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View Full Version : Nintendo ROB troubleshooting attempt


johnlmooney
03-28-2004, 11:05 PM
Well I have opened up the Nintendo Robotic Operating Buddy, as Anntiques has suggested, and here is the results. Apon opening up the bottom of ROB, I found out that ROB runs on a 6 volt PM (permanant magnet) motor. One thing that needs to be done is I need to disconnect the motor from the circuit board, and see if the motor runs with 6 volts applied. The reason for disconnecting is that I don't want to risk damaging any of the circuitry.

It is possible that the motor is replacable if not operative. The gears look OK but I don't know if they are positioned right. Are they jammed? perhaps.I had opened up ROB before, without detailing any of this. So I might not have put the gears back into proper alignment. But The ROB didn't work before then, so that is not the main problem.

Another possibility- The motor could be fine, but the circuitry could have been damaged inside.. The Battery terminals are clean, so there was not apparent corrosion from bad batteries.

The ROB has one big gear undernieth its long neck over the base of the unit which I cannot open up at the moment. I can hardly see the gear's teeth.

My dad works at Lockheed and used to work at Texas Instruments. He is an electrical engineer who will help me do some troubleshooting when he has time. He went over the details with me. I pesonally think it is the 6 volt motor is bad.

As a side note, I ordered myself another ROB that works from 4 Jays. But I want to see if I can fix this one.

Any opinions and suggestions are welcome.

imported_Anonymous
03-29-2004, 03:29 PM
Well, I have to admit I'm sorta stumped. It sounds like you have already tried everything I would suggest to do. If you can somehow take the motor off the board you might try supplying power directly and spinning the shaft to help get it started. A local electronics supply store might be able to get you another compatible motor.
Since I don't have a ROB, (at least not yet) it is hard to offer advice!
I would wait and see how the working one operates and then maybe trouble shoot from there.

johnlmooney
03-29-2004, 05:12 PM
Well, when you get a ROB, you can open it up to see what it looks like. Just don't touch the gears!! My dad will check the motor later on. And if it is the source of the problem, I will try replacing it. Thanks. :wink:

johnlmooney
07-15-2004, 11:36 PM
I gave away the broken ROB to my local Goodwill thrift store. I gave up on trying to fix it.

I did get a nice working ROB from 4jays, so I didn't need the broken one anymore. But this thread is a good one. Maybe it'll be of use for somebody else one day.

imported_Anonymous
07-21-2004, 11:45 PM
yea i havent ever even tried to see if mine works i just bought it to use as a display piece it sits on top of the tv everybody that comes over always gets a big kick out of seeing it.