I’ve got 24 mBots for my classroom, and have only started using 12. Out of those 12, THREE line followers have failed and are stuck with one sensor “on” - blue diode on, reading and prompting change in programs.
I purchased Lithium batteries of the exact specification, and the robots have been used less than an hour a day. Has anyone else experienced this type of failure or determined a fix for it?
Hi NorthDelta,
Please test if the line follower sensor is faulty or not refer to following way:
Touch the sensor 1 and sensor 2 with your finger on the line follower module one by one, then check if the LED corresponding to each sensor lit up?
If the led corresponding to each sensor lit up when you touch the sensor one by one, means the line follower sensor is ok. Otherwise, the sensor should be faulty.
Yes, I have done this test. One sensor on each module does work, while the other stays on constantly. What I want to know is if there is a way to flash the hardware so the sensor starts to work again.
Also, this is a VERY high failure rate (3/12) and it makes me nervous about using these robots in my class. Especially since Makeblock doesn’t seem to want to warranty their own product…
Hi NorthDelta,
Do you use the me line follower module in normal way? May I know is there any special application?
Normally, the line following sensors won’t break easily.
For the warranty issue, I am sorry to hear about that. Normally, we have official warranty policies and procedures, we won’t refuse the warranty for our products which under warranty scope.
May I know where did you buy the robots? Could you send the receipts of the robots which have faulty line follower sensors to the email address (daisy@makeblock.com)?
i have 11 line followers, 5 of them failed. i use mbot in my class room not more than 3 hour a week. i quite sure the cause of failure come from manufacturing process.
Hi NorthDelta,
Sorry to hear that!
For the five line follower sensors, could you please kindly send receipt of them to daisy@makeblock.com
As for the issue that line follower sensor break easily, we have provided feedback to related department to make improvement. Thanks for your feedback!
Just found this post. I bought a batch of them via amazon last Oct 2018 and I’ve also experienced a high failure rate. I seem to have the same problem : only one LED lights when it is on a white surface. I bought 9 robots and I have 3 that I can confirm don’t work. I tried the sensor on different robots and they still don’t work. You used to have a test mode on your beta version of mblock that would let you see values outputted by the sensors but that seems to have been removed from your latest release. Not sure why since it was a great tool.