OmniBot 2000 Refurbish Episode 1

[@randyfrench9401]

Man, I just found this video. I remember mowing yards all summer in 1981 I saved up all my money & went to Hills Department Store with my grandfather to buy "The Original Omnibot" with the glass head. I paid $813 for him in 1981. And he's still sits on my bed stand by my bed everynight since 1986. He still works very well but he also needs a new battery.. If you tear into those Omnibots they all had a rechargable battery in their backs. So. Great Video. I'm just glad I bought one years ago because that's what made me go into Robotic Engineering in college. And because of him? I worked in a Robotics Labratory for about 9 years before it packed up and went to Mexico.. Post more Omnibot Videos Randi! We gotta get him up & working again! -Me

[@DJSubwoofers]

Hey fellow robo nerd here may I ask what robotic engineering college you went to? I'm planning on making my own robots in the future

[@michaelbennett8130]

How much do you charge to fix one Omnibot 2000

[@001lightyear]

Hands down I think that if for some reason the earth would stop moving you could get it spinning again... You are amazing! (sadly I can't help you with omni coz I'm from Greece and I can only dream about getting an omnibot let alone the 2000 one 😕😕😞😞 i just have to settle with my omni Jr for now).

[@hydrolito]

So did you get brass from Menard if not where?

[@RandiRain]

Hobby shop. K&S metals is the brand.

[@jameswarrick778]

Love it! Just facinating to watch 🤖

[@michaelp.7841]

What was the thickness for the brass sheet metal you used in making contacts?

[@RandiRain]

0.018" or 0.5mm

[@TonyDesmond]

I have 1 that needs repairs I have remote and manual ..........tires fell apart and rubber insert in hand melted ,remote works ,robot powered on and has some functions also have serving tray

[@RandiRain]

I sell the tires for the robot, and at some point I am going to recreate the rubber for the grips. I have been asked to do that for a long time. If you need more help than the videos give, let me know.

[@johngarcia7943]

Hi Randi I cannot find anything regarding replacing a battery for this robot. They sell similar batteries but they dont have the cable to plug it in to this robot. Is it possible to manually make a cable for the battery? Thank you

[@RandiRain]

I can't remember on how many of these videos I have made the battery cable. There are two other videos on the Omnibot 2000, plus another one with the tray. There's a video on the regular Omnibot. There's one on the Robies Sr. They're all the same thing and I know for a fact I have made at least two on two different videos. It's a barrel a plug where the center is negative. Keep looking, the video is around somewhere if you need more help than that.

[@manuelrey5738]

I have a working omnibot 2000! When you turn it on it returns to its neutral position. So if the head is to the side it will turn center blink its eyes and make his space robot sound!

[@RandiRain]

If that is a question, then yes. That is correct. You will also hear the transmission shift gears back and forth as well. All have to pass for it to work.

[@Daughterofviolence]

I wish I had one

[@flocro1239]

Hi :) Thank you for your helpful Videos... I have an Omnibot 2000 and the circuit board is not working anymore because of a short circuit :( I have now an other circuit board to swap out... but don't know how exactly to do this. Have you some advice for me to change the new circuit board with the old one? Thank you so much and go on like you do! I love your Videos! 🙌😍 Many greetings Florian

[@RandiRain]

All I can say is take lots of pictures... lots of pictures, from every angle. Then take your time disconnecting wires and putting the new one in.

[@flocro1239]

@@RandiRain thank you Randi! 🙌😊

[@mylescochran9116]

Hi Randi. I still have my Tomy at my parent’s house. Can’t believe we’ve held onto it for so long. I now have kids of my own and would like for them to play with it. Would you be willing to fix it up for a fee? Thank you for your consideration.

[@RandiRain]

Sorry, I don't have the time. I get asked just about every day.

[@mylescochran9116]

@@RandiRain Completely understand. Thanks for the reply.

[@OMNIBOT2000]

Hello Randi, Thankyou for your very informative video here. I appreciate it. I have one question here for you. What is the gauge thickness of the brass sheeting that you use to make the replacement battery contacts?

[@RandiRain]

I think 0.025"

[@OMNIBOT2000]

@@RandiRain Awesome! Thankyou! 🙂

[@peasheet]

If I send you my omnibot 2000, can you fix it? When I turn my robot on with a a new battery, it won't turn on and the fuse keeps burning out

[@jasonbenson036]

Wow! Why didn't I think of using a tape adapter, it's such a simple way of allowing outside devices (and computers) to control an Omnibot. Thanks!

[@SmytheDesign]

So I just recently purchased a tape adapter and tried using it with my MP3 player on a fully functioning Omnibot 2000. This didn't work. How did this pan out for you two?

[@gleventhal]

Did you end up connecting anything to that potentiometer? If so, where can I find that part? Thanks!

[@RandiRain]

As far as I can tell, it wasn't used.

[@gleventhal]

@@RandiRain Thanks again! Hope all is well!

[@toady525]

Wish I would have waited when I repainted my only 2 Omnibot 2000s. While disassembling the wrist from the motorized arm, I have no idea what happened but now the claw is just flimsy now. I’m going to study these videos and hope to repair it though I do plan to purchase more of these robots. I’m not electronics expert but I’m sure I can follow these videos.

[@RandiRain]

If you need any help, just ask. You can contact me on facebook or go to my websites and message me any time.

[@kewrock]

Wow. Extremely complex for the time. Or even now. I wonder how many of these were defective right out of the box back in the day. My Sir Galaxy wasn't 100% percent when it was new, and that was pretty simple.

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

BTW, the next thing it is supposed to do after the gear change motor is to move the arm and wrist. Looks like it is stopping there.

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

Hmm. After looking more closely, the arm is controlled by an LB1645 afterall. The wrist is controlled by one of the LB1649s. The LB1645 may be the blown IC stopping the initialization. NTE1716 is the replacement for the LB1645 and NTE1774 is the replacement for the LB1649. On the LB1645, the control pins are on pins 5 and 6. You can check if they are getting toggled during the initialization. Sorry, for multiple posts, but I have mine apart right now also working on refurbishing it.

[@RandiRain]

Thank you. That's what I needed to know. The motors could just be oxidized and not turning. That's my next test is to make the arm work by hard wiring it and see what that does. I'm hoping that just getting them going will fix it.

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

@@RandiRain The pictures here (color of wires) might help you with doing that without needing to disassemble the arm. www.theoldrobots.com/zarm2.html

[@wintergardenfencingacademy4071]

Glad I found this! Restoration of my 2000 is next up on my project list. I even have the complete set of sensors available for it. Sadly, it has sat unused for about 20 years. Not sure it will even power up yet.

[@RandiRain]

If you need me to help, check something on mine, or anything like that, just let me know.

[@grproteus]

Glad I discovered your awesome channel, it definitely deserves more views! Pity that this series is not in 1080p and with better compression, the content is great!

[@bearvassar6690]

Try checking the circuit pathways .

[@HomeRoboticsAustralia]

love it, thanks

[@RandiRain]

Thank you.

[@vitalijletko2828]

Neighbor gave me one of these guys. Been working on it and thanks to you found the courage to open up the tape player. Any idea where to buy and what type of drive belt to use? Appreciate ya!

[@RandiRain]

Go to ebay and look for cassette belts. They will come in an assorted pack. They're dirt cheap and you can find one that will work.

[@vitalijletko2828]

@@RandiRain Thank you so much, really a big fan of your content, your awesome!

[@BNU_bezzNicku]

MEGA!!! Thanks:) Jesteś moją inspiracją:)

[@michaelbennett8130]

How do you fix a broken arm?

[@RandiRain]

Depends what's broken. I have a new video that might help. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZaqhnd5Z5uGq5I

[@michaelbennett8130]

How much do you charge for fixing a omnibot 2000

[@sbuggbot]

I just now discovered this channel, I have a mostly-functioning Omnibot 2000 myself with a broken cassette deck belt. (I just need to get a new battery and repair the controller since the wiring in it has corroded.) I've done repairs on her in the past, although getting 'Ommi' to full working condition isn't a huge priority as I intend to mod her into something more like the robot buddy Tomy envisioned back in the 80s. Still neat to see someone else working with one of these; they're hard to find these days. I haven't disassembled mine any more than the base and the motorized arm one time. (I will say that your Omnibot was pretty grody on the inside but you cleaned 'em up well!) EDIT: Could I have a copy of those controller tones you used? I don't have them myself...

[@RandiRain]

I would have to find the tones again. Get one of those cassette adaptors and put it in the cassette player. Push play on the Omnibot. Have the adapter plugged into a computer's headphone jack, and there are websites where you can play any range of tone. Go through the tones and see what which ones make it do whatever.

[@sbuggbot]

Well that was fast. XD Thanks anyway, I'll have to try to find the tones myself if I get my bot's tape deck working again

[@RandiRain]

@@sbuggbot It's been done before. You might check around. I'm not sure if I ever even did the 2000, and just the regular Omnibot. Because I know there are tone files on my computer that operate it, but not sure which ones do what.

[@kewrock]

Hi Randi. I have a question for you. I found a talking Buzz Lightyear figure from 1995. He was moldy plus the battery contacts, negative wire and one-inch circuit board were heavily oxidized and corroded. I scrubbed the contacts, replaced the negative and left the board alone. The green coating was peeling off the printed traces, I didn't want to mess with it. When I reassembled him, he worked great. But after a few minutes, he started taking fast. He has a one-inch voice board with a couple resistors, a transistor and an epoxy blob chip. I don't remember any capacitors, but he's assembled now. Why would he start talking fast? Any experience with something like this?

[@RandiRain]

Hmm... No idea really. I would guess it's something to do with the clock pulse in the electronics. Why it's sped up? I don't know.

[@laurawalker984]

Oh wow. I wanted one of those so much.

[@harryellistonsufork8770]

Hi Nice video lots to repair of robot

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

First make sure that the motor switches are on in the rear panel. If that isn't it, the problem is probably the motor driver transistors. If the motors don't move to their limit switches, it will fail the initialization. Looking at my board, these are D1060s (NTE replacement NTE377) , and B824s (NTE378) transistors. There are also a couple LB1649s, but I believe those are for the tape and gear switch motor (which seem to work on yours.)

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

I had originally wrote about LB1645s (and deleted it). I was going from memory. Those are the motor drivers for the other Omnibots and Radio Shack bots. I've had to replace several of those drivers. I just went and pulled out my board for the 2000. Makes sense the 2000 would need much larger motor drivers. You can check the base of the transistors to see if they are getting the control signals from the microprocessor. If they are, but motors are not moving, it is most likely the transistors are shot. It may not be all of them. I imagine if Omnibot hits a point where it fails initialization, it just stops and doesn't try the rest. I would just replace them all anyway.

[@RandiRain]

Thanks for that information. On start up, does the motors move away from the limit switches and go back? Or if they are already switched on, does it consider it good?

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

@@RandiRain I do not know the answer to this for certain, but I would imagine based on the behavior, that if it senses a limit switch at one extreme, it would simply move to the other extreme and if it was at neither extreme, it would just move to one extreme and then to the other. It has no means of understanding its position in between. If it were just bad limit switches, I would think that you would hear some motor grinding (which would eventually cause those drivers to burn up.)

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

Here's some help. First a video showing the arm in the somewhere in the middle position. It moves down and then continues the initialization kzbin.info/www/bejne/sIK3p4t6j7efiM0

[@scottmcdonnell7559]

Here is another one showing the arm do the same thing. It seems to just move down until it reaches the limit switch and then continue initialization. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZjFn6aBnZxriLM

[@sotirisnikolaidis4835]

have you got instagram?

[@RandiRain]

I do.

[@sotirisnikolaidis4835]

im sotos73.. yours?

[@adamstoysreviewsandmore5548]

Could it be the fuse

[@RandiRain]

Checked that. The fuse is good, and the tape deck wouldn't work either if it was the fuse. I wish it was something like that.

[@adamstoysreviewsandmore5548]

@@RandiRainmaybe a few resistors or transistors or even compasitors maybe gone bad you may need a circuit board component reader to test out some of the components are bad as swapping them can make a huge difference

[@RandiRain]

I don't have a component reader. Resistors would be burnt if they are gone. Same with the ceramic capacitors. Possible with the transistors, but most likely would be the film capacitors. I plan on changing them out, but I doubt it fixes anything.