Microbot WebUSB Download issues

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1

Hi, I’m using the MicroBot kit with a STEM Club of Middle School Students.

The first download/pairing goes great each time we start. Then, we unhook the USB and test the robots. After we do this 2 times, the download gets “stuck” and just sits there. We can refresh the webpage for MakeCode and restart MakeCode and it still gets stuck. We have tried “unpairing” and it still gets stuck.

I brought the bot home tonight and the work around seems to be to unplug the battery pack from the robot to be sure there is no power to the Microbit and then downloading. This has worked repeatedly.

Any thoughts? I can implement the work around with students, but would like to be able to give a good explanation of why it works.

Thanks

2

I also posted this in a MicroSoft forum. Here is the response I got from them:

We think this might be an issue in the micro:bit firmware where keeping the board powered via battery pack or edge connector (like a robot) and unplugging and replugging the USB cable can trigger issues with WebUSB.

We are looking into this issue, in the meantime the workaround is to remove all power sources from the micro:bit board and try again, after the micro:bit has been completely powered off it should work correctly.