MeccanoMeccasaur2017
Introduction/Definition/etc
Similar to Erector Sets, with two included tools,
hex driver and double sided open wrenches,
one angled with a back, the other regular,
and instructions for 715 pieces, mostly nuts
and bolts, plus plastic, a motor, and
MeccaBrain, or similar, gearbox,
simple robot, with problems,
at least so far, missing parts,
and instructions that don't match
themselves, plus other issues...
Body
On sale, at the time, maybe still is
at ToysRUs, from ~$120 list or so to
~$40, seemed like a good way to
get another company's rendition of
a robot, while the G15KS, XL 2.0?
and now 16 are the top of the line,
with other special features,
but out of my price range
even at about half price (~$300 list
to ~$150)+...
Needed Improvements
For the price, I probably shouldn't
say much, but the level of effort
to assemble to even see if it does
anything interesting/ fun/ amusing,
is very high...
Time to Complete
Six and a half hours, some comments
on purchasing, on the store's site says,
but the boxing and marketing could
show that too, it clearly lists the number
of parts, and age (10+), but not how
long it would take, say you have a
rainy weekend, and some time to
kill, before school starts, and don't
want to pull an all nighter to see if
it works, or someone needs it
assembled (many call it built,
but designing is lacking, imho)
by a birthday party,
holiday, or say RobotFest2017
or similar...
CheckSums Needed
Some way of knowing if the kit is
complete, like total number of items
in the bag, and include a few extra for
those that fall behind the fridge, under tables,
only to be discovered while vacuuming,
walking (ooch!) or just plain missing
near the end (not there yet, but in theory)...
Bill of Materials (BoM), and contents are
typical for stuff like this, especially where you
source and buy your own parts...
Buying replacement parts for simple
stuff at local hardware stores, I'd like
a M4 bolt, of x mm length, hex headed,
etc...
The parts and sizes are listed, but
not really bagged to have what is in each
bag to total it all up, easily...
Sharps Needed
Opening plastic bags of mixed parts,
some make sense, how they
are bagged together, others don't...
Scissors, if a pocket knife,
Exacto (sp?) knife is too sharp,
and dangerous, as some places
you can't have sharps...
Like schools, and other institutions,
smaller kids around, pets, siblings,
sabatours, etc...
Recloseable Snack Bags
Scissors, and maybe Ziploc bags,
tea / yogurt cups, and other small parts
storage for assembling...
A bad bolt and nut didn't want to go together,
and label the bag with a magic marker/
permanent marker and may be on
masking/ drafting tape, if the bags
don't have a label strip like some
storage thickness bags do for
contents and expiration dates...
Clear Cups? Suggested?
Someone suggested clear cups,
with tops, like small juice ones,
or ones used for medicines,
pill taking? but only if they have
tops? So parts don't go flying,
for packing/ unpacking, unless
unlimited space, etc...
Also the box top can be a workspace,
but might need more stability, for bigger
and later...
Magnifying Needed
Instructions are small, to count holes
bolts go thru and number of holes
and other perforations on the metal
and plastic for bolts, and types of bolts
simple or rounded, (names?)
Ten (10) year olds may have better eye sight,
but maybe not, could be disabled, eye
strain after doing this so much, etc...
A table mounted one, for hands free,
maybe for kit building, think models,
like airplanes, boats in bottles, Estes
rockets, etc back in the day...
Soldering and electronics, are what
I'm more used too, back to HeathKits...
Detailed 3D Model
Debugging the assembly
and since so many diagrams are made
of stuff, having a 3D model that can
be downloaded, zoomed, panned, rotated,
etc to see what goes with what,
similar to the Meccanoid app
tutorial, moving waving hello
and shake hands, for the higher end
app enabled robots they make...
Bringing that technology down to
the older and lower tech kits
may help, some assemble,
instead of frustrated and give up,
and therefore not buy another,
plus bad reviews, meltdowns,
and other problems...
Rechargeables?
4x C? cell size batteries are required,
while higher end Meccanoids, in the $100+
have rechargeables included, but
the instructions don't say alkaline,
so will see when assembled, if it works,
or just try them before done, to see?
Have to figure out wiring first, as the
mechanical may not matter for that,
but plugging it all in would help,
LED eyes, and brain to motor,
etc...
4x C Rechargeables Worked OK
About three or so plugs,
each a different plug shape/ number of
pins, so I could not get wrong
(idiot/ kid proof?), but one
(LED for Eyes?), seemed
to have a daisy chain option,
a second plug nearby, which
didn't get plugged in, as low on wires,
and motor and noise (LOUD) made,
so could just try the electronics,
without a skeleton, space frame, etc
Open Source and Protocols
The higher end stuff shows some
internals, and protocols, with descriptions
of how it works, kind of theory of operations
stuff, but this doesn't...
The manufacturer's website has a
build your own bot with Arduino
on the corporate site, but finding replacement
parts, and reuse, some kits you can make
multiple things from the same parts,
but not this one...
Linux Support?
I didn't see that for the more
expensive stuff, either, so
buying only to not be able
to upgrade unless I have
M$ WinBlows, or Mac OS X,
working, could be a problem,
especially for firmware upgrades,
etc...
Other Meccano Options
RC cars and trucks, and a
Ducati motorcycle, planes, jets,
ships, and various age ranges
and complexities (Junior, Tech, etc)
exist in the products listed/ marketed,
but not talked to people how have
them and have done them, besides
those in the store, around me,
and hostile sales, wanting 10
out of 10 on customer surveys,
basically crapping on my cheaper
purchase trying to get more money out of
me, predicting I would be unhappy,
and making it so, by the crap,
while something happening behind
me, as I left, someone fired,
down on the ground, police
anti gang activity, internal disputes,
etc...
Not that different than the
TargettedWowWeeAccessories2017
attacks at the same and similar store(s)...
Links
Meccano.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano
http://www.spinmaster.com/product_detail.php?pid=p20733
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=85546006&cp=2255956.3209580.50611026&parentPage=family
Best Buy carries one of the lower end
MeccaNoids, but not the Meccasaur one,
nor the high end,
newest and most expensive...
(IIRC the 2 ft not 4 ft advanced one(s)
but check the details, and maybe they
start carrying more of the line?...)
Kohls, Target, Walmart? and some others
(the Meccano app lists where to get,
but not which stores just chains)
probably have more selection, and online,
but I like seeing the box, in a brick and mortar
store, instead of searching for missing delivery
problems...
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Annoying, that it only gets to the
13th or so instruction step/ panel of
53 English? pages and pages
(other languages of operating the
brain part once completed in the
back pages) before you find
documentation problems,
not sure how many more I will find,
if I even complete the kit assembly...
No Joy, as they say, at least not yet,
testing my patience, and resolve,
requiring customer support, and likely
waiting for the correct parts, 5 holed
metal bars, evenly spaced, as some others
have unevenly spaced, but the inset
shows created a one to two double sided
hinge with a bolt as the hinge/vortex
at the end hole, only showing other places
one, and only have the one, so would it
be strong enough to only use one instead
of the partially shown two???
It's a big robot toy, standing over a foot,
maybe two (Three!), with other kits 4 feet
for the big ones, and two feet for the smaller
ones, so maybe difficult to carry around,
unlike the WowWee CHiP, MiP and
MiPosaur, but not as sharp as I had
originally thought, the corners are rounded,
even the bolts are edged a little, and
plated...
Pocket size MicroMeccaNoids,
or similar names exist, in the ~$40
list range, which dance, etc,
but I haven't seen, nor tried those,
colours (green, blue, red) and bash /
crush type model names, exist, iirc,
etc...
Other small things noticed are square
nuts, and the other type, which to use?,
matching the length of the bolt, to the
diagram (you actually place the bolt on
the paper diagram to match size/ length,
drawn part to scale) and a Tips section
in the beginning, do all those techniques
apply to this kit?
and having a ruler/digital caliper?
for measuring the bolts,
and nuts and clearances, down to the
millimeter, for finding which of what size,
not that metric is a problem, used to be
growing up, some have standard SAE
mentality, though I never really liked
all the fractions used...
Magnetizing the tool, wrench might help
one dad type review poster mentioned
using tape to hold the nuts on, so maybe
try that, sometime too... Clear cellophane tape,
like for extra sealing letters...
Punting
Several other thing while thinking about
it originally, I'm now forgetting in the middle
of the early morning, but might make it up
here, or not...
Maybe finish it by Father's Day,
or another weekend, will see...
No, I'm not giving it away...
And Don't Bother Asking...
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
How many projects have you started?
Only to find problems, incomplete and other
challenges?
Have you found problems with maps?
Say bicycle maps, the Arlington County
Comfort map, doesn't include two big hills
and bridges near the Arlington Mill
Community Center, locals may know,
but the plowing (now funding cut?
but the adventurous, may find
monsters in those hills, etc,
or Adventure Cycling Associations
cross continent maps, trans American,
have Errata you can download and print
out, showing changes, maybe that is needed
here too?
What guarding techniques does it use?
Motion sensors in the head?
Sound only?
Sneaky people get beyond it?
Motion detectors, if someone
tries to steal the bot/alarm device?
How loud and is it controllable?
Say playing with it when finished in the
middle of the night? Waking neighbors?
Lateral forces crush it?
Like the go cart like thing at RobotFest
a High School club, the space
frame mostly had forward crashing
forces that I noticed, so sideways
forces, to keep it together?
The FPV drone frame, the sales
and support guy stood on the frame,
but I don't think this is anywhere near that,
sideways forces it would crush,
and don't try that at home kids...
It's big, so won't be underfoot
as much and some HiViz colours,
so even low vision might see it,
when off and not heard...
Compare to MiPosaur, later on?
No ball, remote, app, etc, but
can assemble, and take apart,
perhaps, without as much worry,
of breaking off the tail?
Permanently...
Clear gearbox might have helped,
to see inside what is going on in the motor
part, side ways and wobbling, waddle
action likely...
How much articulation do you need?
And at what cost?
Do you want human looking,
animal looking, extinct or still roaming
the earth type creatures?
How much sound, voice commands,
visual commands, app enabled?
Or just for offline use?
So no smart phone needed?
Does positioning the robot's arms/
legs/ tail, etc make a difference in
programming?
How detailed an app is needed?
For an experiment, learning,
or what other fun?
Do you learn to dance from robots?
Is music required?
How about yoga?
Just because the robot can do it,
doesn't mean it doesn't hurt carbon
based life forms to try it...
Much less older people...
License
Creative Commons Share and Share Alike,
Non Commercial, Non Derivative,
for the whole site's contents
unless otherwise explicitly stated
Page History
20170509 Jerry
- Adding C Rechargeable Battery Test
- Worked section
- a couple of reparagraphing/ word wrap,
- small edits, see diffs...
- etc
20170507 Jerry
- Jerry created this page to log a new robot kit
- and issues with it, so far...
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