SBOT FAQ

This site is under construction (I just put some things, structure will follow). It is intended to summarize things to take care about when working with s-bots in order not to destroy them.

If you are not sure about something, Ciro, Vito and Rodi have already many weeks of experience of working with s-bot, consider to ask them.

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General Treatment:

- never let the s-bots drink negroni, otherwise they start dancing La Macarena

- Battery Level: if there is no strong reason, don't go bellow 6.8V.

- if proximity sensors are touched, they bend. If the bend approx 10 times, they break (e.g. s-bot 11).

- if possible, don't touch the camera cylinder (because of image quality and center).

- No WLAN: if you cannot access a running s-bot, connect with the serial cable (minicon -s / minicom -o under Linux, hyperterminal under Win); be careful when removing the upper part, on the new s-bots the cylinder is mounted very tight; if possible, try not to change camera focus.

- Charging: if connected wrongly, s-bots can be damaged (full disassembly necessary); make sure, charger turns RED

- Traction Sensor: can break, if s-bot is placed on the ground in the RAMBO way.

- SSH: do not copy files bigger than 117 KB (use strip for executables, bzip2, split). Reason: usb is messed up, camera might not work anymore (even after reboot).

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Programming:

- check the battery level automatically by all your programs (with exit if low), at the beginning

- always let your s-bot program shut down carefully (but signal handler which captures ctrl-c)

- smoothn the speed values applied to the tracks, a loop of 10, -10, 10, -10 will cause the tracks not to move anymore (s-bot 15)

- check the torque on the tracks, if it is high (>87?) for a long time (5 seconds?), the gears wear off

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