NAO's basic channel bug is fixed here's what to do

For the past few weeks if you had basic channel installed on your NAO you probably experienced a frustrating problem, the NAO wouldn't hear or understand your commands. It didn't matter what you said among the sentences that NAO is supposed to understand it wouldn't react. It was stuck in listening mode like that 

NAO robot can't understand voice command

You just received your NAO and you're very excited to discover all it can do and how to use it. You are following all the steps to get started.  The NAO has just registered to the basic channel and it's now ready to engage and interact with you. He's looking at you and you ask " Hello NAO, what can you do ?" The robot looks at you and ignores you . You try again " hey NAO, what can you do ?" ... nothing. As if you were not here. You try another sentence "What's your name?" .. silence, nothing. How frustrated this can be, it's new and already broken. What's wrong with its microphones?

Relax. Your robot is most likely fine. The microphones are working (You can test that with a quick Choregraphe program). What happen is a software bug that was identified and affects every NAO owner that installed basic channel. Work is done to repair this problem. In the menatime here's few steps to workaround this issue.

“Warning: the motors are not updated, the robot will not move”                                              What should I do?

[Support] NAO says: "Error 501, I can't connect to Cloud services, my system date is wrong"

1/ Make sure your robot is properly connected to your network (or directly to your computer).

If you're not sure, press NAO's chest button once. The robot should say his IP address (write it down, you'll need it).

2/ Download and Install the software PuTTY on your computer. You can find it here.

3/ Open the software PuTTY and type your NAO's IP address in the "HOST NAME" field. Confirm by cliking on "OPEN".

If you get the PuTTY security alert window, just click on YES.

The Sphero lesson display is acting strange – the grid keeps disappearing or re-aligning. What’s going on?

This is an old software bug we've fixed in Version 2! Looks like your tablet needs an update!

How do I use my Smart Board with the tablet and lessons?

Simply plug the included HDMI cable into the SmartBoard input and use the Smart Board as your projector. You will need to use the tablet to run the lesson and the robots, though we are always working on ways to improve the lessons -- like taking advantage of the additional Smart Board functionality!

My AR.Drone batteries won't charge/aren't working right. What do I do?

Your AR.Drone uses LiPo batteries. LiPo stands for Lithium Polymer – they’re great because of their light weight and huge power storage abilities, but there are some downsides we’re finding out about. These batteries are very fragile, and there are a few specific procedures for charging and using the batteries that you should know before use.

My Sphero won't connect to my tablet

Having trouble connecting to your Sphero? There are a few things to try, from checking the charge, to re-pairing, but we also have a software update for Sphero available that might fix things. Update to Version 2 now, if you haven't already!

RobotsLAB BOX keeps evolving - release notes

We work closely with our amazing teachers and awesome customers to continuously develop more lessons, add features, and improve existing lessons.

We would like to thank our community for all the feedback and the great ideas that we continue to incorporate into the RobotsLAB BOX -- please, keep the suggestions coming!

A new version of the software is released and ready for download every semester -- please make sure your version is up to date. The update process is very easy, just follow the instructions here.

The following is a partial log of the latest changes:

Is your online checkout certified?

Yes, we are certified through PayPal: the friendliest way to pay for Robots. You can pay with any credit card, or with a PayPal account.

If you can’t or don’t want to pay online, we do accept Purchase Orders from schools sent to us by fax or email. Our Fax number is: 415-276-9057, or by email to sales@robotsLAB.com