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This post is obsolete. You can go to docs.petoi.com for the newest instruction doc. It's available in English, Chinese, and many other languages!
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Dear Early Bird Backers,
In case you receive Nybble early, please find the following animations as basic assembling instructions. Some of them were created earlier and are slightly different from the version you receive. I'll update them in the coming week and add more notes to help you figure out the puzzle.
When assembling, there shouldn't be any part that requires excessive force. So be careful not to break those tiny pieces, but take careful observations on the videos. If you have any questions, please post them here with pictures or videos.
Thanks for your support and now let's start a wonderful journey together!
Happy New Year!
Rongzhong
Based on your feedback, I'm making a shared google doc to better chapterize the following tutorial. You can comment on each section to help improve its contents. If you caught me editing the document, we could even chat in real-time! After the contents are pretty fixed, I'll find a better way to present it on a dedicated webpage.
In the tutorial playlist, I have more hand-on instructions besides the animations.
If you have a problem during use, please post under the Clinic category and describe your question with a short subject. Thank you!
Part list:
There are five different screws used in the kit. I think coloring them differently is more helpful than words:
A is for attaching servo arms. D (sharp tip) is for attaching servos to the frame. A and D come in each servo's own little bags.
B is for attaching servo arms/circuit boards to the frame. In later versions, it will be replaced by C.
C (flat tip) is for binding the thighs.
E (always the longest) is for the battery holder.
There are three types of springs. The 9x thick springs are for the thighs; the single thick short spring is for the neck. It will be replaced by the previous thick springs in later versions; the two thin short spring is for the battery holder.
The metal hinge of the battery holder should be bent towards the battery pack to avoid blocking the knee servo's path.
There's an update on the shoulder pieces:
You may notice that the 4th piece (pink) is almost the same except the curve on one side is cut flat. It’s actually an improvement. It's adjusted to accept a Raspberry Pi and give access to its two USB ports. If you are assembling Nybble as is, put the pink one on the bottom side of the tail shoulder. If you want to add Pi later on, put the flat one on the top side of the tail shoulder. In that configuration, you won't be able to install the spine due to the height constraints.
Again, make sure you read the tutorial (google doc) before assembling!
No, it should be flipped.
Hey, we are currently assembling the body. Was not 100% clear how to attach the Nyboard. Does this look correct?
I am trying to put the Nyboard onto the body and cannot find directions how to install it, specifically, which screws to use and from which direction to screw them in. I also have no idea where to put the sketch uploader. Is there a complete set of instructions or videos that explain that and how to attach the servos to the nyboard?
The google docs specifies installing Remote via the arduino library search:
"Go to the library manager of Arduino IDE (instruction: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Libraries), search and install Adafruit PWM Servo Driver, IRremote and QList."
This didn't work for me (no search results for IRemote). I had to go to https://z3t0.github.io/Arduino-IRremote/ and install it as a .zip library
To see the google.doc on upside written. a cheap way is with a little burned knife, you could cut it easily instead of scissor somekind to trim.
Most of the servo arms on the model are trimmed from the cross shaped arm. I guess you are looking for the L shaped one on the neck.
Since there will be more unused straight arms, you can practice trimming on them first.
I need help to trim the servo arms. My original arms are different from those in the instructions. See the photo attached.
Hi, I started to mount a cat designed by me and I noticed in the jointmap images published of the differences in the lines joint index and pwm pin, I attach the photos, which is the exact one. Thanks Giuseppe
Hello! Congratulations for super project! I write you e-mail rzlib2l@gmail with questions. Can you receive and possible answer?
1. 3D model for small school CNC
2. Original board purchase with delivery
3. Personal question (only in letter)
Sincerely,
Ivan Eremin
School teacher robotocs line
CEO SdelSam.Ru
can i get dxf file for parts please??
Wanted to post a couple of notes on software setup steps that differed from the instructions:
On Fedora 29, RPM install of the Arduino IDE -- the MemoryFree library wasn't found. Downloaded it from the link in your opencat.h file, and we were able to proceed.
When we open the serial monitor, answering 'y' to " Reset all joint calibration" (either updating instincts or not) runs through to the 'FINISHED' on line 112 (WriteInstinct.ino) but it never moves any farther. We were able to proceed through the MPU calibration steps only by selecting "n" and not resetting joint calibrations. It proceeded as expected to where we could enter the 'c' token and invoke calibration mode.
Happy Monday!
--L
I'm planning on trying to program Nybble directly with Raspberry Pi without the FTDI. The problem with FTDI is that the socket location is not really accessible when Raspberry Pi is mounted.
Arduino IDE can be configured to allow serial programming using the GPIO pins. However, what seems to be missing in Nybble-RPi connection (2x5 socket) is the connection to DTR. First I thought it was the RST pin, but that seems to be the the master reset for Nybble.
Before banging my head too much to the wall is there a ready made solution to this already? My thought for moving forward was to grab DTR from the FTDI connector and connect it via a wire to an arbitrary GPIO on the RPi. This GPIO can then be configured to be used for DTR by Arduino IDE. Maybe the question is whether the Nybble-RPi 2x5 socket connections RXD and TXD can be used similarly to TXO and RXI in FTDI port in order to program ATmega on Nybble? I didn't find the schematic for NybbleV0 and it is quite difficult to figure out the connections from the PCB layout pictures.
First of all congratulations on this excellent work Rongzhong! I've assembled my Nybble and calibrated it successfully. It reacts to all to commands pretty well, but sometimes the servos (and thus limbs) just go nuts. The only way to recover is to quickly shut Nybble down. After the last of such events it didn't react to anything anymore so I uploaded Nybble.ino again. Now I have a problem that all I get in the serial monitor is:
* Starting *
Initializing I2C
Connecting MPU6050...
Testing connections...
MPU successful
Initializing DMP...
842 -48 38 2
Enabling DMP...
Enabling interrupt detection
DMP ready!
* Assigning 1 skill addresses...
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Finished!
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
7
7
k
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
CH
CH
d
shut down servos
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
CH
CH
d
shut down servos
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
7
7
k
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
FIFO overflow! Using last reading!
Nybble doesn't seem to recover from this. Any thoughts or ideas?
I'm having a problem with "MPU failed." I've reloaded libraries and cannot seem to get past this part.
Chris
Congratulations on getting the early kits shipped. I'd really like to see this project succeed. I have a few suggestions for improvement.
The main thing I think that would bring this project to the next level would be a set of consistent work instructions with detailed part lists, instructions, and images from the same model that shipped. I've been able to piece together how to assemble Nybble from your videos, but it's been difficult. Here's an example of a kit build instructions that I've found to be incredibly well done: https://manual.prusa3d.com/Guide/5.+Extruder+Assembly/295?lang=en
This is powered by Dozuki, who do offer a free plan open source projects (with ads). I'm sure there are other work instruction packages out there. What I like about that kit was that there are detailed pictures showing clearly on the actual device the proper pieces and orientation for each step.
Right now we need to watch a few videos, which are mostly good but they don't show the version that shipped in the kits. They have the older NyBoard (just a different color, but this affects people's perception during the build) and older battery holder. Plus there is some back-tracking that occurs during the video if you're building it as you watch it. That can be frustrating to someone new to building kits such as these. The additional animations you've posted on youtube are helpful, but you almost need to watch them in reverse to understand what you need to do. They are showing disassembly rather than assembly.
Other than the general approach to the build instructions, a few minor issues I'm still having are:
- I'm uncertain what the intent was for mounting the tail. What I've done is working but isn't optimal.
- I don't know what the 5 small hexagons and 1 small circle are used for.
- It would be really helpful to have instructions on preparing it for use with a Pi. In particular the need to solder and the different pieces to use.
- I'm thinking of remapping the joint indices. The cable length for the rear shoulder joints is a very tight fit.
- With the RPi configuration you've posted, the header for connecting to the FTDI chip is unreachable. I'm not yet at the point of where I can use the RPi so I want to connect to the serial port but leave the header in it's final position. I don't want to end up bending the pins multiple times during debugging. I'm not sure if you've done this and there's something I'm missing. I'm planning to hook up some jumpers to the pins so I can have the board external to the Nybble while troubleshooting.
Again, great job with getting the early backer kits shipped. The cat is adorable and I'm very excited to see what I can do with the AI agents I build on this type platform. I plan on posting my project publicly once I have it in a releasable form.
Hi! Congrats on your launch! We just got our Nybble on Wednesday and have been enjoying assembling her -- my daughter absolutely loves the kitten face! I've got a few comments/questions on the process so far:
(1) Where does the ultrasonic sensor plug in? I found the PWM pin assignment on the GitHub Wiki page, and I've read through the NyBoard User Manual. I don't find anything about where this sensor connects.
(2) A parts list would be helpful, along with a "pick list" correlating the 'bits' used in each assembly step with the appropriate springs, screws, etc. Personally, it's a little frustrating to have a bag of not-quite-the-same-size screws and work out which one most closely resembles the one in the video or is the shortest one that could work. I've got a bad feeling that we're going to need longer/shorter screws at the end and have used them elsewhere!
(3) The order of the videos seems amiss -- #1 assembled the head, #2 assembled the body, then #3 partially disassemble the body to get the battery compartment installed. Swapping videos 2 and 3 would avoid duplicated effort.
(4) Installing the sliding battery compartment -- it looks like there are different configurations, one with two slots on the body piece and the little wooden oval goes left-to-right. A second configuration has one slot on the body piece and the wooden oval will go front-to-back, but I don't see any reference to this second configuration except for some of the Nyboard v/s Pi images. Additionally, the plastic box has one larger hole and three smaller ones, but the rivets only fit in the larger hole. We can, of course, bore out one of the other holes to get the other rivet to fit, but the rivets are just being dropped in when I watch the video.
(5) It seems like putting on the rubbery 'feet' would be a lot easier if the wooden part of the foot wasn't serrated to tear into the rubber.
(6) What the the purpose of the LED light soldered onto the ultrasound sensor? Does it exist because some people light flashy lights? Is it lit whenever the cat is 'on' as another indicator? Is it code-configured and I could have my cat 'speaking' in Morse code if I were particularly ambitious? All of the above? ;-)
That's all for now! We're excited to watch Nybble come together and can't wait to see her move around.
Best regards,
--Lisa