Troubleshooting - USB Flash Drive

Owned by Daniel Crosby (Deactivated), created
Last updated: Jun 28, 2021
3 min read

Problem

In cases where instructed by RoboKind or RoboKind documentation, it may be useful to connect a USB Flash Drive to a RoboKind R25 Robot. If you are encountering difficulty with such a process, this article will help to ensure that your thumb drive is setup correctly and working with the robot.

Due to the risk of viruses or security issues, many organizations have rules regarding the use of USB Flash Drives. If in doubt, please consult with your Information Technology department to seek approval before inserting any USB Flash Drive into an organization device.

If purchasing a new USB Flash Drive for use with a RoboKind robot, the size of the device is not important (anything in the 1GB to 128 GB will suffice), but we do recommend using trusted brand name devices for both reliability and security purposes. PNY devices, as one example, are known to work with R25 robots. We recommend purchasing devices that use the USB 2.0 standard. It is generally not necessary to purchase separate drives for each robot, but rather for each configuration (i.e. network settings) that is being installed on robots.

Basic Troubleshooting

  1. Ensure that the drive is formatted correctly, which is using FAT32. If not, please reformat the drive as such. https://www.wikihow.com/Format-a-Flash-Drive

  2. Ensure that the file names on the drive are exactly as communicated in the provided documentation, for example wifi.conf, nm_conf, or autorun_conf.

    1. If you are downloading a file from RoboKind, it is also be necessary to remove additional characters added to the file by the download process, for example if it is renamed to wifi (2).conf, or there might be additional characters added after the end of an “autorun-r25” filename.

    2. If using Windows Notepad and File Explorer in Windows, it is easy to have a situation where notepad has added a .TXT extension to a file.

      1. To avoid this when saving a file in Notepad, be sure to select the “All files” option and to clear any unwanted extension from the file name.

      2. To verify the file name in File Explorer, you can look for the correct Type to be displayed, and we also recommend checking the box “File name extensions” so that these will not be hidden.

    3. If you have saved or changed files on the drive, do not remove the drive without first safely removing the device. https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001943.htm

    4. Test the updated drive in the robot to verify the desired effect.

Advanced Troubleshooting

  1. If you have inserted the device into the robot and the robot responds (for example speaks that the task is completed, or that the wifi is connected), but does not have the desired effect, please create a support ticket at support.robokind.com using the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page.

  2. If there is no response from the robot after inserting the drive (and the basic troubleshooting steps have been completed), then please backup and clear the contents of the drive, and save the following script on the robot, verifying that the file name is exactly “autorun-r25” with no extension, and then safely removing the device (Step 3 under basic). After inserting the drive, the robot should say “Your USB Drive is functioning correctly”. If you do not receive this message, then we recommend formatting and trying again with a different USB flash drive, preferably of a different make.