Help for a new guy?

#1

Hey guys, my name is Ryan and sense the weathers getting cold up north I decided to take up a new hobby and put my RC trucks aside until spring. I was in Radio Shack picking up flux and noticed the starter kit, took my attention immediately. I love to tinker with electronics, I enjoy the wiring/soldering, building things and all that seems to be needed for one of these starter kits. I used to build computers about 8 years ago so much has changed in that world, I was never a programmer only focused on hardware so I canā€™t say I do know how to program these.

Now to get to the point without boring you anymore, my questions are:
-What exactly do I need to start? By this I mean what else do I need with the tank/tricycle starter kit to make it go? Not speaking of tools or building equipment, have that.

-The main board, Me Orion. Does this board stay attached to your robot after you program it? Or do you upload the script to the robot itā€™s self and the Arduino is disconnected? What is the best main board to start with.

-How hard is it to learn programming? I have kids who would like this also so does the starter tank kit work with scratch and adrublock programming options?

Thanks so much ahead of time folks, I look forward to venturing into this hobby and learning.

#2

You have landed in the right place with the right equipment.
Your friend is the mBlock scratch programming language extensions.
You can find it here: http://learn.makeblock.cc/learning-scratch/
Then it is just a matter of playing with it and getting your Orion or whatever Makeblock board do whatever you want.
The important thing to know is that there are many ways of communicating with the main board but you must use USB to upload programs for remote execution. You can run code on the scratch and have it run on the board in real-time but I wouldnā€™t use that except for early testing and experimentation. You eventually want to ā€˜upload to arduinoā€™ and disconnect the USB cord.
Stick around and ask questions as you run into issues.
Dan

#3

Dan,

Thanks for stopping in and sorry for the new comer questions, it must get old for you guys. Iā€™m trying to understand what you met, so the Orion board does or doesnā€™t stay connected to the bot? I understand the need of usb to link the main board to PC, but once itā€™s uploaded to the main board does it attach to the bot? Or do you load the script from the main board to something within the bot?

#4

the main board (orion, mCore, etc) is the arduino board and it stays connected to the ā€œbotā€ or your project. The PC/Mac is just used to develop and upload the program via the USB.
More advanced robots or projects can ALSO use the PC/Mac or other arduinos or Raspberry Pi or whatever else you want to connect.
Donā€™t worry about asking questions, that is the whole point of the forums. If people donā€™t want to answer then they wonā€™t.
Dan

#5

Ok Dan makes sense thank you, that is what I was thinking. I was thinking about getting the blue tooth version of the tank starter. Is there anything else you suggest I pickup with it? The arm maybe?

Edit on my part, I just noticed Me BaseBoard is included, is this board sufficient for other projects as well? Also what are all the "shieldsā€™? Can I use the scratch coding on this board as well? I see on this website it says that board is discontinued. Part of me wants to pickup the ultimate kit so I have multiple projects.

#6

I think you will have enough with the me baseboard. The ā€œshieldsā€ are for other arduino boards that donā€™t use the rj45 jacks that the makeblock products use. The rj45 porst allow for interfacing without soldering or breadboards. I suspect you would have no issues with soldering and all the interconnects but the convenience if the plugs is prretty awesome for experimenting. When you do decide to make something major them maybe a different controller/mainboard might work but I doubt most people will outgrow most of this stuff.
There is a color coding system they use to indicate the types of i/o each rj45 has and the modules are also color coded as to what they need. Just keep playing and then determine how you want to grow your setup.
I started with mBots and then bought parts off the website, amazon and private sellers.
Iā€™m planning on teaching classes on basic robotics with this platform.

#7

Iā€™m fairly certain that the scratch extensions will work with the leonardo. I donā€™t have one to test but others on the forum can confirm.

#8

Dan I cannot thank you enough, this is always something I wanted to do but I neve realized they have entry level kits.

I was curious about the board because it clearly states in the Orion description that it functions with all the available coding options, for the me baseboard it doesnā€™t say much except discontinued. Of course itā€™s not very costly to just buy the Orion as well, its cool they have the rj45 already on these boards. Soldering isnā€™t an issue for me but Itā€™s still nice theyā€™re built on. What forum would be a good place to stop in and see if the scratch does indeed work on the me baseboard?

What software do I need? I see there is a driver download and arduino IDE softwareā€¦ Are they different downloads as well as scratch?

And lastly for this post, How does scratch workā€¦ Is it pre-written codes that you choose from or something similar?

#9

The instructions for getting you started are here: http://wiki.makeblock.cc/index.php?title=Electronic_Kit_for_Scratch%26Arduino
Looks like the software will work but you will need to install drivers and the arduino IED as well as the mblock software.
Iā€™d suspect they are all fairly similar so I Tthink you are in the right place but there could be other forums more active than this. Iā€™m here for mBot and Orion. The differences are minimal.

Scratch is a block based programming language that is open source. Makeblock has build extensions to it to build (more or less) valid arduino source code to remotely execute or download to an arduino computer, even those not made by Makeblock.

Since you are new to programming you might start with some scratch tutorials here: https://scratch.mit.edu/

#10

Thank you again Dan, I did some reading on the parts list for the tank starter kit on this week site and it says that it includes MeOrion. I was looking at a distributer website and thatā€™s where it said MeBaseBoard so I assume all the new kits include Orion anway, I will order from here to be safe.

I remember reading on one of the wikis here that there was a programming option for children or adults who donā€™t yet know coding, was that scratch or something else? It may benefit me to get a book of c+, that is the code right?

My worry is Iā€™ll buy it and build it with ease but not be able to make it do much. Thatā€™s why I was hoping for a child friendly program mode, meanwhile I will read the scratch link you supplied. Thanks again, I appreciate all the help.

#11

scratch (mBlock) is the child friendly programming interface. This makes the appropriate c++ code that arduino needs.
There is nothing wrong with learning c++ subsequently since ultimately there are limitations to the scratch translation.
You can learn a lot by just reading the c++ output of the scratch program.
http://learn.makeblock.cc/learning-scratch/

#12

Thanks again Dan, do you suggest I get the mBot or will the tank kit be good as well? If theyā€™re operate the same I would rather get the tank as well as the add on arm for it. I believe I want to opt to the Bluetooth version as well, can you program thru the app and Bluetooth? I am going to continue reading more on scratch.

#13

Stick with what you have, they all have pros and cons. As you learn the differences then you can make a more educated choice. Think of each as a different type of fruit, all are good in some way but can differ in subtle and significant ways.
You can send commands through bluetooth or wifi or even IR if you desire. The bluetooth and wifi have other app connections as well but you cannot upload arduino programs using anything but USB.
It appears as if you should be able to send code through a bluetooth connection but it never saves properly so until someone at makeblock conforms it is possible I would stick to USB for uploading.

#14

Well thatā€™s the thing is I donā€™t have them yet, Iā€™m going to be ordering next week so I just wanted to make sure the tank starter kit is a good choice for my first, or if the mBot would be better. I would rather the tank kit, seems very enjoyable to me.

#15

Iā€™m thinking you know what you want :slight_smile:

#16

This I do, I am a little worried as I googled some old threads and people were upset with the starter kit and the ultimate kit. Payday is just a couple days away for me so Iā€™m trying to keep reading. Have you noticed that most of the issues being complained about a year ago are fixed now dan? Some people were writing about how their main boards werenā€™t responds and scratch wasnā€™t working at all.

What is your take? Most of the issues fixed? I donā€™t want to sink money into something that is broken - issues and debugging I get.

#17

I havenā€™t seen a lot of unsolved problems. Most of the motor issues can be resolved with a return. The connectivity issues mostly deal with the confusing way you use USB, bluetooth, and wifi. The software has improved a bit just during the time I have used it. I wouldnā€™t be too concerned with the quality of the products. The level of service is upsetting some people but be persistent and email the makeblock people directly and you should eventually get a response.

#18

I just got an Ultimate Kit from Radio Shack and I am going to see if the motors are ok. Iā€™m assuming Iā€™ll get them replaced if they are truly bad. FYI visit your local store to see what deals they have since I suspect all Radio Shack stores are trying to eliminate their inventory.

#19

There is also a Makeblock shield that goes onto a arduino if you have one of theese you can use shields, They are stil available at the makeblock website store. I plan to buy one of these myself.they allow you to connect 6 motors to the shield, they have 10 ports 4 of them are for motors.

#20

The replaced the bad motors problem in 2014