My daughter and I are having a great time with the GoPiGo! But we’re having an issue with Mission 2. We built a simple obstacle course (shown in the attached picture), but we are finding that our turns are too unpredictable to make our GoPiGo complete the course consistently. For example, on average, turning left for 1 second gives us a 90 degree turn, but it seems to vary randomly by up to 30 degrees from that. Since our obstacle course requires 4 turns, by the end, we can be randomly off by quite a bit. About a third of the time, the robot makes it through the finish gate; about a third of the time it is off to the left; and about a third of the time it is off to the right. Any suggestions? We’d like to make a more complicated course, but it doesn’t seem like it will be possible unless we can control the turns more consistently.
Hey nat, are you wheels gripping or slipping? Could that be the source of the turn inconsistency?
Yes, it does appear that the wheels are slipping unpredictably, but I’m not sure how to fix this. Carpet seems to give more slipping than wood floors. Putting a heavy book on top of the robot makes it slip less, but still inconsistently.
Hey Nat,
There are two things you can do to increase the traction and reduce the slippage. The first, you can place the battery pack on top of the GoPiGo, closer to right over the wheels. This puts the major weight on the wheels. The second, I’ve always ended up putting wide rubber bands on the wheels when the floor is slippery (like the wide ones the USPS puts on our mail when theres’ a lot). This helps give better traction.
Can you try either or both and let us know how it goes? This is a great pointer we can help other folks with the GoBox, if it solves your problem!
Best,
John
Thanks for the suggestions. Before we got them, we tried putting a brick on top on the GoPiGo, which was working to increase the traction, but then my daughter tripped over it and the base cracked in half along where the supports attach. So probably the brick was too heavy. We’ve ordered a replacement base and will try out the rubber band idea once it arrives. Thanks!
Hey Nat, really sorry to hear about that! So it had no trouble moving a brick though? That’s a pretty decent load for the GoPiGo to carry.
Any idea when the clear GoPiGo 2 bodies will come off backorder? We are getting anxious to fix our GoPiGo! If it is going to be a while longer, can I cancel our order and order one of the colored ones instead, since I see that these are no longer backordered? Thanks!
Hey Nat,
It looks like the GoPiGo2 acrylic parts are still out of stock and might not be available for a few weeks. Can you reach out to us under Orders and Shipping here: http://www.dexterindustries.com/contact/ with the order ID and contact details and we can discuss about the option to upgrade to a colored body or a refund if you want that.
Again, I’m really sorry to hear about this; we’ll make it right immediately.
-Karan