Butterfly AMICUS PRIME User manual

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AMICUS
PRIME
Table Tennis Robot
Owner’s Manual | Bedienungsanleitung | Manuel d’utilisation

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AMICUS PRIME Table Tennis Robot
• State of the art 3-wheel ball delivery technology provides all types of spin.
• Rigid sponge wheels with a special coating for longer durability.
• Lightweight and easily transportable. Weighs approximately 6 kg (13 lbs.).
• Random features include natural scattering of shots, random placement, or both!
• Randomize placement of individual balls within an exercise.
• Programmed or random delivery of balls with different spin, speed, placement, and trajectory.
• Start exercise with serve, which inserts a natural pause before each repetition.
• Limitless memory places, including 21 pre-programmed exercises from Richard Prause.
• Videos showing top players demonstrating each pre-programmed exercise, or add your own.
• IFC (Individual Frequency Control) function for more natural timing of balls in an exercise.
• Mirror switch to quickly change exercise for either right or left handed player.
• Alternate play and break periods (interval training) with the Cycle function.
• 3rd Ball Attack Training with serve detection to know when to play the first return.
• This manual also available onscreen on the tablet.
Covered by a full 2-year Manufacturer’s Warranty and 5-year guarantee of parts and service availabil-
ity. See full warranty information on page 32.
CAUTIONS
• Please read this Owner’s Manual carefully before using the machine.
• This machine may only be connected to 100–230 V current.
• The ball throw wheels rotate at high speed. Avoid touching the wheels during operation!
• Use this product only in enclosed and dry rooms.
Used properly, your Amicus Prime will always be a great training partner and friend (Amicus is Latin for
Friend).

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IMPORTANT: Please read instructions carefully prior to use!
Contents
1. Setup ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4
2. Tablet......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
3. Operation................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Nomenclature .......................................................................................................................................................................7
Adjustment Of Head Height .............................................................................................................................................7
Setting Up Your Tablet....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Aligning The Robot To The Centerline .......................................................................................................................... 8
Ball Screen ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Exercise Screens ................................................................................................................................................................ 11
Changing Settings During Play .....................................................................................................................................15
Creating A New Exercise & Modifying An Exercise..................................................................................................15
Saving And Deleting An Exercise ..................................................................................................................................16
Sequences............................................................................................................................................................................16
Creating And Saving Sequences...................................................................................................................................17
Playing A Sequence...........................................................................................................................................................17
Editing And Deleting Sequences.................................................................................................................................. 18
Editing And Saving Exercises Within A Sequence................................................................................................... 18
Modifying The Exercise List............................................................................................................................................ 18
Connection Manager ........................................................................................................................................................19
Calibration...........................................................................................................................................................................20
Remote Switch...................................................................................................................................................................20
Linking The Remote Switch To The Tablet...................................................................................................................21
Changing The Batteries In The Remote Switch .......................................................................................................21
Other Functions Of The Robot Screen .......................................................................................................................21
Functions Of The Information Screen ....................................................................................................................... 22
4. Take Down, Storage, & Transport ...................................................................................................................... 22
5. Maintenance & Repair.......................................................................................................................................... 23
Cautions............................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Checking & Adjusting Wheel Clearance .................................................................................................................... 24
Replacing The Wheels...................................................................................................................................................... 24
Ball Jams ............................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Other Maintenance........................................................................................................................................................... 27
6. Troubleshooting.................................................................................................................................................... 27
7. List of Replacement Parts ..................................................................................................................................30
8. Technical Data....................................................................................................................................................... 32
9. Warranty Information ......................................................................................................................................... 32
Full 2-Year Manufacturer‘s Warranty ......................................................................................................................... 32
10. List Of Factory Exercises ..................................................................................................................................33

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1. Setup
a. Robot and Net Assembly
b. Power Supply (Input: 100 – 240 V, Output: 24V DC, 2.7A)
c. Tablet
d. Tablet Cable
e. Tablet Power Supply
f. Control Panel Bracket
g. Remote Switch Fob
h. Plug Adapter (if applicable)
Other parts: Hex wrenches (2 and 4mm) for wheels, Wheel Ad-
justment Gauge (black tube with fins), spare rubber bands for Side
Nets, Velcro strips. Repair White Strips for repair of Deflector Plate.
1. Place the robot on top of your table tennis table. Fold apart
both sides of the net at the same time until the first stop (Photo
1A). Rotate towards you the curved Support Legs into the posi-
tion as seen in Photo 1B (about 15–20 cm, or 6–8 in. apart).
2. Rotate the entire robot 180° with the Support Legs facing away
from you. From behind, grasp the robot with both hands on the
bottom of the Base. Pick up the robot, angle the Support Legs
downward, slip them under the end of your table, and push the
robot onto the end of the table. Gently let go of the base and
the robot will hang by its own weight as seen in Photo 2.
Please note that Amicus robots can fit tables with tops 9 mm to
25mm thick. To adjust, unscrew the rubber tip on each Support
Leg by an amount equal to the difference between 25mm and
the thickness of your tabletop. E.g., if your tabletop is 19mm
thick, you will need to unscrew each rubber tip 6 mm (25 mm–
19mm). When correctly adjusted, your robot should be level and
plumb (vertical). Occasionally the screw underneath the rubber
tip becomes stuck. To free, remove the rubber tip and turn the
screw with a hex wrench or pair of pliers.
CAUTION: Please use the included longest Velcro strip to help
secure the robot to the end of the table. This is especially im-
portant if children play around the table. The Velcro strip helps
stabilize the robot to prevent it being knocked off the table.
3. Loosen the large Black Knob found on the rear of the Ball Tube.
Rotate the head 180° and then pull the head upwards until the
3rd coloured ring on the tube is just visible (Photo 3A), then
tighten the Black Knob to hold it in place (but not too tightly).
Lastly, fasten the Head Cable coming from the head to the serial
connector found on top of the Base (Photo 3B).
Photo 1A
Photo 1B
Photo 2
Support Legs

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Photo 3A Photo 3B
4. Standing behind the robot, grip the top of the net and fold the net down on both sides until the net
fully opens (as seen in Photo 4A). Fit the Net Corner Brackets around the corners of your table as
seen in Photo 4B.
Photo 4A Photo 4B
NOTE: We recommend attaching the two shortest Velcro strips to the corners of your table under-
neath the Net Corner Brackets to help the brackets stay down and stabilize the entire net.
5. Pull a side net along the sideline of the table and pass its thick rubber band over the top of the
table’s net standard (see Photo 5A). Then wrap the rubber band around the Clamp Screw that holds
the net onto the table. Attach the Side Net’s Velcro tab to its matching piece located on the Net
Corner Bracket as seen in Photo 5B.
Photo 5A Photo 5B
Pass band
over net
standard
Secure
Velcro
flap here
Head Cable
Net Corner
Bracket
Wrap band
around clamp
screw
Black Knob

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6. Plug your Power Supply into a power outlet and
then into the power socket on the side of the
Base (See Photo 6). Attach the Tablet to the
Control Panel Bracket and slip it onto the side
of the table closest to your free hand. Adhere
a long Velcro strip to side of table to prevent
bracket from slipping off. Lastly, connect the
Tablet Cable from the 3.5mm socket (next to
the power socket) to the USB-micro port of
your tablet.
2. Tablet
1. Power Button — Used to turn the tablet on and off. Hold down for a few seconds. Brief press to put
tablet to sleep.
2. Headphone Jack — Connect headphones or earphones here. Not used for Amicus operations currently.
3. Micro USB Port — Can be used to charge tablet from robot with provided Tablet Cable, or alterna-
tively, charge the tablet by connecting it to a user-supplied USB Charger..
4. DC Power Port — Plug the provided Tablet Power Supply into a power outlet and then into this port.
This keeps the tablet’s battery charged. If unplugged, tablet has approximately 4 hours of battery
time when new. We recommend leaving the tablet plugged into power to prevent the Power Saver
function from turning off the screen during play.
Photo 6
Plug power
cord here
Plug Tablet
Cable here
1
8 9
2
3
4
5
7
Photo 7
6

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5. Volume Button — Press left side of button to turn volume up and right side to turn volume down.
6. TF Card Slot — Insert a TF or micro SD Card here to increase storage capacity of tablet, backup
custom exercises, or transfer exercises when there is no internet connection.
7. Reset Hole — Insert paper clip here to reset the tablet.
8. Rear-Facing Camera — Currently unused by Amicus, but can be used for Android operations.
9. Speaker Outlet — For best sound, do not cover this outlet.
10. Front-Facing Camera — Currently unused by Amicus, but can be used for Android operations.
3. Operation
Nomenclature
To assist in clearly communicating the various features of your robot, it is necessary to define how we
refer to certain elements. Here are various terms used throughout this manual:
Ball Type — 4 controls affect Ball Type: Spin, Speed, Sidespin, and Trajectory.
Ball Placement — the left/right location where a ball lands, determined by the Place control.
Basic Ball — the ball thrown when the original Default game exercise is selected.
Current Ball — the ball that is currently selected as indicated by an orange circle.
Ball 1–10 — refers to the Ball Indicators (white circles) located along the right side of the table diagram.
The ball furthest left is Ball 1, and each successive ball to the right would be named Ball 2, Ball 3, etc..
Exercise — a series of between 1 and 10 balls. Also called drill, program, or rally.
Sequence — 2 or more exercises linked together, usually as a training routine, previously called Cluster.
1–4 Rings — how the head height adjustment is described. E.g., 3 rings would mean the head height is
adjusted so 3 rings (painted on the Ball Tube) are visible (see Photo 8).
Adjustment Of Head Height
On most table tennis robots, head height cannot be adjusted. In contrast, Amicus robots offer 4 different
heights to better simulate realistic play. It is quite easy to adjust the head height. From behind the net,
push the top of the net down to reach over it. Grab the curved ball tube with one hand and loosen the large
Black Knob with the other hand (see Photo 8). Pull the tube up or push it down to adjust head height. Lock
it in place by tightening the Black Knob just enough to hold the head in place.

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IMPORTANT: Before tightening the Black Knob,
be sure one of the painted rings is right at the top
of the lower tube (see Photo 8). Be careful not to
tighten the Black Knob too tightly — you can dent
the tube if tightened too much. Failure to adjust
correctly can result in ball jams, double throws,
missed throws, and other ball feed issues.
Setting Up Your Tablet
Before beginning play on your robot, it is best to connect your tablet to the internet and set your local
time. Hold down the Power button on the tablet until the screen turns on and then let go of the button.
Soon you should see the Amicus logo appear and then the Exercise List.
Touch at bottom to go to the Home screen. Next, touch , and then the Settings icon. The first set-
ting is Wi-Fi, press it. Then tap on your preferred Wi-Fi network. Type in your password (if required), and
tap Connect. You should see Connected in the Wi-Fi list underneath your selected network.
Go back to the Settings list by pressing ← at the top left of the screen. Select Date & Time. Then select
your time zone. Next, verify Automatic date & time is set to On (if you don’t have internet access, you
can set time manually). Touch at bottom right and then tap the Amicus window to return to that app.
Next, verify you have the latest version of the Amicus app by touching Info ( ) at bottom right. At top
of resulting screen, touch Check For Updates (requires internet access). If an update is available, a pop-
up widow appears. Tap Update. After the update is downloaded, a new popup appears. Tap Install. If no
update is available, the message, Is currently the latest version briefly displays at the bottom.
Lastly, connect your robot to your tablet using its Bluetooth connection. At the bottom of the Amicus
app, verify that the Robot icon shows a connection ( ). If it shows unconnected ( ), click on that icon,
and look for Amicus BTLE in the Connection Manager. Then touch Connect to establish a connection
between robot and tablet. If you have trouble making a connection, please verify that your robot is
powered on and that Location and Bluetooth tabs in Settings are both turned On. Then return to the
Exercise List by pressing Exercises ( ) at the bottom. To troubleshoot the connection, see page 19.
Aligning The Robot To The Centerline
After completing Setup on pages 4–64–6, place about 50 or more 40 or 40+ balls (use one or the other, but
do not mix them together) into the Ball Collection Tray. Grab your racket and prepare to return balls
from your robot. In the Exercise List, tap Default game, and then Play Exercise. Basic Balls are delivered
along the centerline. Observe where balls land in relation to the centerline. Press Stop Exercise. If balls
are not delivered on or very close to the centerline, loosen the Black Knob on the rear of the Ball Tube
(see Photo 8) and rotate the head in the direction necessary for balls to land closer to the centerline.
Repeat until all balls are landing very close to or on the centerline, and then stop ball delivery.
Ball Screen
Staying in the Default game exercise, press (see Photo 9). It turns orange and opens the Ball screen
where you can adjust the settings for that ball (see Photo 10):
Photo 8
Adjust
height so
lowest ring
is barely
showing
Black Knob

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Place determines the left to right placement of the ball. Hold down
the slider handle and move it back and forth. Notice that the ball’s
position on the diagram at the top moves left and right across the
table diagram in response to this setting. “0” corresponds with a
centerline placement, -8 with an extreme angle off the left side of
the table, and 8 with an extreme angle off the right side.
Ball/min % (aka, Individual Frequency Control, or IFC) delays or
quickens the timing between balls. After setting Ball/min to your
liking, use this control when the timing between any two balls is too
little or too much. For example, an exercise with a slow, short back-
spin serve followed by several fast topspin shots. Or, an exercise
with several fast topspins followed by a slow, high popup. A “0” set-
ting means that the timing between balls is as set for Ball/min. Add
more time after a ball by using negative settings (this reduces the
Ball/min setting for that one Ball) or reduce the time after a ball by
using a positive setting (which increases Ball/min for that one ball).
Sidespin changes the orientation of the spin on the ball. The “0”
setting means no sidespin. Every step from “0” represents a 15°
change in orientation. Settings to the right of “0” are degrees of
right sidespin and to the left are degrees of left sidespin.
Speed determines how hard the ball is thrown. A setting of 1 means
the speed is very slow and 25 means it’s very fast, with 13 being
the default speed in the middle. Please note that the number in the
middle of the circle (that represents this ball) changes in response
to this setting. So a 13 in the circle means a speed of 13 and a 25
means a speed of 25. The effect of this setting is shown on both the
top view and side view diagrams of the table.
Spin determines if the ball has topspin, backspin, or no spin. “0”
indicates no spin (dead ball) and the circle is coloured gray. Positive
settings mean degrees of topspin with 1 being very light topspin,
and 7 being extremely heavy topspin. As topspin is increased, the
circle shows a longer and longer green arrow in a clockwise direction. Negative settings mean degrees
of backspin with -1 meaning light backspin and -5 meaning very heavy backspin. A longer and longer red
arrow around the circle in a counterclockwise direction indicates increasing amounts of backspin.
Trajectory is the vertical slider along the left side of the screen. This sets the throw angle of the ball.
A “0” setting indicates a ball thrown straight out with only a slight upward angle. When this slider is
moved upward, the robot will throw the ball increasingly higher. And when this slider is moved down-
ward, it means a lower throw angle. The lowest settings are used to make the ball bounce first on the
robot’s end of the table (a serve). Its effect is shown on both the side view and top view diagrams.
The Sector switch lets you set a range of Placements (see Place) for a ball. For example, instead of
specifying a ball thrown to Placement 4, you specify a range of ±4, which would tell the robot to throw a
ball randomly anywhere in the right court.
To activate Sector, please see Photo 11. The Sector Switch is turned on and there are now 2 slider but-
tons in the Place control instead of one. Move these two buttons to select the range for the placement.
Photo 9
Photo 10

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In Photo 11, the range has been set to 4 ±4, which results in that
ball being thrown randomly anywhere between Placements 0 and 8.
As the buttons are moved back and forth, the Place setting (given
directly underneath the side view diagram) changes accordingly.
When Sector is turned on, the ball icon has a gray line running
through it (Photo 12). Its length provides an approximate width of
the range. You also see the gray line in the Exercise List (Photo 13):
IMPORTANT: Sector overrides Random Scatter and Random Place
functions (explained in Exercise Screens, page 11). If any ball in
an exercise uses Sector, the Random Scatter and Random Place
functions won’t work until Sector is turned off.
The Sector range must be set in increments of 2 units because it is
given as equal plus and minus values from a midpoint. For example,
you cannot select a range from 0-7. You would need to select 0-8
(4 ±4), 0-6 (3 ±3), or 1-7 (4 ±3).
The Serve switch can be used on the first 3 balls of an exercise.
When switched on, it introduces a 1.5 second delay before that ball.
This simulates the normal pause that occurs before the serve in an
actual game. If more than one Ball is designated as a Serve, then
the robot automatically picks one of those Balls and starts the Ex-
ercise with that Ball. Balls designated as Serves are coloured pink.
For example, let’s say Ball 1 is thrown to the backhand, Ball 2 is
thrown to the center, and Ball 3 is thrown to the forehand. All
3 balls are designated as Serves. For the 1st repetition of that
exercise, there is a 1.5 second delay, Ball 1 is served to start the
exercise, and then that Serve is followed by all other programmed
balls not designated as Serves. The 2nd repetition will also have a
1.5 second delay, then start with Ball 2, and followed by all other
balls not designated as Serves. The 3rd repetition will follow a
similar pattern except its serve will be Ball 3. The 4th repetition uses
Ball 1 as the serve. However, if Type RND is turned on, the serve is
selected at random to start each repetition of the exercise instead
of following the exact order as just described.
Underneath all the sliders are 2 buttons, Play and Sample. To test
your settings for a ball, tap Sample. It changes to Stop Sample
and samples of the Current Ball are repeatedly thrown at the rate
determined by the Ball/min setting. When you finish sampling the
Current Ball, touch Stop Sample. Repeat until the Current Ball is to
your liking. Use Sample to throw only the Current Ball.
When you touch Play, you are switched to the Stop Exercise
screen. Balls are thrown out in order from Ball 1 to however many
Balls are in that exercise (unless Place Random is selected.) Use
Play to throw all balls in an exercise.
Photo 12
Photo 13
Photo 11