I have built the pi dog again very carefully, however, when I run the zeroing script after all legs are installed, one of the legs is wonky again.
Can you give me troubleshooting advice as to how to fix the one leg given that alot of parts are already connected? Please see photo. Thanks.
OK, I got that leg fixed. No need to answer that question. But now one of the left legs trembles when I zero. Does that matter, do I have to fix that? It doesn’t tremble when I’m not zeroing. I think I need to go find some remedial reading on servos and zeroing.
Thanks for any info you can provide.
It seems the issue may be due to not correctly centering and securing the servo during assembly. This can cause the servo to exceed its angle limits when running the zeroing example, resulting in jitter or locking up.
The servo angle range is -90° to 90°, but the factory-set angle is random (often 0° or 45°). If assembled with these angles directly, it can lead to chaos during operation and may even damage the servo.
To properly set all servo angles to 0° before installation, please follow these steps:
- Insert the servo arm onto the servo shaft and gently rotate it to ensure it moves.
- Run the servo zeroing code:
cd ~/pidog/examples
sudo python3 servo_zeroing.py
- Connect the servo wire to port P11, and you should see the arm move to the 0° position.
- Remove the servo arm while keeping the wire connected to P11, and do not turn off the power. Continue assembling as per the instructions.
I recommend watching our assembly videos for guidance, particularly the parts on setting the servo to zero:
This is a jerk reply. Like the poster above, my dog is all messed up. Your advice to go back in time and not have it zero’d incorrectly is completely worthless. It translates to you shouldn’t have screwed up.
This is the same advice given throughout the many times this issue has been brought up. A reasonable engineer or technical writer would recognize a common issue as a flaw in the instructions.
Also, maybe people don’t want to watch the videos. If the written documentation is not significant, why do you include it?
I am amazed how little your company cares about its customers.
Mkrummel, The printed assembly booklet we provided has clear assembly steps. However, if any details are missed, it may lead to assembly errors.
In the case of Blancabasura, the issue was that the servos were fixed without performing a zeroing adjustment, which caused inconsistencies in the servo angles when running the PiDog after assembly. The only solution at this point is to disassemble and reinstall the servos.
Of course, if there are any issues with the printed assembly booklet, please let us know your suggestions. We welcome feedback to improve the assembly instructions for everyone’s benefit.
We also provide assembly videos to help those who encounter problems during assembly. Watching the videos can help identify and correct issues more intuitively. Additionally, if there are shortcomings in the printed booklet, we appreciate any valuable feedback you can provide.