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FAQ

This page answers frequently asked questions relating to Thymio II. If your question isn't here, please ask it in the forum.

I can't charge my Thymio II

+ How to solve this problem

Normal operation is explained here. Several points may give problems:

• Your cable is defective or loose:
  Try again with a different micro-USB cable.

• You have not installed the drivers on your computer (Windows):
  Under Windows Thymio II must be recognized by the computer to take advantage of the power needed to charge it.

• Your Thymio II is fully discharged:
  Symptoms are generally a robot with some red LEDs lit, no response to touching the buttons or by the robot in general. Sometimes there are flashes and unexpected beeps. Follow the following procedure:
  • Connect to a wall charger.
  • Reset the robot (small hole on the left of the robot)
  • If the robot is still not responding: allow it to charge for at least 2 hours with the wall charger, then plug and unplug the robot several times until it reacts or turns off. The red charging led near the cable must be the only one lit. Leave the robot on charge for 2 hours.

• Your battery is faulty (very rare)
  The usual symptom is a robot that charges very quickly, the blue led near the cable showing the end of charging lights after a few minutes. Nevertheless once unplugged the robot's autonomy is almost zero. Sometimes both the red and blue LEDs close to the cable light up at the same time. The robot should be returned to us; leave us a message on the forum.

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How to install Aseba on my system?

+ How to solve this problem

Choose the correct version for your system:

• Windows: detailed installation instructions.
• Mac: detailed installation instructions.
• Linux: detailed installation instructions.

If your problem is not listed on these pages, describe it on the forum with a maximum of details (your configuration, screenshot of error messages if any, etc.)

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I can't connect Thymio II using Windows

+ How to solve this problem

• It may be that your cable is incorrectly connected or defective, if possible try with another micro-USB cable.
• On Windows, the most common problem is an improper installation of the driver. When installing Aseba, accept the installation of the driver despite the warning. Sometimes you have to restart the computer after the installation for the driver to be activated. More details for each version of Windows is available here. You can go to your "Device Manager" to see if your Thymio is properly recognized (under COM ports).

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I can't connect Thymio II using Linux, I see the Thymio II in the target selection window of Aseba studio, but connect always fails

+ How to solve this problem

Maybe you are not in the dialout group, which is necessary to allow you access to serial devices such as Thymio II. To add yourself in this group, use:

sudo adduser $USER dialout

or:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
newgrp dialout

depending on your Linux distribution.

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The central button of Thymio doesn't work sometimes

+ How to solve this problem

The central (round) button of Thymio is a capacitive button. It detects any conductive object that is put in contact with it. Your finger is conductive, that's how it detects it. Without going into details, the signal of the button is filtered in order to avoid false positive detections. It means that the button measures constantly how conductive the thing on the button is and make a threshold vary.

If there is nothing on the button, the threshold is low and then, when you place your finger, it is easily detected.

If you let your finger on the button, the threshold rises and then, your finger is no more detected because the button "got used to it".

The solution is simple: Do not touch the button for a few seconds (5 is a good mean) and the button will be good as new.