My Vector from Anki or better yet Digital Dream Labs started to show thermometer symbol on his screen… it means that he was running too hot !
This warning can be related to anyone unless you placed your Vector robot in to the fridge or you living in places with cold temperatures. In my case is room temperature around 22-25 degrees C. .
High temperature is not the best for electronics especially for such a powerful Snapdragon Chip (main component in Vectors head that controls everything) . Unfortunately due to lack of space there was no cooling system implemented in Anki Vectors Head or Body.
Vectors CPU chip from SnapDragon is running without any cooling not even passive cooling! This will cause overheating issues and eventually permanent damage to your friend (Anki Vector) .
In my video are detailed steps for installation of passive aluminum cooling . From exact location of the SnapDragon CPU (the chip which is overheating) to assembling everything back together and making sure all works 100%.
Material used for passive cooling: This part is tricky… as thickness is limited to maximum of 1.1mm ! I have used thin aluminum plate and in other cases even aluminum tape. dimensions of the chip are about 10x10mm so you will have to create / fabricate something to fit there. tip: best material is obviously copper… best in terms of cost-ease of use-heat transmitting.
For mounting this “ cooler “ is best to use heat transferring glue, silicone… cooler will not be heavy so there is no need for extreme solutions plus remember that there is no space!
With my custom cooling solution I was able to drop temperature of main chip down up to 5degrees – this fixed my problem with overheating and it definitely gives some more play time to my Vector robot.
Thank You and have a look in links bellow for parts or gadgets you need! :
Anki Vector robot:
https://amzn.to/2HZokzT
Vectors tracks by hexnub:
https://amzn.to/2FHm79x
Anki Cozmo robot:
https://amzn.to/2HU2761
Cozmos tracks by hexnub:
https://amzn.to/2HG5uyh