Robot Brain and Controller not pairing

Hello. We have 4 teams of students each working on a robot. Of the 4 robots, we have only been able to pair the Brain & Controller successfully on 1 of them. We have followed the directions exactly multiple times with no luck. We see the tether indicator appear, and then we unplug the cable and reboot both devices. When they are powered back on they are not tethered like the first one was. They are all using 900 MHz radios; could these be interfering with each other? All 4 teams are in one room. Thanks for any help.

Hi! Make sure that both the brain and the controller are turned off before you tether them. I had a few kids getting frustrated that the pairing wasn’t working because they hadn’t noticed the controllers still on (at least I think that was the problem, they paired fine once we made sure controllers were off as well as brain). After you unplug the cable (after the tether symbol appears) you shouldn’t have to reboot, just go to your program and run. Another thing to look for is make sure the radios in both the controller and the brain are both pressed in all the way. There will be a satisfying click when they are properly seated. I run 12-16 of them in the same room so I’m guessing it’s not an interference problem. Hope this helps!

Thank you Allison. We turned them off before connecting the tether cable, and the tethering icon appeared. As soon as we unplug the cable, that tether icon disappears. I should also note that the first robot paired even without the firmware being updated. But we could not get the 2nd robot to pair even after updating all firmware.

jon.daniel,

Every time I’ve seen this issue, it was (as Allison suggested) the radios not plugged in all the way. Give them a good squeeze.

Steve

I’ve having the same issue with smart radios. Following the VEX IQ User’s Guide I’ve firmly inserted the radios several times, connected the tether, turned the brain on, get the tethered icon and two solid green lights on the controller. When the cable is unplugged the tether icon goes away and that is it. No other icons appear and the radios never connect. Am I missing something with the smart radios? The paperwork that came with them does not provide startup instructions.

Hi Chris,

We’re sorry that you have encountered this issue. There are two actions that can help identify and correct this issue regarding the Smart Radio pairing.

First, please ensure that the Smart Radios are fully inserted. On the Controller, you will need to remove the battery door to fully insert the radio. On the Robot Brain, you will need to press and hold the red release button on the bottom to insert or remove the radio. When fully inserted, there is slightly over a quarter inch (7-8mm) of the radio exposed on both the Controller and the Robot Brain.

The second action to take is specific to the Smart Radio. The Smart Radio requires a firmware update in both the Robot Brain and Controller to enable its use. To update the firmware, please download and install the VEX IQ Firmware Update Utility to your Windows or Mac OS X computer. After the program is installed, connect your Robot Brain to your computer using the USB Cable, connect your Controller to your Robot Brain using the Tether Cable, and then launch the VEX IQ Firmware Update Utility program.

While inside the utility, please select the “Smart Radio” button near the top of the page. This will now enable the firmware that enables the Smart Radio functionality (version 1.16 for the Robot Brain and 1.05 for the Controller) to be downloaded to the Robot Brain and Controller. Please select the Update All Components button to update the firmware.

If the above steps do not correct this issue or if you have any additional questions, please contact our technical support folks at [email protected] or by calling +1-903-453-0802 so we can help resolve this issue.

Regards,

  • Art

Thank you for the complete answer, Art. The firmware update is what I was missing. The controller and the brain are now paired. My computer sees other Bluetooth devices but not the smart radio sitting just inches away. Any idea why that might be?

Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

The VEX IQ Robot Brain is a non-broadcasting Bluetooth device that uses the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol for communication. Bluetooth Low Energy support requires your device to be running Windows 8+, Android 5.0+, Mac OS X 10.10+ or an iOS device that is an iPhone 4S or newer, iPad (3rd generation) or newer, iPad Mini (1st generation) or newer; as well as compatible Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth 4.0) hardware.

You can connect to the Robot Brain from a supported program on supported hardware, such as the Modkit for VEX app for iPad, by typing in the unique ID number of the VEX IQ Robot Brain from within the Modkit for VEX app. The unique ID of a Robot Brain can be found by going to the Home Screen > Settings > System Info screen, and is found in the bottom line of the Robot Brain info screen.

Regards,

  • Art