New Mbot - Can't even turn on lamp on Mbot per instructions

#1

We just got my 10 year old son an mBot for Christmas and we are having trouble getting it to work properly. We are trying to do the Pre-learning preparation in the mBlock kids maker rocks with the robots instructions. We plugged in the cord, connected to the appropriate COM port and it says we are connected. We tried upgrading the firmware and it said it was successful. However, when we try to turn on the small lamp on the robot mBot as the instructions said, nothing happens. What can we try to make this simple command work on mBot?

Thanks in advance for any tips for us newbies.

#2

Hi,

Try the following checklist:

  1. USB cord is plugged into the mBot.
  2. Power switch on the mBot is turned on.
  3. mBlock is connected via the COM port to the mBot.

That sequence should ensure that you are connected via the USB cable.

NOTE: Although you can run programs on the mBot from within mBlock using the green flag hat block via WiFi or Bluetooth, you cannot upload programs that are built with the mBot Program hat block. Those must be uploaded via the USB cable because the wireless adapters for the mBot do not have access to the onboard programmer that is required to upload programs for standalone operation.

Can you post a screenshot of the code?

Regards,

Chuck

P.S. I have written a small eBook (link) that is aimed specifically at the mBot that you may or may not find helpful. It’s written more from the perspective of running standalone programs rather than programs from within mBlock or the other phone/tablet apps. All sales proceeds go to a fund for kids robotics in my area if you are interested in buying a copy.

#3

Chuck,

Thanks for getting back to us. It turns out we didn’t realize we needed to “click” on the block after setting the LED color. We had just been changing the LED number for red to different values and not seeing any results on the board. We also realized an easy way to try out some of the functionality in mBlock with our mBot was to start our program off with “When clicked” and then add various commands like LED color or sound. We feel like we’ve got a lot to learn, but at least we’re equipped with a very basic starting point to build from.

Thanks again,
John

#4

Hi John,

Glad to be of help. One important thing to keep in mind when using mBlock is that it is essentially the Scratch 2 offline editor with some robotic extensions. That being said, there are a number of excellent Scratch tutorials available online for free and if you or your child are new to Scratch I would suggest starting with those. :slight_smile:

Best regards,

Chuck

#5

That’s a good tip. We might have to look into one of the Scratch tutorials to give us a better foundation to work from.

Take care,
John

#6

Read this page, especially the guide pdf the the tutorials: http://learn.makeblock.com/getting-started-programming-with-mblock/

#7