visible. But overall, the documentation was almost unchanged.

I could go on. I think you get the idea. Often times it is only the community that is ale to give any useful answers. Better docs were promised months ago, nothing changed so far. I do trust you are working on the new web page but I have a healthy dose of skepticism about the time frame of the actual delivery.

#15

Okay I am getting very upset with this damm robot bluetooth version from radioshack. I have spent way to much time just trying to get this thing to do anything. I know nothing of programing but I am computer savy. Someone please tell me what a Panda has to do with getting my robot to move. I do not care about the damm panda or what he is wearing. There is no instruction that comes with the program to tell you anything about a Panda and a stage. What the hell does this have to do with programing a robot. why is it that all the instruction and support is lacking the basic stuff for newbies to follow. Read all the documentation with a blank mind . Like you know nothing about programing. You will be lost. I have had this thing for two months and it is a paperweight at this point. I have bought several kits and parts at Radioshack as they were on discount. And I have to say I am disapointed with many thing .Would I recomend makeblock? at this point no way . I have flushed a several hundred dollars, Many hours and lots of hard drive space down the drain.

#16

@rpm. I totally agree. We were promised a new site, forums, and improved documentation. However if you follow makeblock on twitter it seems they are too busy marketing and delivering mbot and socializing at NYC makerfaire. I wish I had went to meet Jason Chen in person there just to talk to him directly.

I’m not even bothering with with the Bluetooth module and instead using a joystick shield on an uno with an nrf24l01+ and connecting the same rf module to the Orion on the robot using the icsp header and rj25 adapter.

I’d say ditch the bt module and move on too programming directly.

#17

shiass,
Thank you sir for your advice. Still I ave no idea what the Panda has to do with any of this.
RPM

#18

Hi there, I am relatively new to Makeblock having purchased the Ultimate Robot kit from Radio Shack 2 weeks ago (got it for 1/2 price on closeout table). Of course, one 25mm motor seizes and am trying to convince Makeblock to replace it.
Some observations so far (when I can get the motors to run)

  1. 9V alkalines don’t seem to get the job done. I have connected the bot to a bench power supply, and at 11 volts, the thing draws 1.5 Amp with both 25 mm running all out. I am going to try 8 NiMh in place of the alkalines. If that doesn’t work, will go to three 3.7 V LIon cells.
  2. For BT control, the iOS app seems to work better better than the Android version.
    Will continue to monitor this forum - it’s a great asset.
#19

a 9v battery won’t run any RC car so you can’t expect it to drive your robot. Your NiMh or Lion or even lipo or alkaline cells will be good enough.

#20

I Meant 1.5 V alkalines - put Duracells in the holder and once the output got below 9 volts, the robot had difficulty turning. Ordered NiMH and will see how they work.

#21

NiMH will give less volts but you can usually pull more current out of them. Typical alkalines are 1.5v and NiMH are 1.2

#22

I ordered 16 NiMH cells from Amazon along with a charger. I also found a battery holder that accommodates 8 AA sixed cells and replaced the holder that was supplied with the kit. So far, the NiMHs seem to have done the trick in being able to supply the peak current needed for the motors.

As an aside, the iPad bluetooth control app seems to be far superior to the Android version and even more robust than the version that runs on the iPhone.

The Makeblock team replaced a 25mm motor very promptly. Now it’s time to have some serious fun with it!

#23

I like to use a single “7.2V Tenergy 3800mAh Flat NiMH High Power (38A Drain Rate) Battery Pack with Tamiya connector for RC Cars and Sumo Robots” and a “DROK® Micro Electric DC/DC Boost Converter LM2577 Step-up Voltage Transformer 3-34V to 4-35V 5V/12V Volt Regulator Controller with Red LED Voltmeter” to power my smaller robots. This lets you set the the motor voltage at the desired level (9-12 VDC) independent of the battery voltage and it doesn’t run down during use. The Boost converter also lets you switch the voltmeter between the input and output so you can monitor the discharge.

#24

I bought the ultimate robot kit for my child this Christmas. And I am having many of the same problems the rest of
You are having.
I am having a good experience with dealing with Makeblock support however.
My kit is a radio shack kit. Outdated manual, missing parts and a bad motor. The Bluetooth will not work with my phone and I am not able to upload any of the corresponding programs.
They sent me a new manual over the web and have promised me the parts and new motor.
But my biggest frustration now is the programming. My computer runs with Mac new El Capitan. Despite running through all of the extra steps they have given me to by pass programming and allow these programs to work, I can not get things up and running. When running through these steps my computer in the terminal says that I could
Permantly

#25

My computer suggests it could crash and be damaged. What? This doesn’t
Seem like a viable option to me.
The programs need to be updated
To work with Yosemite and El Capitan with out these risks.
MAKEBLOCK PLEASE
UPDATE YOUR PROGRAMS FOR MAC OPERATIMG SYSTEMS.

Has any one gotten the programs to work on El Capitan? They want me to get a Windows computer,
But if this robot doesn’t work with the computer I own it is useless to me.

#26

I have no experience with Makeblock. it is new for me
Assignment Help

#27

Yes, I agree, Makeblock needs to make some serious changes.

I will add that I live in Shenzhen (where the company is located) and have had tech support to the tune of 20 or more responses in a day. In English.

But, even though that support was very forthcoming, the person I spoke with did not know much about the technical aspects of the hardware/software…

Granted, it would surely be difficult to find someone who not only speaks fluent Chinese/English, but also someone with technical knowledge as well.

In the end, it’s up to us to convince MakeBlock that its in THEIR BEST INTEREST to have good customer support for their products.

But until that time, I fear it will be up to us, as a community, to support each other with the technical crumbs that we are able to gather along the way.

#28

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your advice. We will strengthen training on customer supports and keep improving on weak parts.