Tamasu Butterfly Europa GmbH 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!
• Programmed or random delivery of balls with different spin, speed, direction, and trajectory.
• Start Exercise with serve, which inserts a natural pause before each repetition.
• Limitless memory places, including 20 pre-programmed Exercises from Richard Prause.
• IFC (Individual Frequency Control) function for more natural timing of balls in an Exercise.
• Mirror play switch to quickly change Exercise for either right or left handed player.
• Alternate play and break periods (interval training) with the Cycle function.
Covered by a full 2-year Manufacturer’s Warranty and 5-year guarantee of parts and service availabili-
ty. See full warranty information on page 29.
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!
The Control Panel chapter describes basic adjustments of the AMICUS PRIME table tennis robot.
More detailed instructions can be found in the Operation chapter.
Contents
1. Setup ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4
2. Control Tablet ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
3. Operation................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Nomenclature .......................................................................................................................................................................7
Adjustment Of Head Height .............................................................................................................................................7
Setting Up Your Tablet........................................................................................................................................................7
Orienting The Robot To The Centerline........................................................................................................................ 8
Ball Screen ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Exercise Screens ............................................................................................................................................................... 10
Changing Settings During Play .....................................................................................................................................13
Creating A New Exercise & Modifying An Exercise..................................................................................................14
Saving And Deleting An Exercise ..................................................................................................................................15
Sequences............................................................................................................................................................................16
Playing A Sequence...........................................................................................................................................................16
Creating and Saving Sequences ...................................................................................................................................17
Editing and Deleting Sequences ...................................................................................................................................17
Editing and Saving Exercises Within A Sequence....................................................................................................17
Modifying The Exercise List............................................................................................................................................ 18
Connection Manager ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
Calibration............................................................................................................................................................................19
The Remote Switch............................................................................................................................................................19
Linking The Remote To The Control Tablet.................................................................................................................19
Changing The Battery In Your Remote ......................................................................................................................20
Other Functions Of the Robot Screen.......................................................................................................................20
Functions Of the Information Screen........................................................................................................................20
4. Take Down, Storage, & Transport .......................................................................................................................21
5. Maintenance & Repair.......................................................................................................................................... 22
Cautions............................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Checking & Adjusting Wheel Clearance .................................................................................................................... 22
Replacing The Wheels...................................................................................................................................................... 23
Ball Jams ............................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Other Maintenance........................................................................................................................................................... 25
6. Troubleshooting.................................................................................................................................................... 25
7. List of Replacement Parts .................................................................................................................................. 27
8. Technical Data....................................................................................................................................................... 29
9. Warranty Information ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Full 2-year manufacturer‘s warranty.......................................................................................................................... 29

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1. Setup
a. Robot and Net Assembly
b. Power Supply (Input: 100 – 240 V, Output: 24 V DC, 3 A)
c. Control Tablet
d. Control Tablet Power Supply
e. Control Tablet Bracket
Other parts: Hex wrenches (2 and 4mm) for wheels, Wheel Adjust-
ment Gauge (black tube with fins), spare rub-ber bands for the Side
Nets, Velcro strips. White, steel strips to repair of the 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 tubular Support Legs into
the position 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 tennis 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 are designed to fit onto 25mm
(1 in.) thick tops. If your top is less than 25 mm thick, you will
need to adjust the Support Legs using the height adjusting
screws. Turn the screws inward until the thickness difference
between 25mm and your particular table surface is sufficiently
equalized.
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

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Photo 3A Photo 3B
4. Standing behind the robot, grip the top points of the net and fold the net down on both sides until
the net fully opens (as seen in Photo 4A). Fit the plastic Corner Brackets of the net around the
corners of your table as seen in Photo 4B.
Photo 4A Photo 4B
NOTE: You may attach the two shortest Velcro strips to the corners of your table underneath the
Corner Brackets to help the brackets stay down and stabilize the entire net.
5. Pull a Side Net along the side line of the table and pass its thick rubber band over the top of the
table’s net standard (see Photo 5A). Then loop 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 Corner
Bracket as seen in Photo 5B.
Photo 5A Photo 5B

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6. Plug your Power Supply into a power outlet
and then into the power jack on the side of the
Base (See Photo 6).
2. Control Tablet
1. Power Button — Used to turn the tablet on and off.
2. Headphone Jack — Connect headphones or earphones here. Not used for Amicus operations currently.
3. Micro USB Port — Can be used to connect tablet to robot with provided Control Tablet Cable or as
an alternative method to charge the tablet if connected to a USB Charger.
4. DC Power Port — Plug in 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 in to power to prevent the Power
Saver function from turning off the screen during play.
5. Volume Button — Press on the left side of this button to turn volume up and on the right side to turn
volume down.
6. TF Card Slot — Insert an optional TF or micro SD Card here to increase storage capacity of tablet
(to store more Exercises or other data).
7. Reset slot — Insert paper clip here to reset the tablet.
8. Rear-Facing Camera — Currently unused for Amicus operations, but can be used for Android oper-
ations.
9. Speaker Outlet — For best sound, do not cover this outlet.
10. Front-Facing Camera — Currently unused for Amicus operations, but can be used for Android
operations.
11. Control Tablet Holder — Tablet mounts onto holder with 2 Velcro strips, then holder mounts onto
Control Panel Bracket.
Photo 6

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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, Side spin, and Trajectory.
Ball Placement — the left/right location where a ball lands, determined by the Place control.
Basic Ball — the ball thrown when 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 sequence of between 1 and 10 shots. Also called drill, program, or rally.
Sequence — 2 or more Exercises linked together, usually as a training routine.
1 – 4 Rings — how the head height adjustment is described. E.g., 2 Rings would mean the head height is
adjusted so 2 rings (painted on the Ball Tube) are visible (see Photo 7).
Adjustment Of Head Height
On most table tennis robots, the height of the head
cannot be adjusted. In contrast, AMICUS PRIME
offers 4 different heights to better simulate real-
istic play. It is quite easy to adjust the head height.
From be hind 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 7). You can then pull the
tube up or push it down to adjust head height. Lock
it in place by tightening the Black Knob. (Be careful
not to tighten the knob too much.)
IMPORTANT: Before tightening the Black Knob, be sure one of the coloured rings painted on the ball
tube is right at the top of the lower tube (see Photo 7). Be careful not to tighten the Black Knob too
tightly—you can dent the tube if tightened too much. Failure to adjust the head height correctly can
result in ball jams, double throws, missed throws, and other 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 Butterfly logo appears and then let go of the
Photo 7

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button. Soon you should see the Amicus logo appear and then the Exercise List screen should appear.
Touch at bottom to go to the Home Screen. In the resulting screen, touch . The first setting is Wi-Fi,
press it. Then click on your preferred Wi-Fi network. Type in your password (if required), and press Con-
nect. You should see Connected in the Wi-Fi list underneath your preferred network.
Go back to the Settings list by pressing ← at the top left of the screen, next to Wi-Fi. Now select Date
& Time. Press Select time zone and in the resulting list, select your time zone. Lastly, verify that Auto-
matic 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 app 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. If an update is available, it will start downloading automati-
cally. If already up to date, the message, “Is currently the latest version”, is displayed 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 it is connected to your robot ( ). If it shows Unconnected ( ),
click on that icon, and look for your robot in the Connection Manager list. Then touch Connect to es-
tablish a connection between robot and tablet. Once connected, return to the Exercise List by pressing
Exercises ( ) at the bottom.
Orienting The Robot To The Centerline
After completing Step 5 on page 4, place about 50 or more 40 or 40+ balls into the Ball Collection
Tray. Grab your racket and prepare to return balls from your robot. In the Exercise List of the Amicus
app, press Default game, and then Play Exercise. Basic Balls should be delivered along the centerline.
Observe where the balls land in relation to the centerline. Press Stop Exercise after seeing where balls
are delivered. If balls are not delivered on or very close to the centerline, loosen the large Black Knob
on the rear of the Ball Tube (see Photo 7) 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, then stop
ball delivery.
Ball Screen
Staying in the Default game Exercise, press (see Photo 8). It turns yellow and opens the Ball Screen
where you can adjust the settings for that Ball (see Photo 9). You will notice 7 settings that you can
adjust:
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 of the table.
Ball/min % (aka, Individual Frequency Control, or IFC) delays or accelerates the timing between Balls
of an Exercise. Use this control whenever an Exercise has 2 or more Balls, and after setting Ball/min to
your liking, the timing between any two shots seems too little or too much. For example, when you start
with a slow, short backspin serve followed by a fast topspin shot. Or you have several fast topspins
followed by a slow, high no-spin pop-up. A “0” setting would mean that the timing between shots would
be as set for Ball/min. Add more time after a shot by using negative settings (this effectively reduces

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the Ball/min setting for that one Ball) or reduce the time after a
shot by using a positive setting (which increases the Ball/Min for
that one Ball).
Side spin changes the orientation of the spin on the ball. The “0”
setting means there is no sidespin on the ball. Every advance from
“0” represents a 15° change in orientation. Settings to the right
of zero are degrees of right sidespin and settings 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; whereas, 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 defines whether the ball has topspin, backspin, or no spin. “0”
indicates no spin (dead ball) and the circle is colored grey. Positive
settings mean degrees of topspin with 1 being very light topspin,
and 7 being extremely heavy topspin. Please note that 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 the counter
clockwise direction indicates increasing degrees 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 downward, it means a lower
throw angle, with the lowest settings 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 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
table tennis game. If more than one Ball is designated as a Serve, then the robot automatically picks
one of those Balls and starts the Exercise with that Ball. Balls designated as Serves are colored pink.
For example, let’s say Ball 1 is programmed to land in the backhand court, Ball 2 to land down the cen-
ter, and Ball 3 to land in the forehand court. All 3 Balls are designated as Serves. For the first repetition
of that Exercise, there will be a 1.5 second delay, the robot will serve Ball 1 to start the Exercise, and
then follow that Serve with any other programmed Balls that are not designated as Serves. The second
repetition will also have a 1.5 second delay, then start with Ball 2, and followed by any other Balls not
designated as Serves. The third repetition will follow a similar pattern except its Serve will be Ball 3. The
fourth repetition will use 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.
Photo 8
Photo 9

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Underneath all the sliders are 2 buttons, Play and Sample. To test your settings for a Ball, touch Sam-
ple. It will change to Stop sample and the robot will throw samples of the Current Ball repeatedly at the
rate determined by the Ball/min setting. When you are finished sampling the Current Ball, touch Stop
sample and ball delivery will stop. Keep repeating this process until the Current Ball is to your liking.
Use Sample to have the robot throw only the Current Ball.
When you touch Play, you will be switched to the Exercise Screen, and the Play Exercise Button changes
to a red Stop Exercise Button. Balls will be thrown out in order from Ball 1 to however many Balls are
programmed for that Exercise (unless Place Random is selected.) Use Play to have the robot throw all
Balls in an Exercise.
Best Practices: We highly recommend that you do not save any changes to the Default game Exercise.
This Exercise is handy to use whenever you want to Calibrate your robot. So when exiting the Exercise
Screen, if you get a Save Exercise alert, choose Close Without Save (more about saving exercises on).
Furthermore, if you are editing the settings for any pre-programmed Exercise, be certain you want to
permanently change that Exercise. If you want to keep the pre-programmed Exercises as programmed
at the factory, always select Close Without Save, or alternatively, save it under an alternate name by
tapping Save at the top right, then Save As. Save As allows you to create a new name for your modified
Exercise and keeps the original Exercise unchanged.
When changing settings, large adjustments are most easily accomplished by moving the slider control
with your finger. For fine adjustments, touch the + or – symbol at either end of the slider. Doing so will
increase/decrease the settings by 1 unit for every touch.
Exercise Screens
After learning the controls in the Ball Screen, return to the Exer-
cise List by tapping Exercises ( ) at bottom left of the screen. All
saved Exercises will appear in this list. By looking at the diagram for
each Exercise, you can quickly determine the number of balls in the
Exercise, the order of balls and their placements, the speed of the
balls, and the spin on each ball (see Photo 10).
Scroll this screen by lightly touching it and moving your finger up
or down. Notice that this list includes Exercises named Default
game and then 20 Exercises named Exercise 79 to Exercise 99
These are all of the pre-programmed Exercises that come with your
Amicus Prime. These Exercises were created by well-known Butter-
fly Coach Richard Prause. Coach Prause recommends these drills
for any player learning table tennis as a base upon which to develop
more advanced skills.
As noted in the previous section, we recommend you don’t over-
write these pre-programmed Exercises by using the Save command (use Save As instead). However,
modifying these Exercises is permitted. If you choose to do so, please write down the settings for each
Ball in that Exercise so you can reprogram the settings if you ever decide to return to factory settings.
For purposes of learning about the settings available in the Exercise Screens, touch Exercise 79. The
Play Exercise Screen appears (see Photo 11). At the top of this screen are a top view and a side view
Photo 10