OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I thought it might be nice to have a thread for owners of the 2014 Butterfly Amicus robots, whether Basic, Advance, or Professional.

It can be a place where we talk about uses for the robots, settings, drills, modifications/hacks, repairs, maintenance, etc.

Ideally it will be a place where people who OWN the robots can talk about them. People interested in the robots can obviously ask some questions, but ideally those will be kept to a minimum.

I have a Pro set to arrive at the end of February or so (whenever MegaSpin gets them in stock and ships them).

As I'm new to TT, I'm putting together a list of drills. Some will be for strokes, some will be for footwork, etc. I've started to find some drills, and create some on my own. Falkenberg is in there, of course, as are some basic side-to-side and forward-and-back type drills. But obviously I won't really be doing much until February or March.

_________________
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

this is a GREAT thread. I'll be on in Feburary...maybe, when my backordered machine arrives.

good idea for a thread, now if i could afford an amicus

Dave T, what drills have you programmed in to your robot? You have the Advance, IIRC, and you said you had four or five drills programmed?

Also, what level of spin and speed do you tend to use? I know you're a beginner-isn level, but, just curious.

_________________
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 am out of town and can't describe them specifically. I change things around depending on what I want to work on. I spend a lot of time just working on the topspin drive, and have a drill with some moderate speed, moderate topspin shots to enough different spots on the table that I can't anticipate them. I also have one that sprinkles in some high weak shots - I have a hard time slamming the gimmes when I get them. Then one that's a topspin down the middle followed by a backspin, so I can work on hitting topspin counters/loops against both topspin and backspin shots. No Falkenberg, but I should add that one.

What I really want is something that can just give you a ton of random shots all around the table, so you can practice in a more realistic atmosphere. With the shorter drills, it's easy to get in a rhythm and you play better than you do in real life.

Dave. That post was very informative. Your advice will come in handy when I set up mine.

Keep saving. Took me two years to afford mine.

Hello!

I am a new member who has recently purchased an Oukei s9 (arriving today in the mail), but am tempted to return and go with the butterfly amicus advance/pro (w/o opening the box).

I was hoping to ask the Amicus owners on this thread if they considered the Oukei, and if so, what drew them to choose butterfly (other than the obvious differences in portability and more programming modes).

For example: One feature that I haven't been able to find on the Amicus is the ball placement. (The Oukei s9 has 18 places; 9 short/ 9 long).

Also, one of the most important things for me is durability and the option to self-service the machine. Sometimes the lighter and more moving parts makes me hesitate.

Any advice on the Amicus (and possibly the Oukei s9 in comparison) is much appreciated.

I will make a decision by the end of this week likely.

Thanks in advance!

The Amicus has many more potential locations for placement - there are 14 spots side-to-side and more then that front to back. You place balls by adjusting the controls and hitting a "test" button to see where it goes. Sorry, though, I can't compare it with the Oukei.

Thanks for the response.

I was unaware that it involved calibration. Is this for just the custom modes? or do you have to calibrate it for any saved/pre-programmed drills?

Also, can you comment on the durability? (any parts needed of replacing besides the wheels?).

I was researching the smartpong and after hearing horror stories on replacement parts and customer service from butterfly's end... I decided to cross that off early on in my shopping.

...

Can you also comment on the potential the short underspin shots? (for drills such as 3rd or 5th ball attack).

Thanks

It's not what you'd call calibration per-se. You program individual shots by independently adjusting:

1) Shot height
2) Shot side-to-side position
3) Topspin/backspin (vertical spin)
4) Side spin
5) Speed

There's also a height adjustment for manually adjusting the height of the robot off the table. I don't normally mess with that.

So to configure a shot, you set the parameters as above, and hit the "test" button periodically to see where the ball goes. Once you have it where you like it, you can have the robot start sending those balls to you as configured at whatever rate you like, or you can add the shot to a drill.

If this sounds complicated, it really isn't - it takes maybe 10-30 seconds to configure an individual shot.

So is this not how the Oukei works?

As you might have read about elsewhere on this site, I am working on a control box for the Amicus so you can use an iPhone to configure shots and drills. One feature I'm planning on investigating is the ability to specify shot locations by clicking on an image of the table where you want the ball to land, and specifying speed and spins. It would then automatically calculate where to aim the ball (height and left/right aim), so that the shot will land where you specified. I haven't started working on this yet and am not sure if it's doable (it's pretty complex calculating how the ball will curve as a result of spin, speed, height, etc), but it would be a great feature if I can get it to work.

In any case, for what it's worth, when my app is done it will make the robot much more useful and easy to program - so that might influence which robot you buy.

Good luck with your decision!

- Dave

Thanks Dave!

Lets just say your reply was a "$500 post", because thats the difference in $$ I'll need since I just sent the Oukei s9 back today and have decided to go with the Amicus Pro.

I see its back ordered until February, so once it comes in I'll look forward to being an active member of this thread/forum.

Cheers

Cool. Looks like you're going from four wheels (split across two heads, though) to three on one head.

FWIW, I'm hopeful that this thread can be used by Amicus Owners. I realize it may be taken as rude (which is not my intent at all), but I hope that this thread is not over-run too much with questions from potential owners,. Potential owners are of course welcome to read, but I would humbly request that questions be asked in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=67&t=23190 and that this thread be limited to Amicus owners (or those who have pre-paid at least, as technically I am not an Amicus owner yet either! )

_________________
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

Dave, are you intending your app to replace the Amicus control panel or simply to give a virtual interface for it (control panel still required)? Since I only have the Basic model, I'm wondering if your app would allow me to have Professional-control-panel-like functionality without needing to actually purchase a Professional control panel. Thanks.

Larry

Yes, definitely replace the current control panel. So giving "Pro-like" functionality to a Basic is the idea! Actually, MUCH better than pro functionality - easier to program, virtually infinite number of shots and drills, and feedback on spin, to name a few. See my other posts for more details...