Hamster School

Outline

The device driver must be installed before plugging the USB dongle into the USB port of your computer.
When the Robot Coding Software, Roboid Studio, and the Processing (downloaded here) are installed, the device driver of the USB dongle is installed together. So you do not need to install the device driver separately.

Download

Windows 10 or later
Windows 7 to 8.1
Windows XP · Vista
MacOS
Linux 3.x.x
Linux 2.6.x
You can also download device drivers from Silicon Labs page (chip manufacturer).

Installing device driver for Windows

Unzip the downloaded ZIP file.

Double-click the exe file in the extracted folder to install it.
- Windows 32-bit: CP210xVCPInstaller_x86.exe
- Windows 64-bit: CP210xVCPInstaller_x64.exe

Installing device driver for MacOS

Unzip the downloaded ZIP file.

Double-click the SiLabsUSBDriverDisk.dmg file to open the disk image file.

Double-click the Silicon Labs VCP Driver.pkg file to install it.

Installing device driver for Linux

Open a terminal and navigate to the folder where you downloaded the tar.gz file.

Type the following command in the terminal to unzip.

For Linux 3.x.x version:

tar xvfzp device-driver-linux.3.x.x.tar.gz

For Linux 2.6.x version:

tar xvfzp device-driver-linux.2.6.x.tar.gz

Verify that the drivers folder has been created.

Log in to the root account on the terminal.

Go to the drivers folder.

Run the shell script by typing the following command in the terminal.

./setup.sh

If the device driver is installed while the USB dongle is plugged into the computer, the Linux OS does not recognize the USB dongle. In this case, simply unplug the USB dongle and plug it back in.

First use: Pairing between robot and USB dongle

When you purchase a Hamster robot, the robot and USB dongle are not paired. The first time you use it, you must pair the robot and USB dongle.

Plug the USB dongle into the USB port of the PC. It is normal if the Bluetooth connection indicator of the USB dongle blinks slowly in blue.
Where is the Bluetooth connection indicator on the USB dongle?

Turn the power switch up to turn on the power.

Bring the Hamster robot close to the USB dongle. (Within 15cm between robot and USB dongle) It is normal if a beep sounds and the Bluetooth connection indicator of the Hamster robot and the USB dongle is steady blue or blinking rapidly.
Where is the Bluetooth connection indicator of the Hamster robot?

This process is called pairing.
After pairing, one robot and one USB dongle pair with each other.
Pairing is required only once when connecting the robot and USB dongle for the first time.
Since the USB dongle remembers the paired robot, it does not matter if the PC is changed.
Since the robot and the USB dongle are paired only when they are close to each other (within 15cm), there is no problem to pair or use many robots and many USB dongles at the same time in the classroom.
Pairing or connecting between a robot and a USB dongle is not related to software because it is performed by hardware.
The reason for plugging the USB dongle into the USB port of the PC is to supply power to the USB dongle.

Pair the robot and USB dongle before class, and stick the number sticker to make it easier to class.

Re-use: Connecting between robot and USB dongle

If they are already paired, you do not need to pair them again, but plug the USB dongle into the USB port of the PC and turn on the power of the robot.

Plug the USB dongle into the USB port of the PC. It is normal if the Bluetooth connection indicator of the USB dongle blinks slowly in blue.

Turn the power switch up to turn on the power. It is normal if a beep sounds and the Bluetooth connection indicator of the Hamster robot and the USB dongle is steady blue or blinking rapidly.

You do not need to pair the robot and the USB dongle again, if they are already paired.
When the robot is turned on, it is connected to the USB dongle even if they are far apart. (Within 15 meters)
Since the USB dongle finds and connects only the paired robot, there is no problem if you use a lot of robots simultaneously in the classroom.

Changing pair

Turn off the robot that was previously paired.

Plug the USB dongle into the USB port of the PC. It is normal if the Bluetooth connection indicator of the USB dongle blinks slowly in blue.

Turn the power switch up to turn on the power and bring it close to the USB dongle. (Within 15cm between robot and USB dongle) It is normal if a beep sounds and the Bluetooth connection indicator of the Hamster robot and the USB dongle is steady blue or blinking rapidly.

The USB dongle remembers only the last pair of robots.
You can not pair with a new robot while the USB dongle is connected to another robot. In this case, the robot connected to the USB dongle must be turned off and disconnected before pairing the new robot.

Device Driver Installation