This is a Bee-bot -a programmable robot for young children. Goes backwards/forwards and turns 90 deg right or left. Has two wheels. Has started pulling to one side. It has been well used (in a playgroup) -so possibly something has worn out.
Took it to pieces to see if I could find something obvious - nothing on the circuit board looks fried but there are a lot of components. No major damage to the wheels/axles. There was a tiny bit of sand inside (usually occurrence, gets everywhere) but none really in the moving parts -mainly just in the base.
There are two dc motors one for each wheel, uses a series of gears for each wheel. gears have a light grease film - look to be running smoothly, no missing teeth etc. Axles are lightly greased. All seems in order.
Marking the wheels and watching them turn one wheel is moving faster than the other. Which is why it pulls to one side. This happens whether the wheels are going forwards or backwards. sometimes one wheel seems to almost stop. To turn 90 deg the wheels go in opposite directions - difficult to tell whether one wheel is slower or not.
However whilst I was looking inside one of the wires to one of the motors came loose - I wan't rough with it, didn't pull on it etc so I think it must have not been the best connection. I've soldered it back but probably not the best job I've ever done. Ideally I think I would need to replace the wire. Now I'm wondering if that could have been (still is) the problem. Could that cause the motor to run more slowly? How likely is that?
Or could one of the motors be getting worn out?
Or any other suggestion?
It might just be time to replace the whole thing -but if it could just be that connection I would try replacing the wire. (They aren't cheap to buy)
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
Took it to pieces to see if I could find something obvious - nothing on the circuit board looks fried but there are a lot of components. No major damage to the wheels/axles. There was a tiny bit of sand inside (usually occurrence, gets everywhere) but none really in the moving parts -mainly just in the base.
There are two dc motors one for each wheel, uses a series of gears for each wheel. gears have a light grease film - look to be running smoothly, no missing teeth etc. Axles are lightly greased. All seems in order.
Marking the wheels and watching them turn one wheel is moving faster than the other. Which is why it pulls to one side. This happens whether the wheels are going forwards or backwards. sometimes one wheel seems to almost stop. To turn 90 deg the wheels go in opposite directions - difficult to tell whether one wheel is slower or not.
However whilst I was looking inside one of the wires to one of the motors came loose - I wan't rough with it, didn't pull on it etc so I think it must have not been the best connection. I've soldered it back but probably not the best job I've ever done. Ideally I think I would need to replace the wire. Now I'm wondering if that could have been (still is) the problem. Could that cause the motor to run more slowly? How likely is that?
Or could one of the motors be getting worn out?
Or any other suggestion?
It might just be time to replace the whole thing -but if it could just be that connection I would try replacing the wire. (They aren't cheap to buy)
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.