OOAK Table Tennis Forum

wow, great to hear that you made some progress dave.

i'll try to make a list of features which came to my mind
and if there is some extra time i'll draw some sketches of suggestions for the software.

this is really exciting.


perhaps i get my floor in the christmas holidays - so training can beginn

So far I've solved the ball feeder problem by just placing two pieces of paper that go down to the feeder. They're both slippery because of the material it's made out of (laminated?), and make a bridge from the material to the plastic feeder. Like I said, quick fix

Glad to hear of the project; however, would the basic controller allow the same speed as the pro? I wonder if there is a hardware limitation within the basic controller to prevent the maximum speed even with an external controller attached.

I had an Amicus 3000, which I tried to hack and do a similar project having computer control via VB.net. That project never got anywhere; however, while taking the old robot apart I noticed the stepper motor that controls the left/right movement of the deflector had fairly large, discreet steps. In other words, there were limited amounts of landing spots going left and right. I wonder if this has been improved in the new Amicus robots.

Yes, it would have the same speed. I am replacing the controller anyway, so any limitations built into the controller would go away. The speed is controlled by the voltage in the power supply, which is 24 volts, 2.5 amps in my Advance. Butterfly seems to be inconsistent with the power supplies they provide though, another forum member told me that his Pro has a 28 volt/2.8 amp PS. The motors in the Amicus are 24 volt motors. I'm not sure if that would make a difference, but if it did, it's a simple matter to replace the power supply. I bought an identical one to the Amicus one to test my prototype controller, on Amazon for a few $$.

The stepper motors on the Amicus are 14 steps side to side, and 200 steps vertically. Seems like enough, but if not, the stepper motor controllers I'm using support micro stepping, which would give much more.

Any news on your iPhone / iPad app? I've got the professional version and I'd be interested to hear what your app might add to this?

Many thanks

_________________
Blade: Ross Leidy custom blade
Forehand: Butterfly Tenergy 05-FX 1.7mm
Backhand: Dr Neubauer Gangster and Desperado 2 (testing both) OX

Butterfly Amicus Professional robot
-----
Ever tried, Ever failed? No Matter.
Try again, Fail Again, Fail Better!

Sure. It's still under development, but here are some of the features I'm expecting to have in the first release (in no particular order):

* Ability to store unlimited shots and drills.

* Easier storing and lookup of shots and drills. Shots and drills will have meaningful names, so you won't have to maintain a cheat sheet like "Drill 12: 13 topspin loops". Shots will have a graphical representation on the list, so you can see what a shot does from the picture.

* Sharing of shots and drills between users.

* Much more complex (but easy to program) drills than the Amicus controller gives you - combine multiple drills into other drills. Do things like "pick 1 shot at random from a drill of 10 serves", followed by 10 random shots from a drill of 50 shots".

* Probably the most desired feature - feedback to tell you what the spin (and/or speed and direction) of the next ball will be. Right now, you don't know whether a ball coming at you is a topspin or backspin ball, so you have to either program drills of all one type of shot, or memorize what the balls are in the drill. My thingy will let you mount an iPad or computer behind the robot and it will show you through a graphic what the spin will be on the next ball. This lets you program drills that more realistically simulate a real opponent. I'm also thinking of having sounds to indicate the shot if you don't have a device to mount behind the robot. So your phone would give a high pitched sound before a topspin shot, and a low pitched sound before a backspin shot.

A couple of things that I am hoping to put in, but probably not for the first release:

* Specify which location on the table a shot will hit by clicking on an image of the table. So you just pick the spin, and the spot on the table for the ball to land, and the app figures out for you what height and direction to launch a ball with that spin so it lands on that spot. This shouldn't actually be too hard to do, but will require you to calibrate the robot periodically so it knows what the wear is on the shooting wheels, and what type of balls you use.

* Interact with it through voice commands. This shouldn't be too hard either.

Finally, one of the biggest features is that there would be continual upgrades, like any software program. So you're not locked into the features and functionality it had when you bought it. I'm sure all of you can think of cool features I never thought of. And I'm open to suggestions now!

- Dave

That sounds like a great list Dave.

I'm likely going to order a Professional later today. Total overkill for me, but… it's a Christmas present for myself, and I have a hard time not buying the best.

I'll continue to email you and follow the progress of your app/controller combo, and help out where I can.

I do wonder one thing: how quickly do the wheels wear? Can the wheels themselves be serviced easily? I'm hopeful that my robot will last for quite a few years.

_________________
Erik J. Barzeski
Newb in Erie, PA

Tibhar TEXO All | 1.8 999 Juic Elite x 2
Ross Leidy ALL Blades (x2) | 1.8BH/2.0FH Juic 999 Elite
Butterfly Amicus Pro

Erie TTC • Erie TTC Facebook
TST • GE • 5SK • LSW

I don't know how quickly the wheels wear. I've been using mine every day for almost two months and they seem fine so far. The manual talks about adjusting the wheel axles periodically as the wheels wear. I'm not sure how often you'd have to do that, but Butterfly does sell replacement wheels.

Replacement wheels, that's good. Okay.

P.S. I should have noticed they listed replacement parts in the manual. The manual, btw, seems to be written in something resembling English…

_________________
Erik J. Barzeski
Newb in Erie, PA

Tibhar TEXO All | 1.8 999 Juic Elite x 2
Ross Leidy ALL Blades (x2) | 1.8BH/2.0FH Juic 999 Elite
Butterfly Amicus Pro

Erie TTC • Erie TTC Facebook
TST • GE • 5SK • LSW

A drill I liked with my old 3000 was a serve & return/3rd ball practice: I programmed the first sequence to have 3 balls from the robot shoot into the net (so you can time your serve so the ball comes back at a realistic time. You can increase to 4 balls to give yourself more time between drills to rest/get into position). On the 3rd net ball I would serve underspin and the next ball from the robot would be a short backspin return (programed to bounce once on the robot's side first to keep it short). I flip (or loop) the ball and the robot will shoot 3 top spin balls that I counter. The last ball is a slower, higher ball that I smash. Other variations are possible. I suppose with the new amicus you could program the "service return" to be long or short (bounce 2x on your side) so you would train yourself to loop the long balls and flip the short ones?

Not sure if there is a better method in the new Amicus for serve and return practice. Maybe Dave T can add an optional countdown display on his app before the robot's shot (and then change to an arrow to indicate top/back spin?). Or maybe support a separate display next to the robot head to indicate spin, as others here have suggested?


14 steps sounds just like the 3000 (I didn't count the steps but it sounds right). There were marks on my table (not permanent) from where the balls landed. It was more like dust streaks since the forward/backward placement has more variation than the left-right position. Does the "random ball" placement for the new amicus follow the 14 left-right steps or can the balls be more "randomly" distributed?

I haven't measured the random placement, but it seems to increase the landing area by 4-6 inches in each direction. 14 steps seems plenty to me, but YMMV.

Hello, everyone!

I bought my Butterfly Amicus Pro 2 weeks ago...I am satisfied with it,however I found the manual to be too short and confusing...I still do not understand how to create exercises and save them for future use,so now I can use it only with manual help of my trainer not by myself if I want to train and use it to give me 8 different balls or less...

Anyone can explain to me how to deal with exercises step-by-step,please???Or maybe someone has extensive manual with detailed explanation and etc???

Thanks in advance!

Dan

I have an Amicus Advance, not a Pro. I Can try to help you, but the Advance is different. I suggest you ask your question in the Amicus owner's thread as well, and if you could explain what you've tried and what you are having difficulty with, that might help.

Thx,Dave

I did that you suggested!

I can see you are a real pro and want to implement some new features for these robots I hope you `ll do well!!!

Also,I think that Butterfly must improve their Amicus line,cause it has a lot of potential,in my view,we need exercises and wi-fi,definitely,to add lessons and different spins,shots and etc!

Would Amicus be a good "playing partner" / training partner? Which model would work as a playing partner? I'm thinking about something that would send me various balls, short, long, top spin, chop, side spin, etc, at random to emulate a real person, without me having to preprogram everything that it would do.