HELP PLEASE! Anyone Else Own a Vincross HEXA and Having Problems Signing Onto Your Account?

Help & Support Robots & Kits
21

Again, thank you for updating us!

Also, your robot looks cute :slight_smile:

And, it looks very well made as you already mentioned!

22

Hi bud, no we did not get any joy sadly. We put brand new fully charged 18650 batteries in but it’s still dead.

Sadly I think I used the wrong charger, which was 12v instead of 9v.

Any pointers on what to look for on the charger circuits To fault find the lack of power issues?

Thanks

23

We have bought and installed brand new 18650 batteries.

Sadly our hexa is still complete dead.

24

I am sorry to hear this.

There are only a few situations which come to mind:

  1. The earlier try with a 12V DC charger fried your power/charging circuit (the Input Voltage is 9V DC).
  2. You have an early HEXA that was damaged by the heat from the Induction Charging Disc. This may be repariable and there is a “fix” that I can post if you want to give it a try.
  3. It is possible that you knocked the power connector off (or dislodged it) when reassembling the Main PCB after replacing the batteries. I am hoping that this is the case. Thre is little room to navagate the delicate connections that must be made to the Main PCB due to the Head Shell space restrictions when dealing with short cable leads. Also, you may have a bad connection between the small top PCB in the Purple Head Shell that connects Video and other functions. These thiin ribbon cable connections must be checks at both ends.

Try the suggestions in 3. and advise.

Good Luck.

1 Like
25

@tobar8th Hi!

Everything you said about connecting direct link to the Hexa, my issue is that I’m not logged into the app. I have the app, and it has my email address in the box, but pressing next does nothing. Is this going to prevent me from doing all the other steps?

Thanks

1 Like
26

Hi there,

Another long time Hexa owner here. I’m in a similar situation as now the app has disappeared from Apple’s App Store. I last logged in to the App a good 18 months ago having not used Hexa for a while. I noticed my Hexa was missing from ‘my Hexa’ in the App - as though it had been unregistered. As a result, I couldn’t connect to it and it wouldn’t go into direct link mode. I e-mailed Vincross several times and received no reply. I figured they’d gone bust and walked away, but it’s always nagged at me. It’s such a well engineered piece of kit but bricked without their servers. The final nail for me was when I tried to reset it in order to QR code link it again (while the app was still working). This didn’t work either, and probably killed any attempt to use direct link mode in the future. I know the Hexa runs a version of Linux OS, but the user base is too small and niche to support a jailbreak. I did hear there was a Discord server on it - if anyone out there still has any info, please do ping me here.

1 Like
27

Title: Need Help to Reactivate HEXA After Vincross Closure

Message:

Hello everyone,

I urgently need help reactivating my HEXA robot, as I’m facing multiple issues. Here’s a detailed summary of my situation:

  1. Context:
  • Vincross has shut down and no longer provides official support or functional applications (both the APK and mobile app are not working).
  • I’m trying to connect and reactivate HEXA, but I haven’t had any success so far.
  1. What I’ve Tried:
  • I connected to HEXA’s Wi-Fi network and verified its IP (192.168.251.1) using ping, which responds but occasionally shows some packet loss.
  • I attempted to access the admin panel of the IP via a web browser, but only found a generic router configuration page.
  • I conducted port scans (nmap) to check for active services like SSH or HTTP. The results showed:
    • Ports are blocked or marked as filtered.
    • No visible services on common ports like 80 (HTTP) or 22/2222 (SSH).
  • I tried connecting via USB to HEXA using commands like lsusb and exploring /dev/tty.*. No USB-related ports were detected, and I couldn’t interact using serial tools like screen.
  1. Additional Tests:
  • I created Python scripts to attempt connections via HTTP (requests) and SSH (paramiko). Both failed:
    • HTTP returned Connection refused on port 80.
    • SSH showed no connection possible on the tested ports (22 and 2222).
  • I installed tools like usbutils to check physical connections but found no evidence that HEXA exposes a functional USB port.
  1. Current Situation:
  • I cannot interact with HEXA or enable basic services like SSH or HTTP.
  • I have no access to Vincross’s apps or tools due to the company’s closure.
  • I need a way to restore HEXA to its default state or enable essential services to use the robot.
  1. My Question:
  • Has anyone else faced a similar issue with HEXA?
  • How can I reactivate HEXA and access its basic functions?
  • Are there alternative methods to enable services like SSH, HTTP, or interact via USB?

I would appreciate any guidance, whether it’s additional technical steps, useful tools, or experiences with Vincross robots after the company’s closure. Thanks in advance for your help!

Additional Note:

If you have details like the specific HEXA model or firmware version, consider adding them to the post for more context.

28

Looks like it’s largely for developers now that the official documentation and APP are not longer available

Ex: GitHub - SERLatBTH/StarterGuide-HexaRobot

1 Like
29

Hello community,

We’re working hard to revive and control a HEXA robot after the closure of Vincross, but we’ve hit some roadblocks. Here’s a detailed summary of what we’ve accomplished so far, what challenges remain, and how others might help:

What We’ve Achieved:

  1. USB Connection:
  • Successfully connected HEXA to a MacBook Air using a USB Type-C cable.
  • Verified that the MacBook detects the USB buses (AppleT8122USBXHCI), but HEXA doesn’t expose any ports such as /dev/tty.* or /dev/cu.* for direct interaction.
  1. Network and SSH:
  • Scanned HEXA’s IP address (192.168.251.1) using tools like ping and nmap. While the device responds to pings, the SSH port (22) is filtered and inaccessible.
  1. SDK CLI Attempts:
  • Attempted to install the MIND SDK CLI using commands provided in the Vincross documentation.
  • Faced issues downloading the CLI due to inactive Vincross URLs (cdn-static.vincross.com). The command mind scan is not recognized, and alternative sources for the CLI are unavailable.
  1. Direct Interaction Attempts:
  • Tried using screen to connect to HEXA via /dev/tty.usbmodemXXXXX, but HEXA doesn’t seem to be properly configuring a USB serial port for communication.

Remaining Challenges:

  1. USB Detection:
  • HEXA doesn’t appear to expose a serial port or provide a way to interact with commands through USB.
  1. Network Services:
  • Unable to access SSH or HTTP services for remote control. The Vincross app and APK are no longer functional, leaving us unable to activate HEXA or load any official skills.
  1. SDK Availability:
  • Lack of access to the MIND SDK CLI is a major hurdle in developing or running custom skills on HEXA.

What We Need Help With:

  1. USB Interaction:
  • Has anyone managed to configure HEXA as a serial device on macOS or force it to expose USB functionality?
  1. SDK Alternatives:
  • Are there any community-built versions of the MIND CLI or repositories that provide similar functionality?
  1. Restoring Functionality:
  • Is there a way to force HEXA into a reset mode or activate services manually, especially SSH or USB?
  1. Control Without Vincross:
  • If you’ve successfully controlled HEXA after Vincross shut down, what tools or techniques did you use?

Final Notes:

We’re determined to unlock HEXA’s potential again and make it operational for movement and custom programming. Any insights, alternative tools, or guidance would be immensely helpful! Thank you in advance for your support and time.

1 Like
30

Hi folks, this is great that someone’s trying to resurrect what is an excellent little platform that’s remarkably well built. I have a friend who was doing some experiments with direct control over the Hexa servos using a spare robot chassis. I’ll include his comments below:

"you can use strace to track what commands it is sending for moving limbs, this was a script that let you pose it in blender and then outputted the values, so you can create an animation and then export it

servoarray = [

['V000', '1763'],

['V001', '1450'],

['V002', '1515'],

['V003', '1692'],

['V004', '1383'],

['V005', '1533'],

['V006', '1737'],

['V007', '1448'],

['V008', '1398'],

['V009', '1713'],

['V010', '1413'],

['V011', '1424'],

['V012', '1670'],

['V013', '1359'],

['V014', '1544'],

['V015', '1768'],

['V016', '1430'],

['V017', '1515']

]

leg_names = [

(0, 'tip'),

(0, 'mid'),

(0, 'rotate'),

(2, 'tip'),

(2, 'mid'),

(2, 'rotate'),

(1, 'tip'),

(1, 'mid'),

(1, 'rotate'),

(4, 'tip'),

(4, 'mid'),

(4, 'rotate'),

(5, 'tip'),

(5, 'mid'),

(5, 'rotate'),

(3, 'tip'),

(3, 'mid'),

(3, 'rotate')

]

@app.route(‘/send/’, methods=[‘POST’,“GET”])

def send_values2(sebd):

#testecho= '''echo "CMD7234 V005P1533V004P1383V003P1692V017P1515V016P1430V015P1768V011P1424V010P1413V009P1713V014P1544V013P1359V012P1670V002P1515V001P1450V000P1463V008P1398V007P1448V006P1737T0150##\r" > /dev/ttymxc2'''

testecho= '''echo "CMD7234 {}##\r" > /dev/ttymxc2'''.format(sebd)

so you can address them individually, or send a long command that has all of the limbs. it looks more complex than it is

and this was a html three.js frontend for moving it

can’t remember how complete that was…"

1 Like