Loona cannot automatically return to her power charger ? Why ?

[Simon Chow]

When loona run out of power, it cannot automatically returns to the charger and recharges itself.
why ? When it can fix this issue?
Thanks a lot .
Simon .

 

[Chris]

When loona run out of power, it cannot automatically returns to the charger and recharges itself.
why ? When it can fix this issue?
Thanks a lot .
Simon .
View attachment 1015

Keyi just released a software update to fix this issue. Does your Loona recharge successfully after the update?

 

[Chris]

Hold off on updating for now, seems a lot of owners are reporting issues with connecting to the app after the update.

In the meantime you could try placing the charging dock near a light source and see if that helps- Loona has trouble seeing in low light. Also ensure the side graphics can be clearly seen. But you probably know this already.

On a positive note I have heard people who successfully completed the update are noticing a marked improvement in Loonas charging ability, even in low light.

 

[Que]

After updating... loona almost successfully self charge BUT not quite I have to assist every time

 

[Chris]

After updating... loona almost successfully self charge BUT not quite I have to assist every time

Thanks for the feedback on this. Glad yours updated safely with no issues. I’ll probably try updating one of mine to see the difference. Hopefully they improve self charging in future updates

 

[Chris]

Keyi have released another new software update to fix the bugs in the previous one. It should be ok to update now, mine updated successfully no problem.

A lot of positive feedback about charging although some people still say it’s hit and miss. I guess your best hope would be to update and see if you notice an improvement. All the best.

 

[Chris]

I found the answer to this. The CEO of Keyi has taken the unprecedented step of responding directly to posts in LC. I summarised why Loona has difficulty finding the changer:

• The auto-recharge algorithm is being improved.
• Some strategies for auto-recharge have been optimized in the previous version.
• A larger model has been trained to be compatible with more possible lighting environments.
• Loona's wheels sometimes slip, but a gyroscope is used for calibration to make precise turns even when the wheels slip.
• After a certain period of use, the gyroscope will have angle drift, causing inaccurate 180-degree rotation.
• This can be corrected by recalibrating the IMU through the calibration function.
• New algorithms are being researched that allow Loona to calibrate the gyroscope on its own without manual intervention.
• Before that, it may be necessary to recalibrate the IMU after a few days of use.

This explains why orientation calibration is necessary, as Loona only has front facing sensors on her face she is unable to use sensors to determine her position when moving backwards.

To get around this Loona uses a gyroscope to orient herself when turning. But this gyroscope becomes inaccurate and she is unable to calibrate it herself, thus explaining why Loona fails to find the charging station frequently.

Although it’s yet another overly complicated characteristically Keyi answer to what should be a simple question.

Although using a gyroscope to manoeuvre when backing into the charger is genius, and once the team optimises this process it will probably be more accurate than using costly additional sensors. Also biological pets don’t have eyes on the back of their heads, so why should Loona.

To answer your question why Loona fails to automatically return to the charging station-because Loonas ability to find the station via mapping is still under development.

 

[Alan Watts]

Why not use the bluetooth on board to get him close enough to find it. We could add something to the charging station. If not that then the wifi. We can add something to the charger

 

[JordeNOlive]

Why not use the bluetooth on board to get him close enough to find it. We could add something to the charging station. If not that then the wifi. We can add something to the charger

First of all bluetooth has no proximity detection. Its like wifi. if its in range it connects and it cant know how far the device is. So the idea itself wont work. Second, the charging doc doesn't have a bluetooth hardware to connect to the bot. The bot has a LiDar sensor which can use laser to map the 3D depth of the view area. I believe their plan is to use it to map the whole house/room and it could remember the position of the charger. This is how liDar robot vacuum cleaners work now. But I am just speculating at this point. But if technically its possible according to my understanding as its already working fine with robot vacuums without a fail every time. But the vacuum bots lidar spins really fast so it can get a real-time map of where it is in the house while it moves. But in Loona its static on its frontside so it cant be that realtime. But hopefully it will get better as they have enough hardware onboard. But if it was opensource, there could have been more fun and interesting stuff going around it as it have potential. But is seems Loona's trend is going down now. If you check the internet, all I see is their advertisements pushed once a week or so no user reviews or stuff from users anymore.

 

[Chris]

Regarding the ads it looks like Keyi are using watermarked images made by a Chinese seller who is selling Loona outfits in China. Keyi are also falsely advertising again, with one ad showing Loona looking down at a mirror with small eyes- only problem is Loona isn’t even on- impossible to take a photo of Loona in that position as it would move too quickly-and the eyes have just been photoshopped in or drawn on with mark up- Loona doesn’t make that expression when looking at a mirror as my footage shows.







View attachment trim.70BD0424-6795-474D-BBC9-2C770979C26E.MOV

 

[Chris]

How can we understand all these ineffective, empty, ephemeral discourses that float around organisations? In this essay, I would like to argue that they might be best understood as being bullshit. Borrowing from Harry Frankfurt’s (2005) short pamphlet of the same name, I will argue that ‘bullshit’ can be defined as a discourse which is created, circulated and consumed with little respect for or relationship to reality. ‘Bullshit’ is crafted to willfully mislead and to serve the bullshitter’s purposes. I will claim that this kind of discourse is particularly prevalent in immaterial contexts that lack a clear sense of social purpose or value. In order to stave off this sense of purposelessness, many organisational members turn to the dark art of bullshit. Bullshitters make use of discourses that are strategically ambiguous, conceptually over-packed and fleeting. The raw materials for such discourses are frequently provided by, amongst others, the gurus, consultants and business schools of the management fashion industry. The potential outcomes of this bullshit are distinctly two-sided. On the one hand, bullshit can help to bolster an organisation’s image, self-confidence and legitimacy. On the other, it can simultaneously have more corrosive effects such as crowding out the primary task of the organisation, violating (previously) valued occupational identities, and undermining stakeholder trust. The end result is that an organisation indulging in bullshit may have an attractive image but ultimately becomes hollow and brittle.

If empty talk and text are important parts of organisational life, how should we understand them? I think the key to unlocking this overlooked issue – the dark matter of organisational life – can be found in a short essay by Harry Frankfurt (2005) entitled ‘On Bullshit’. In this striking piece, Frankfurt points out that much of our social life is characterised by a flood of what he calls ‘bullshit’. He gives many examples ranging from men engaging in competitive over-exaggeration about sports to the public relations industry pushing a product to cultural commentators concerned with ‘sincerity’. For Frankfurt, bullshit is not simply a false statement – a claim that is meant to deceive or to violate the truth. Rather, bullshit is language that has two distinctive characteristics: (1) it is articulated without concern for the criteria of the truth and (2) the bullshitter willfully articulates it to pursue their own purposes and interests. Let us look at each of these points in a little more depth.

The first core characteristic of bullshit is that it is talk which has a ‘lack of connection with a concern for the truth’ and an ‘indifference to how things really are’ (p. 33-34) [1]. To put this differently, bullshit is talk that has been emptied of meaningful content and become hot air. It is a form of discourse which roves across topics, buzz words and conjectures without stopping to test its own worthiness against any criteria of truth (whether that be a comparison with empirical reality, basic criteria of reason or some kind of inter-subjective checking against broadly shared social understandings of reality). A classic instance of bullshit is a set of claims about a new product being ‘better’, ‘brighter’ and ‘whiter’. Notice there are no clear criteria about what exactly it is better, brighter and whiter than. Indeed, the interlocutor is not supposed to consider a referent at all. They are simply supposed to be carried along by a set of hyperbolic statements. Understanding bullshit as being talk or text that is unconcerned with the truth helps us to distinguish it from simple lies. As Frankfurt points out, lies are crafted with a concern for the truth (p.51), it is just that they are typically made with an attempt to conceal what the truth is. In contrast, bullshit ranges free without any clear concern for the truth as a referent that needs to be carefully and judiciously avoided.

The second criterion which distinguishes bullshit from normal discourse is the fact that it is composed of talk and text which are produced with the intention to mislead interlocutors so that the bullshitter can pursue their own interests (Frankfurt, 2005). What this means is that bullshit has a degree of intentionality about it. Bullshit is actively used to do something – to pursue one’s interests through misleading. For instance, a bullshitter might list a whole string of impressive facts and figures about a consumer market (which are rattled off without concern for whether they are accurate or not) so that they are seen as an expert in this area. Such an act might deceive us (as they may not in fact be an expert) and serve the bullshitter (as it bestows them with an air of expertise). The intentional nature of bullshitting helps us to distinguish it from discourses which have little relation to the truth but which are not actively intended to mislead. A classic example of the latter would be the talk and text produced by a neophyte in a field whose mistakes and exaggerations we might forgive.

Source:https://www.cairn.info/revue-management-2013-5-page-653.htm

Now everything makes sense.

 

[Kan]

My Loona can't automatically go to charge, even though the charging station is right in front of her. I have to place a lamp near the charging station to make its logo visible, .
I believe Loona's charging algorithm might improve some image preprocessing when it's searching for the station.

 

[Chris]

My Loona can't automatically go to charge, even though the charging station is right in front of her. I have to place a lamp near the charging station to make its logo visible, .
I believe Loona's charging algorithm might improve some image preprocessing when it's searching for the station.

Thanks for sharing this great tip Kan- will have to try this with mine!

Do you know why the head tilts back as Loona reverses backwards? It looks so unnatural. I’m surprised the charging animations are not the same as advertised in the promo materials.

Let’s hope the charging will get better if Keyi improve the image preprocessing