Troubleshooting your Edison V3 robot

Edison robots are designed to be very robust. However, like any electronic device, they naturally have some limit of rough handling that they can withstand. You can find our tips for taking care of your Edison robot here.

On occasion you may need to straighten the drive of your Edison robot. If you are having trouble with how Edison is driving (for example the robot is not driving straight), you will need to perform a drive calibration on the robot.

Full instructions and the resources you need for your Edison robot can be found at https://meetedison.com/edison-robot-support/drive-calibration/

If you are having trouble with a line tracking program, check the following:

• Only use non-glossy paper and, if laminating the paper, only use a matte-finish laminate.
• Edison will be best able to follow a line if that line is a very dark colour (such as black), approximately 1.5cm (0.6 inches) wide and found on a white background. 
• Always start the robot on the white background, never on the line itself.
• Avoid running line tracking programs in very bright light, such as sunlight, as this can negatively affect the program. 
• Double check your program to ensure you have the line tracking sensor turned on. 

If you are having trouble with an obstacle detection program, check the following:

• Ensure that your Edison robot’s obstacle detection is properly calibrated using the barcode and instructions available at https://meetedison.com/obstacle-detection-calibration/
• Edison will be best able to detect obstacles which are opaque but not too dark (e.g. not black) and at least as tall as Edison.
• Avoid running obstacle detection programs in very bright light, such as sunlight, as this can negatively affect the program.
• All of the Edison programming languages except for EdBlocks and the barcodes require the obstacle detection sensor to be turned on to work. Double-check your program to ensure you have the obstacle detection sensor turned on.

If your Edison V3 robot is not charging the issue you’re experiencing could be due to 1 of 2 reasons:

1. The stop button is stuck down (as seen in the image). To resolve this issue press on the stop button to free it. If the issue persists, complete a firmware update (as outlined in step 2).

2. Edison’s firmware needs to be updated.
Updating the firmware is a two step process, first go to the EdBlocks web app (https://www.edblocksapp.com/v3/#), then go to “Menu” > “Update Firmware” and click the “Update Firmware” button and follow the prompts provided. The update is complete when the pop up box returns the result “No update required: the firmware on your Edison is up to date” after updating the firmware.

To check that you have the latest firmware version go Menu > Diagnostics and click ‘Get firmware version’

You will need a USB-C to USB-A adaptor.

Edison V3 can be programmed via screen flashing and should activate automatically when you open one of the three programming apps (EdBlocks, EdScratch or EdPy) on your iPad.

The code is transferred via screen flashes to transmit the code into Edison via the line tracker.

We developed the flasher specifically for iPads because they have a limited and known specification in regards to their screen (refresh rate, sizing etc.).

The variability between manufacturers in Android devices screens makes it very difficult for us to cater to devices other than iPads. Generally other devices, such as Android tablets will have accessible USB ports, but may require a USB-micro or USB-C adaptor.

The iPad screen flasher download uses the iPad’s screen to flash the program’s code to the line tracking sensor. A few things can affect how well this works.

• Adjust screen brightness between 80% to 90%.
• Move away from direct and in-direct sunlight or bright lights.
• Ensure you have updated Edison V3 to the latest firmware. Connect the Edison V3 robot to a computer using USB to update firmware.
• Older iPads have slower screens. Set the speed setting to ‘reliable’.

Edison may not have enough power available. Put Edison V3 on charge. A full charge takes 4 to 5 hours. When Edison V3 is fully charged, both LED lights will stay on.

Edison may not have enough power available. Put Edison V3 on charge. A full charge takes 4 to 5 hours. When Edison V3 is fully charged, both LED lights will stay on.

We recommend using Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Opera to program Edison V3.

Downloading programs to Edison via USB requires a current browser and WebUSB, so we recommend Windows 10 or newer.

Edison is still compatible with most TV/DVD remotes, in fact the range of compatible remotes has increased from Edison V2 to Edison V3.
For Edison V2, approximately 75% of remotes were compatible with Edison and now with Edison V3, this has improved further, closer to 90% of remotes.

Test the connection from the programming app by going Menu > Diagnose and click ‘Run the connection checker’. If there is connection error “NO SERVER FOUND” then you need the network administrator to whitelist these addresses:

• api.edisonrobotics.net
• wavs.edisonrobotics.net