Why Does My Robot Get 'Stuck' Facing the Wall or Whiteboard?

If you notice that Swivl robot gets "stuck" facing a wall or whiteboard: 

1. Remember, Swivl's primary marker is being tracked by maintaining a line of sight with the infrared technology located on the front of your Swivl base. In other words, your Swivl robot must be able to "see" the primary marker in order to track efficiently. Please note that the connection between the robot and the marker might break if the teacher turns their back on the robot, but the connection will be reestablished when the teacher turns back around. 

 2. Whenever possible, wear the primary marker around your neck, high on your chest (use the lanyard slider to adjust it higher or lower) or you can purchase a Marker Clip in order to affix it to your top. Watch this quick video about how to wear the lanyard properly for an optimal line of sight.

3. Keep robot located centrally in the room and at least 4 feet away from any walls or whiteboards, if possible. The ideal placement is shown below, using a floor stand to avoid obstructing students' views.

4. Finally, if the robot is panning upward and downward erratically:

A: If you stand close to the robot, disable Auto-tilt in the Swivl Capture app and use manual tracking and tilt instead (press the up and down, right and left arrows on the primary marker to make the robot move, respectively).

B: Enable Tilt correction: our experimental face-detection feature can help keep you in frame, but keep the marker close to your chest, either with a lanyard or lanyard clip.      

(for iOS only) 

If you're still encountering issues due to the layout of your classroom, contact support so we can assist you based on your environment.

Click to continue to the next article - Classroom Display Setup and Tracking