Need help with remote control

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Summary:

How to determine if my remote control is compatible.

Need help with remote control

i_grok 31 Oct 2012 22:07

Hello: I'm a new owner of a Thmyio II and this is my first post. I'm trying to determine if the remote control I have is compatible with the Thmyio. Also, how do I go about setting up the remote with the robot? (Where do I point it, what codes do I use, etc.) I can't seem to find the info on the site.

I'm really enjoying myself with the Thmyio, spending as much time as I can with it since I retired. I'm not much of a programmer but I'm having fun learning.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

i_grok

Re: Need help with remote control

Francesco Mondada 01 Nov 2012 07:21

Hello,

Welcome!!!!!

The IR receiver follows the RC5 standard, which is mainly used by Philips. This means that:

• if you have a Philips remote all should work.
• if you have another remote from another company, probably it will not work.
• if you have a universal remote, you have to configure it as a Philips one and the instructions are specific to the remote control.

More info are on the page https://aseba.wikidot.com/en:thymioirremote .
If you feel this page is not complete, you can contribute to it, it's a wiki :-)
Hoping this is useful.

Francesco

Re: Need help with remote control

Michael Bonani 01 Nov 2012 08:27

To be more complete I am not sure that recent Philips remote control still use the RC5, old one should but not all of them… Panasonic also use this mode.
If Thymio recognize the remote code, there is a red led blinking near the receptor on the right of the robot. In obedient mode (purple), the robot should follow the 2,4,6,8 buttons.

Michael

Re: Need help with remote control

Podge15 03 Nov 2012 14:14

I use an old Philips TV remote control which works well with Thymio, in the battery compartment it shows:

RC 7599/01
SBC RP 420

Another Philips TV RC I have shows:

RC7540/00 N
3178 127 00571

It might be worth looking around in a junk shop.

I have now revisited the problem of independently controlling several Thymios and although I did not take the last step I could see that the solution proposed on the IR page is viable. I used a Philips universal remote controller (urc) model SRP2008B which I bought recently for about 25$. This can control up to 8 devices. The code for Philips is 2195.
In the setup instructions after entering this code one should switch on the device to be controlled and then hold down the ON/OFF switch on the urc until the device switches off, at which point the ON/OFF switch must be released. In the case of Thymio of course it does not switch off, but one can see by the IR detector red LEDs flashing on Thymio that the urc is being detected. I performed this setup for the urc devices TV-2 and CABLE. In both cases I tested this using Thymio with the purple built-in behaviour and the 2, 4, 6 and 8 buttons worked correctly.
Then I connected Thymio to Aseba on my PC and tested to see what values were in the RC5-address and RC5-command variables when the urc was used.
With TV-2 the address was 0 as expected and for CABLE it was 10. Clearly a program/script can be written to recognise by the value in the RC5-address variable whether it should react to the command or not. One obvious way to do this is to have a program/script with a constant which can easily be changed between loading the code to one Thymio or another. Another method would be to cause a given Thymio to take up a different identity by using the buttons in a way which the program/script would detect.
Incidentally I have my own IR program which I made using some of the existing built-in code with added modifications so that Thymio can be steered around but will also not bump into objects in its path. Anybody interested can send me a PM.

Podge

Last edited on 06 Nov 2012 15:46 by Podge15 Show more

Re: Need help with remote control

i_grok 07 Nov 2012 01:51

Thank you Franceso, Michael and Podge15:

I found that the extra Remote Control left by my local cable company works with my Thymio. So it didn't cost me a cent. As you all did, I just looked up the Philips TV code from the setup sheet the company provided, pointed it at the Thymio and the RC LED's blinked the first time. I will most likely do as you did, Podge15 to customize the buttons.

Again, thank you all for helping a fumbling beginner.

i_grok

Re: Need help with remote control

meppy 24 Mar 2013 19:01

I bought a Hauppauge remote control. The red LED blinks when I press any button on the remote but nothing happens. Any specific instructions on setting up the remote would be appreciated - none came with the remote. Thanks.

Re: Need help with remote control

eziosoma 26 Mar 2013 19:20

Have you followed the test procedure?

If yes, what is the code in the battery slot? The Haupauge remote control tested by me has the code A415-HPG. For me it has worked without special configurations.

---

Sic Parvis Magna

Last edited on 26 Mar 2013 19:37 by eziosoma Show more

Re: Need help with remote control

Soixante4 15 Dec 2013 16:16

Hello!
I recently bought a Philips SRP2008B on amazon for 20€.
I worked perfectly with the Philips code + the research phase:
- switch on the Thymio
-Press 8 sec the device button
-press standby until the Thymio blink, release immediatly the standby button
- double press the device button
- enjoy!

You can control 8 devices including one or more Thymio.
PS : it worked also with the Samsung code, which is my TV.
I strongly recommend this remote control, this is good stuff (I have 4 different ones from Philips since 10 years…)

Re: Need help with remote control

ritchy 08 Jan 2014 21:34

Thymio works correctly with:
- universal remote control Global 4 by Visa Electronics, using code 1011
- universal remote control ROC 610 by Thomson, using code 182

I tried both :)

Re: Need help with remote control

StephaneMagnenat 09 Jan 2014 08:34

Feel free to add these to https://aseba.wikidot.com/en:thymioirremote

thanks! :-)

Re: Need help with remote control

ritchy 11 Jan 2014 21:20

Done :)

Re: Need help with remote control

tmoerel 11 Nov 2017 13:21

I just wrote a simple app which will say the rc5.command numbers when you are testing a remote. This makes it very easy to see which buttons work and what numbers they have.

It makes use of a number of sounds files which you will have to put on a microSD card and insert this card in your Thymio.

The files can be downloaded here: Number speech files

Below is the code:

var number = 0
var temp = 0
var rest
var words[10]
var wordIndex = 0
var command = 0

call leds.top(32, 0, 0)

sub sayRC5    
    temp = command
    if  temp == 0 then
            words[wordIndex] = 0
            wordIndex++
    else            
        if temp >= 1000 then
            words[wordIndex] = temp / 1000
            temp = temp - (words[wordIndex] * 1000)
            wordIndex++
            words[wordIndex] = 1000
            wordIndex++ 
        end
        if temp >= 100 then
            words[wordIndex] = temp / 100
            temp = temp - (words[wordIndex] * 100)
            wordIndex++
            words[wordIndex] = 100
            wordIndex++ 
        end
        if temp >= 20 then
            words[wordIndex] = (temp / 10) * 10
            temp = temp - words[wordIndex]
            wordIndex++
        end
        if temp > 0 then
            words[wordIndex] = temp
            wordIndex++
        end
    end
    callsub nextNumber

sub nextNumber
    if number < wordIndex then
        call sound.play(words[number])
        number++
    else
        wordIndex = 0
        number = 0
    end

onevent sound.finished
   callsub nextNumber

onevent rc5
    command = rc5.command
    callsub sayRC5

Re: Need help with remote control

riedo 15 Nov 2017 20:38

Thank you! that is very convenient indeed.