Start Up Problems

Hexy Questions, Problems and Suggestions
#1

Hello,

I have just put Hexy together. Firstly, i am a total beginner with robotics, so this may be an obvious or simple thing. I have researched and tried a number of things to no avail. :confused: Any help and correction would be greatly appreciated. I am using the name ā€˜arduinoā€™ interchangeably with the name ā€˜servotorā€™.

I am using 5 x NiMH batteries (Rechargable, and same behaviour if i use only 4 of the same batteries) and is connected to the board. There is some twitchingā€¦ ā€˜settlingā€™, when the plug goes into the board.

My laptop runs Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail.

When i connect the USB cable the green LED on the Arduino lights up and goes out.

To install arduino ideā€¦

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install arduino arduino-core

(Also downloaded the ide from master source on other attempts at getting this to work)

I run the Arduino IDE to upload the firmware. I am able to select Arduino Leonardo however, the serial ports menu item is not active. It is greyed out and cannot be selected. I can try the serial monitor and it attempts to connect on COM1, which is the port written in the preferences.txt of Arduino IDE. "Com1 not found change via tools > serial portsā€™. (Which cannot be selected)

(These are suggested solutions that have not worked in this case)

I have added my username to the usb and dialout groups, then restarted the machine.

lsusb command does not seem to show hexy.
daniel@Danbuntu:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1bcf:288a Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.

Preferences.txt setting serial.debug_rate=9600

Searching dmesg or ls dev/tyyUSB* does not seem to show any results relating to the arudino, on connect/disconnect.

Run everything with ā€˜sudoā€™

I have removed britty which conflicts with arduino.

When i run PoMoCo, it also fails to connect to the Arduino however the UI opens.

Are any of these behaviours incorrect? Is it a permissions issue or something deeper in the hardware?

Regards,

Daniel

#2

This is hard to say, as linux can be pretty tricky. It seems like its just not connecting USB at all.

Lets try this:
1.) When you unplug the batteries and just plug it in via USB, does it power up (i.e. power-on light turns green)?
2.) Have you plugged it into the machine without any hubs/devices in the middle? Try removing any non-essential USB devices.

#3

  1. The green light comes on as the plug is inserted. It then goes out by the time the plug is fully inserted (same bahaviour). Is this normal? No idea. Hexy instructions do not mention any part of this process and just assume youā€™ve worked with this type of board before. So no idea if this is normal or not.

  2. I have connected it directly to my laptop with the white cable provided with Hexy, with no devices in between.

Completely stuckā€¦ :confused:

Changing USB connectors results in the same issue.

Updateā€¦

Same issue and behaviour on Windows 7 (same machine)

Also, OSX Lion one my mac (different machine) has the same LED behaviour, but the serial port menu is available however no board is recognised as a device.

#4

Okay, the LED changing when it goes all the way in is the big hint there. It looks like the USB connector on the board got loose somehow. Hereā€™s a final test to confirm:

1.) When you press down on the connector with it plugged in, does it stay lit? It might also connect at this point.

#5

That sounds really promising. I hope itā€™s that simple.

I did try and ā€œjiggleā€ it at the laptop-USB end, but i will try cautiously working it at the Hexy end.

Will get on it after work this evening and update any results. :slight_smile:

#6

Hello,

So iā€™ve inserted the cable and recieved the light go on and then off. Iā€™ve ā€˜manipulatedā€™ the connection at either end, with two different cablesā€¦ at least, as much as i can without bending or damaging anything. Sadly, there is no flicker or signs of life appearing. However, the green light on and off always happens on inserting the cable, however not on removal. The LED comes on and then quickly fades off.

Is there anything i could be searching relating to this behaviour on the board? I wouldnā€™t even know what to search for in the Arduino forum. Feeling a bit helpless and noobish, am really appreciating your support. The entire Arcbotics team are so helpful and ready. :slight_smile:

Thank you.

#7

Iā€™m going to guess its a bad board. Why donā€™t you send an email for replacement with your shipping information (including phone
) to: help@arcbotics.com

#8

Hello Joe,

I sent the email and started to dismantle the board. Plugging the board into the laptop, even in Ubuntu, caused the light to come on and stay on. I have added one servo and tried again, it worked.

So i am going to fully reconstruct it tonight and hopefully that is resolved. This is clearly an idiot moment for me. It is so obvious that i shouldā€™ve taken it apart and tested. Obviously. Likeā€¦ OBVIOUSLY!!! you do that. :confused:

So when i plug it in, i get the green LED on full. Then next to the micro USB i get a red light that goes on and off. Is this normal? Going to work now, will check it out fully when i get home.

Apologies. I will let you know if this is completely resolved, and i have also emailed support to cancel the replacement.

Thank you. Iā€™ll not have any ice cream until next week as punishment. So, so sorry but that is a basic lesson learned.

Is there any reading that you would recommend to get more familiar with Arduinos?

#9

Wait, what do you mean reconstruct?

If you mean unplugging all the wires, it was probably the ultrasonic plugged in backwards, shorting the board (and causing the green light to immediately go dim). Our next revision of Serovoto32 is going to have reverse protection (something we implemented in Sparki on all plugs, having learned from Hexy), which should solve that problem.

The blinking red light is a sign of the board booting up. Sounds like youā€™re good to go now!

#10

Weā€™re steaming ahead now.

On uploading the firmware, the arduino ide responds with this error when i ā€˜uploadā€™ the firmware.

Binary sketch size: 10,486 bytes (of a 28,672 byte maximum)
Found programmer: Id = ā€œ-------ā€; type =
Software Version = r.v; Hardware Version = o.:
avrdude: error: buffered memory access not supported. Maybe it isnā€™t
a butterfly/AVR109 but a AVR910 device?

Board is set correctly as Arduino Leonardo.
Serial port only has one connection available that is the arduino.

This issue has been covered in other posts on this forum, for Windows. I was curious to know if this was understood enough yet to find an Ubuntu equivalent fix in the Arduino forum. What do i look for?

#11

Making progressā€¦

Hexy is connecting and kinda working with PoCoMo.

Very twitchy and i think two servos are broken.

When i change settins on PoCoMo itā€™s very twitchy and jittery in all legs that have power, is this normal? Iā€™m hoping itā€™s a loose connection, but theyā€™re all in firmly.

Still it was exciting to see it come to life. :slight_smile: