David L Buckley - Robotics, Animatronics
david@davidbuckley.net


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Cycler Instructions
David Buckley 18 October 2021
V. 1.1

The robots were originally called 'Cycler' then re-branded as 
‘recycler’, for consistency they are here referred to as 'Cycler'.
 
Transmitter
  
When the transmitter is OFF and Cycler is ON, Cycler knows to do nothing and will stay still with just the bottom light on in each eye. The Transmitter is turned ON by sliding the slide-switch towards the end with the buttons. When the Transmitter is turned ON it will sound beep-beep for a good battery and beep-beep-beep-beep for a low battery. If the Transmitter is not used then after several minutes it will automatically turn OFF to conserve battery life and will beep every 30 seconds. sleepcountgoodbattery 15 minutes sleepcountlowbattery 6 minutes The two buttons on the side of the Transmitter are for changing the active control channel and selecting Sound-file-mode. The [Channel] button is the top one, and the lower one the [Sound- file-mode] button. (bottom refers to nearest the bottom of the box, the bottom contains the battery hatch) The [Channel] button will cycle through the channels beeping each time it is released, one beep indicates Wheels - red LED on Cycler two beeps indicates Arms - yellow LED on Cycler three beeps indicates Head - green LED on Cycler four beeps indicates Mouth - blue LED on Cycler The original transmitters have the four [function control] buttons on the end of the box. The new transmitters have the four [function control] buttons on the front of the box. If while the [Channel] button is held down, one of the [function] buttons is pressed then the following channels will be selected:- Original Transmitter Bottom of box Side buttons ---------------------- [Sound-file-mode]O| [Head ] [Wheels] |<- slide switch [Channel] O| [Mouth] [Arms ] | ---------------------- New Transmitter end of box ---------------------- | [Head ] [Wheels] | Side buttons | [Mouth] [Arms ] | [Sound-file-mode]O| |<- slide switch [Channel] | | | | | | | | | (battery underneath) | ---------------------- If the Sound-file-mode button is held down then the function buttons (except when on Mouth channel, blue LED on Cycler) select ------------------------------------------ | [Back=previous file] [Next file ] | | [Pause ] [Play/Resume] | ------------------------------------------ Pressing [Play] during a playing file will have no effect. Pressing [Back] during a playing file will stop the current file and select the Previous one but will not start playing it. Pressing [Next] during a playing file will stop the current file and select the [Next] one but will not start playing it. The number of files differs for the key stages and special needs, and a check is made of the last file. If the current file is the last one then Next will not change the current file but Play will play it from the beginning again. Note - preparing the Compact Flash card on an Apple computer (a Mac) Will cause the number of files counted to be wrong. The Mac puts on special files also called .mp3, hidden from a Mac user but visible to a 'Windows' user and, importantly, the MP3 player. This will cause problems if [Next file] is pressed when on the last actual mp3 file. Transmitter [function] button operation:- channel operation Red - Wheels [Left forward ] [Right forward ] [Left backwards] [Right backwards] when a command is given Cycler starts off at low speed then after about five or six seconds changes to fast speed. Yellow - Arms [Left down ] [Right down ] [Left up ] [Right up ] Green - Head look Down [O] [O] look Up [-] [-] [-] [-] [O] [O] look Left [-] [O] look Right [O] [-] [O] [-] [-] [O] Blue - Mouth = MP3 player play the standard show files. [3rd file ] [1st file ] [4th file ] [2nd file ] if the Sound-file-mode button is held down then [7th file ] [5th file ] [8th file ] [6th file ] (Selecting a non existent file will have no effect) Cycler The main ON/OFF switch is the push button behind Cycler's neck. Shakespeare's is silver and Down is ON. Byron and Shelley have black buttons and the Off position looks just like the On position! Turning ON the Transmitter will tell Cycler to wake up and listen for commands. The lights on each shoulder indicate the control channel for the Transmitter buttons. Transmitter [function] button operation:- Red - Wheels when a command is given Cycler starts off at low speed then after about five or six seconds changes to fast speed. Yellow - Arms Green - Head Blue - Mouth = MP3 player Behind the 'ear' holes in the helmet are two red indicator LEDs. ON - MP3 file is playing; OFF - file has finished playing; Flashing slowly - playing is Paused; Flashing very slowly - playing is Paused and the Transmitter is off; When the Next or Previous file is selected then the LEDs will flash to indicate the new current file, 1 flash - file #1 2 flashes - file #2 etc. When changing from a playing file to file #1 the LEDs appear to flash twice (to me) but this is an illusion, they only flash once. [checked by slowing down the flash to 1 second] The big Red buttons on each shoulder kill the power to the motors in the arms and wheels. Power can only be restored by either switching Cycler OFF and ON or switching the Transmitter OFF and ON. When the Transmitter is ON Cycler will flash his eyes and move the eyes, head and arms to give the impression he is alive. If a command is given to move say the head then after the command buttons are released Cycler will continue to move he head himself. If say an arm is moved so the hand is up then there is no need to move it to down when finished because after the Transmitter button is released then Cycler will wait a short time and then move it down himself. Amplifier The amplifier in the base has an On/Off switch to the left hand side, On is to the right, it should be left permanently On, the control electronics switch power to the amplifier on and off. The amplifier also has a tone control and I suggest you leave it just to the left of centre so the base is just turned down slightly. If turned up the sound is boomy in a hall and the speaker tends to buzz with motor noise from the arms. Connections at Cycler's waist The blue and brown connector only supplies power to the arms nothing else. There are two phono plugs - one for each of the small speakers in the chest, the sound is mono so it doesn't matter which plug goes in which socket. In between the two phono sockets is a small jack-plug socket for the sound from the MP3 player to the amplifier in the base. Each manufacturer seems to make the plugs and sockets to very slightly different sizes(!) and with some if the plug is pushed right in - past its click position - the signal gets cut off, the one on Shelley was like that originally. The bolt and wing nut secures the top of Cycler to the base and in the top part of the spine just above the join is a spare hole so when Cycler is apart you can fasten the nut and bolt somewhere to save it getting lost. It is recommended that the two halves of Cycler are always secured together otherwise lifting Cycler by the handle on the back will pull out the waist leads and may damage them. Charging To remove the Battery-Box from Cycler:- unplug the connector from Cycler to the Battery_box, this is the white lead at the right hand side ending in a black square plug, move it to the right hand side out of the way; undo the wing-nut in front of the silver handle on the Battery-Box, lift the box slightly and slide out. To charge Cycler's Batteries:- unplug the connector from Cycler to the Battery_box, this is the white lead at the right hand side ending in a black square plug, move it to the right hand side out of the way; plug in the lead from the three connectors at the left hand side; plug the chargers into the three connectors; plug the chargers into the mains. The lights on the chargers indicate the state of charge:- red - flat and charging orange - charging green - fully charged. Troubleshooting Guide Always double check with the spare handset. Obviously, if the robot still doesn't work after going through the following then it needs to be returned to David Buckley for repair ASAP. Robot won't switch on Check everything is correctly plugged in. Are all three batteries charged up? Is Cycler's connector inserted into battery pack socket? If one light is on in eyes do all the lights come on when you switch on the transmitter? If not, it probably means that the transmitter's 9v battery needs to be replaced (two beeps fully charged, four beeps it needs replacing). Double check things by testing with spare transmitter (handset). If that works then the main handset is faulty; if it doesn't then it is a robot related fault. Sometimes shoulder lights will flicker and not come on properly at all - this is usually a sign of a discharged 9v transmitter battery which needs replacing (four beeps if discharged, two beeps fully charged). The following could happen if one of the battery pack fuses has blown. (A very, very rare occurrence.) Use spare fuse. The sealed batteries in the battery box are labelled 12v, 24v, and Audio. If everything works except the sound then try changing the fuse on the Audio battery. If the robot drives but never goes to fast speed and the arms don't go all the way up then try changing the fuse on the 24v battery. The 24v battery gives Cycler its fast speed and also drives arms up to vertical). If nothing comes on then try changing the fuse on the 12v battery. Arms won't work If the arms won't go all the way up see above for the fuse. If the arms don't work at all - has a big red shoulder button been pressed? Switch off the transmitter and then switch it back on again to reinitialise the safety circuit. If they still don't work Cycler will need repairing. MP3 should still work so shows can still carry on although robot movement is restricted. Wheels won't move. Has a big red shoulder button been pressed? Switch off the transmitter and then switch it back on again to reinitialise the safety circuit. This sometimes happens when a fuse on the battery pack blows - see above. Interference In a TV studio it is usually to do with TV/studio cameras confusing the signal between transmitter (handset) and receiver (in Cycler's head). It is important to do a sound check with the TV equipment to see if there could be a problem. Sometimes the robot will be okay but often there is nothing you can do and the robot will not respond or do what it should (it could do something completely different, even if handset is off and robot is in standby mode, i.e. one light in eyes on). In this scenario switch robot off. Move robot away from the suspected source of interference - in most circumstances the robot will work normally again. If elsewhere then it may be interference from 'garage door openers' etc. or powerful interference from a transmitter in a Police Station etc. Faulty MP3 card If the mixed MP3 card (or another one) does not work it may be because of dirt on the card's terminals. Switch the handset off and then the robot. Remove card and then reinsert it, switch on robot and then handset. Usually the card will work fine after this. Sometimes, a faulty MP3 card will not let the handset operate the robot and the eyes will light up even in standby. Change the card and then replace with another one. We have found that some makes of card e.g. Jenoptik may not be as reliable. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Revisions ver 1.1 18 October 2021 removed my address, added photos of Transmitter and hand ver 1.0 3 September 2012 Amended for new transmitters, spelling, Mac users. Added Troubleshooting Guide from Wendy's draft ver 0.8 3 July 2006 ...Cycler knows to do nothing and will stay.... [...Cycler knows not to do anything and will stay....] ver 0.7 21 February 2003 -----------------------------------------------------------------