I think I got a bad Moose - no touchscreen interface

#1

I just got the Dobot MOOZ 2 yesterday (the awesome 3-in-1), put it together, and… now, nothing. It looks like all the electronic parts are there, but the touchscreen doesn’t appear to have any kind of usable interface on it. Everything is in Chinese, and none of the buttons create any sort of interaction with the machine. (We have the 3D printer module plugged in first.)

I did try to download the latest firmware for MOOZ 2 and I loaded into onto a thumb drive that I formatted to FAT32 as per the ReadMe.TXT instructions. It says that it’s supposed to read it and automatically update as soon as it’s powered on, but it doesn’t appear to do anything. At any rate, the touchscreen gives me a number pad, but nothing we received with it suggests anything about a number. We looked up other unboxing videos online and every one of them comes with a pre-programmed touchscreen and the whole nine - nothing like our experience at all.

On top of that, my computer doesn’t recognize that the MOOZ is installed at all, it only reads a USB device with no features. Are there drivers that I can install on my side? I’m running Windows 10 Pro with the latest updates on an Alienware Aurora R4 desktop. Is there a package I can update on my side? I even tried to use the Ultimaker Cura designer program to talk to the 3D printer, and while it recognizes that it’s set up for the Dobot MOOZ, it doesn’t recognize that the printer is there despite being powered on, and while it gives me an option to update the firmware through the Cura interface, it seems to want a .hex file instead of the .bin that was included in the listed firmware update.

So, is there a remedy for all this? Did I get a bad Moose?

– DG Swain

#2

Oh, what a bummer! I’m sorry to hear you had such a crummy experience. I’m just a fellow Mooz owner, not an employee, but here’s some suggestions:

I think you got a bad Mooz. Maybe it’s one they didn’t quite finish setting up, or sent to the wrong address, or whatever, but in general, nobody is having the kinds of disappointing experience you have.

I suggest you start posting to here, the Dobot Facebook and Dobot Twitter accounts every two to three days. Their customer service can take a little while to get back, so you have to give them a little time - but this is pretty unacceptable, so I would be persistent until they either fix or replace it.

I’m confident once they hear about it, they’ll figure out how to get you up and running, but like I said, they’ve got a history of being pretty unresponsive, so I’d keep poking until they respond.

Good luck!

#3

Actually, I’m just going to return it to Amazon for a refund. If Customer Care or Tech Support can’t be arsed to respond after several days - email, Facebook, AND here - then I can’t trust them to support this machine in the long run. Since I meant this to be my primary prototyper for my business, it’s just not a risk I can take. For what it is, the price is great, but the best price in the world doesn’t compensate for a machine that doesn’t work.

There was another guy on Amazon that had the same problem I did, except he was able to get the firmware updated using the version hack. I had no such luck.

#4

Hello, have you got a picture or a video for this problem? I’ll need them to locate the problem and help you to resolve it ASAP!

#5

Man im pretty sure i am way too late on this but i am the guy from amazon that got it to work. I left 3 stars on it and i wish i left less honestly. So! you needed to put the firmware onto a micro SD card and insert it into the actual touchscreen handle. There is a super small spot to put one into. I am so sorry I didnt see this until now, im actually trying to find more help on new issues im having.

#6

Oh wow, wait, really?! I thought if you put the touchscreen firmware on a micro SD and inserted it into the back of the Mooz, it would apply the update - not true?
I’m not aware of any SD slots on the touchscreen…are you sure?

#7

Yup, positive. When it would start it up with the firmware plugged into the back in any way, it would just start as normal. But when the firmware was on the SD card inserted into the hand held it actually updated. There seriously cant be anything else at ALL on it or it will not work. As soon as it boots, it will auto load the new Firmware.

#8

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Its hard to see but there is a tiny slot for the Micro SD right there. for any future people that buy this. this is where to insert. Just make sure there is nothing else on the Micro SD first or it will not work. Also getting it in and out of there is a pain. Good luck!

#9

Wow - never noticed that! Jeez. I wonder if my handset firmware is out of date.
Thanks for the great debugging and for sharing!