I’m a newbie at this so I hope I’m posting this correctly. Anyway, just got the Ultimate Robotics Kit last week and have spent many frustrating hours trying to get anything to work. Same problems others are having like, motors, sensors and led’s etc. not responding at all or intermittently at best. However this morning I was finally able to upload the mbot firmware by way of the latest Arduino IDE and now have complete control of the thing. What I found just before that as I was swapping around motor plugs and wires was one of the orange motor sockets on the Orion board pulled right out of the board as I’m unplugging it. Very little solder on the two pins going though the board. Re-flowed and added solder where needed. I found several(6 to be exact)solder joints that looked bad. With my longest, thinnest soldering tip I was able to add solder to the top side of the board where the pins at the back of the orange motor sockets first go though the board. This should help strengthen the joints a bit since they are stressed a little every time you plug and unplug the motors. Now everything works as it should have right out of the box. Hope this helps others with similar issues. Inspect all the solder points on these boards. Manufacturer should take note!!!
Problems with Ultimate Robotics Kit
Thanks Binks for reporting your experiences. Now that you have the robot working, are you able to control it using the bluetooth app?
-Tom
Hi Tom. Yes the Bluetooth app works. So far I’ve tested, from the menu on the left side of the app interface, DC Motor, Servo Motor, RGB LED, Ultrasonic Sensor and Sound Sensor. They all work perfectly. Today, hopefully, I’ll be testing Line Follower and Limit Switch. That will be it for now as the modules I’ve listed are the only ones I have right now. Having a blast with it already though. Chased the cats all over the house with it last evening. Oh, I have also tried about a dozen other free apps too, none of them worked. I have to agree with some reviews on the motors. Need more torque and they are power hungry. Did away with the 9 volt battery pack and used two 6 volt packs in series. 12 volts makes a big difference with this thing. Tomorrow I’ll give it a test outdoors. I’m permanently disabled with MS and have trouble getting around so I plan on using the robot to retrieve my quad-copter when it goes down out in the back yard. May have to increase it’s range somehow though. I’ll keep you all posted on my progress with this. Hope I can afford some more parts, modules, etc. soon. Would like to keep expanding on this stuff. Keeps me busy. Good luck with yours!!!
I had built the robotic arm tank. After I was done building, I followed the wiring page as it says. When I was done, I tried to connect the robot to my phone but, I’m getting no Bluetooth signal. Do you know how to fix this? @Binks
Kubs, first off make sure Bluetooth is turned on in your
phone, Turn off any apps you don’t need running. If you
have other robot control apps in your phone make sure they
are not running then try pairing the devices again only try
holding your phone or tablet right next to the Bluetooth
module. You should have a red led power indicator lit up
and a blue led flashing on the module which stays on solid
when they are paired. If not you may have a power problem
or possibly a bad module.While troubleshooting mine at
first I even checked continuity of all the supplied
cabling, Try to unplug and plug the cable at the module and
board several times. Sometimes mine will pair from 5 or 10
ft. away, but most of the time I must have both tablet and
robot within 5 ft. of each other and sometimes won’t pair
unless they’re within inches. I’m using a Trio 7" tablet
with only 512megs of ram and 8 gigs of memory and loaded
with apps so it’s a little slow but it always hooks up for
me. Go back over all your wiring, Twice! Try reducing the
load on the batteries and control board by disconnecting
any other modules but Bluetooth and see if it pairs. Try
reinstalling the App too. Make sure batteries are fully
charged in both devices. As I stated in an earlier post I
changed out the supplied 9v battery pack with 2 6v packs
but with rechargeables it still only averages about 10volts.
I’m using rechargeables in the robot that come in at 1.4
volts fresh off the charger but settle quickly to 1.2 volts
and I’m still able to pair to it and run the robot for 15-
20 minutes constantly although performance suffers
eventually. This robot, the motors especially, are power
hungry and seems to perform best at 12 volts. I have a 12v
rechargeable battery pack that I ordered on the way now. Oh,
and again, as stated in my other post inspect ALL solder
joints on the board and modules. I found several that
needed fixed. Hope this helps you get connected. Best of
luck! Binks
The Bluetooth module does not have any light lighting up on it unless it’s plugged up to my computer. It won’t connect to my phone either. @Binks
So it’s getting power only from your computer, right? That’s only 5 volts and while it really isn’t enough to drive the motors it is enough to power the board and modules, pair devices and to program the board. Mine will pair with the tablet when powered only from my computer and all the led’s will light and flash too. Do the led’s on the Orion board light up when you turn on the power switch on the board. If not, and your using the 6 cell battery holder that came with the Ultimate Robot Kit, then check the batteries and make sure they’re seated properly. I didn’t have power at first either. When I put them in some didn’t slide up against the positive contact in the battery holder and I had to push them towards it. Use a multimeter if necessary and check for 9 volts at the power plug on the battery holder. If you have a 9 to 12 volt wall wort try it and see what happens. Try reinstalling the App and upload the firmware again and try to pair them but hold your phone right next to the module.
p.s. Oh, almost forgot, there’s a tiny reset button on the Bluetooth module. Try resetting it and see if that helps!
