Blue Bots not working for more than a second

[itmanager___]

Hello edugeeks,

I was wondering if you could please help us.

We have 6 Blue Bots which were purchased from you a couple of years back.

The issue we are currently having is that all 6 Blue Bots don't run fully when given instructions.

They only move 1 cm then stop, this is the same situation on all the bots.

 

We were wondering if there is anything we can try to diagnose the issue fully or if there is a maintenance guide out there we can follow to troubleshoot?

Or even a company which could service them?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Nikcotter]

Did you ever get an answer or figure out the issue? I've been having the same problem with all 3 of our Blue Bots....yet our BeeBots work just fine

[southhamster]

Could it be batteries failing and the bot shutting down if not enough power? Curious that quite a few seem to be doing it though. Could you take one apart and have a poke around?

[itmanager___]

I contacted them via Twitter DM and they just replaced them for us free of charge.

I'd recommend you do the same Nik.

[itmanager___]

I'm going to take apart one of the broken ones, will let you know if something obvious is damaged.

But good news is that all 6 were replaced free of charge.

[jaybeeusee]

Hi. I have been searching for this exact same problem and found this thread. Who did you Twitter DM to get them replaced? I have 8 out of 18 with the exact same issue.

[itmanager___]

Hi jaybeeusee, I contacted TTSResources on twitter -

Hopefully they can help you out also.

[Logir]

Hello, same situation here. Do you have news?

[PaulC]

Anyone know of any alternatives to this product? We have 8 out of 18 with this exact same problem. Another school in our cluster has 16 put of 32 Bee-Bots with the same problem. Between us we are down +£1500. They are all just less than 2.5 years old and well looked after. TTS tell me it's an issue that's been raised before but they have no solution. They blame wear and tear affecting mechanical components and imply that faults are to be expected. I could buy that if there were different faults, but the fault in all of them is the same. It's a design fault in the circuitry as far as I'm concerned and I don't see us buying any more. Edited February 25, 2022 by PaulC

[Logir]

Hi,

 

Since my last post i have asked to TTS about that defect. They talked about infrared LED.

 

I can use a solder so i tried to open one. I have discovered that they have 1 infrared(IR) LED + 1 infreared photodiode for each wheel and they use them as an encoder (that is to find the wheel position ref). They face each other with a gear in the middle. I buied some new components (3mm diameter and 940nm wavelegngth like these).

 

I replaced all LED and photodiodes and now they are working. One of those can't go straight even after the repair, but i have discovered that it can happen if the LED+Photodiode are not well inserted.

I have now repaired 4 of them in this way, and one does not go straight.

 

I hope this can help you.

Feel free to ask me if there was something not clear

[ttwright]

We are now having this problem with a few of our robots as well. I'm IT and tech savvy, but not sure I'm savvy enough to replace LEDs and photodiodes. Do you happen to have pictures of what you replaced? Thank you

[southhamster]

Could it just be dirt on some of ir LEDs/sensors. Who knows what is about on classroom floors (yuk)

[Whattodo]

I bought a new BlueBot xtreme last week but after one night it stopped responding, and can’t connect it to the network either. Tried removing the bot from the profile and now it’s just blinking both button lights. Anyone else with a similar issue? Their customer service is closed on the weekends and couldn’t reach them yesterday. Thanks in advance!

[GalFisk]

I have three of them from one of the schools that I work for. I measured the output of the photo transistors, and in all three cases, there is one wheel where it doesn't respond at all. What's strange is that there's no debris or dirt of any kind in the optical path, and it's well aligned. There are gears with tiny holes which the light shines through (or not, when the hole moves out of alignment).

 

If I lift out the card and put something in the gap, thatobject is read fine. And if I lift the opto just a little, so that it's reading the gear teeth instead of the holes, it works fine too. Maybe something goes out of whack or some connection gets severed when it's fully in place? I haven't figured this out yet, but I hope to. I fix electronics as a hobby, so I'll probably be able to right whatever's wrong, if I only can find the exact cause.

[Gabriel]

Hello people,

 

My mom works at a school and asked me if i can take a look at some blue bots they have. They have the exact same problem as everyone has, They just move a cm and then stop. Until now i haven't found anything that seems strange to me. I am in the process of changing some of the ir leds and receivers. No succes yet tho. @GalFisk how did you test the leds?

[JenKnitter]

Hi,

 

Since my last post i have asked to TTS about that defect. They talked about infrared LED.

 

I can use a solder so i tried to open one. I have discovered that they have 1 infrared(IR) LED + 1 infreared photodiode for each wheel and they use them as an encoder (that is to find the wheel position ref). They face each other with a gear in the middle. I buied some new components (3mm diameter and 940nm wavelegngth like these).

 

I replaced all LED and photodiodes and now they are working. One of those can't go straight even after the repair, but i have discovered that it can happen if the LED+Photodiode are not well inserted.

I have now repaired 4 of them in this way, and one does not go straight.

 

I hope this can help you.

Feel free to ask me if there was something not clear

 

Thank you sooooo much! We had 4 out of 6 not working. I ordered the led/photodiodes from ebay for a few pounds and had my husband swap them and now all 6 are working! The children are so happy to have them back.

Jen

[Bradders20]

Hi there JenKnitter!

Thanks for your update & well done fro repairing all your Beebots!

Please could you ask you husband to go through the steps so I can do the same with ours?!!

I've ordered the LED & photodiodes so ready to give it a try when they arrive tomorrow!

Did you find replacing the battery helped at all?

Many thanks in advance!

[GalFisk]

I replaced the IR LEDs with some IR204 i had laying around, and the robots came back to life. I did not have to replace any photo diodes.

[PSCitAdmin]

I replaced the IR LEDs with some IR204 i had laying around, and the robots came back to life. I did not have to replace any photo diodes.

Thank you for the information. I will try this!