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Cinebot Mini — Unboxing, Assembly & First Startup

CONFIRMED CINEBOT MINI FLAIR 7

This is a high-level checklist for unboxing a Cinebot Mini and powering it up for the first time. It is not a substitute for the included assembly video — several steps (crate disassembly order, umbilical cable routing) are much easier to follow visually than in text. Watch the linked tutorial for the exact physical steps.

Robot Parts & Terminology

Useful naming for the rest of this guide and for the Flair manual, working from the bottom of the rig up:

  • Rail — the section with leveling feet to level the rig, and a center gear track called the racking that the track motor drives against.
  • Buffers — physical bump stops at each end of the rail sections; they mark the rig's hard mechanical travel limit, separate from any software soft limit.
  • Base — houses the track motor and the robot's emergency stops.
  • Bearings — the ball-bearing units that ride along the rail; effectively everything on the rig rolls on these.
  • Extension — raises the arm's mounting height above the base; extensions come in different lengths depending on the rig configuration.
  • Mitchell / Moy nut — the industry-standard mounting fitting on the underside of the robot (also found on many tripods). On the rig it's a bayonet fitting held by four bolts; undo the bolts and the whole unit can be lifted off and bayonet-mounted onto a tripod or dolly instead.
  • Umbilical — the single combined cable bundle running from the robot back to the control case, carrying both power and data (camera video, E-stop/EOP loop, etc.).
  • Focus assist camera (on rigs fitted with one) — does automatic focus assist; it works reasonably well from roughly 20 cm and beyond, but is not well suited to true macro work unless the lens itself keeps working distance far from the subject.
  • Lens motor / mat bar — the lens motor clamps onto the "mat bar" (also called a rod), available in the two industry-standard sizes: 15 mm and 19 mm. Removable inserts adapt the clamp between the two — fit the inserts for 15 mm rod, remove them for 19 mm.

Unboxing & Assembly

  1. Open the crate: remove the lid screws first, then the side-panel screws — these hold the internal wood supports that keep the robot secured in transit. On the last screw, have a second person support the wood as it comes free.
  2. Once the side panel is off, remove the internal supports, then lift out the main robot case/box.
  3. Alongside the robot you'll find (depending on what was ordered): the tilter/focus motors in their own box, risers (bubble-wrapped), a box of loose accessory parts, and a Peli case containing the control laptop plus (if purchased) the network trigger box and laser bloop light.
  4. The base and rail are packed separately, secured with strapping and battens — remove the strapping before lifting the base out.
  5. Before moving the base on its wheels, check the wheel units are engaged: pull out the locking pin so it locks in place. Fixed (larger) wheel units are at the back; the smaller front ones are the ones you steer with.
  6. Rail sections ship with the gearbox pinion held out of mesh with a cable tie, to protect it in transit — remove the tie, then screw the pinch-wheel assembly in lightly (you should still be able to turn the wheel underneath by hand) to bring the pinion into mesh with the rack.
  7. Connect the umbilical between the control case and the robot. It carries power and data — familiarise yourself with which connector goes where (camera video, EOP/e-stop loop, etc.) before powering anything on.

First Power-Up Sequence

  1. Power on the robot's controller first — it takes roughly a minute to fully start. Power the PC on any time; order doesn't matter for the PC.
  2. If a lens/focus motor is plugged in, it will start auto-homing (finding its end limits) as soon as it's powered. If you don't have a camera mounted yet, unplug the lens motor first, or it will just keep cycling.
  3. The camera draws power from the same mains feed but doesn't turn on by itself — switch it on separately.
  4. Start Flair. Depending on what's installed it may go straight to Flair 7, or show Flair Classic first before switching.
  5. If Flair was last shut down by cutting power rather than exiting normally, it may prompt to reload previous stored positions — this is normally safe to accept. This prompt appears per network board (the track has its own board, separate from the main arm, just as the turntable has its own board if fitted) — accepting it means "yes, that board's home position is still valid," so as long as you haven't physically moved the axis since, you won't need to rehome it.
  6. Engage Robot. If it reports it isn't in remote mode yet, that's usually just the controller not being fully ready — give it a moment. On a Cinebot Mini this takes a few seconds the first time: the controller runs a sequence that measures the payload weight, checks nothing has changed dramatically since it last ran, then releases the brakes. The axes go green once this finishes and they're actually live. The track is controlled separately and does not engage automatically with the arm — turn it on as its own step, or it won't respond even though the rest of the rig shows green.

Homing, Zeroing & Setting Track Limits

Homing (also called zeroing — the two terms mean the same thing) tells Flair where the rig physically is. It matters because if power is lost, a cable gets unplugged, or you're continuing the same shot later — possibly at a different location or weeks apart — Flair needs a known reference position for the move to match exactly.

On a Cinebot Mini, the arm always knows its own position on power-up, so homing the arm isn't critical. The track is different — track length and configuration can change between jobs (one rail section today, three another time), which shifts both the home position and the travel limits. Always home the track before setting its limits.

How Track Homing Works

  • A datum magnet (also called the zeroing or "Z-sensing" magnet) is fixed to the racking somewhere along the rail; a sensor underneath the base detects it. This is what Flair uses as the zero/home reference.
  • Separate limit magnets are fitted at each end of the rail — a protective hardware cutoff, distinct from the datum magnet, that stops the track before it runs off the end.
  • Position the track on the correct side of the datum magnet before homing. The sensor only registers the magnet while travelling in the seek direction — if you power up already past it, homing won't find it. If unsure which side you're on, move to the far end of the rail first, then home.
  • To home: Zero menu > Home Axis (Track individually, or All), or right-click the axis and choose Home — not "Go To," which just drives directly to the last stored position without re-seeking the magnet.
  • Once the datum magnet is found, Flair sets that as the zero/home/datum position, then backs off by a configured zero offset (roughly 20 cm in the reference setup) rather than sitting exactly on the magnet.

The Three Kinds of Limits

  1. Physical (hard) limit — the mechanical buffer at each end of the rail; if the track runs into it, the motor cuts out.
  2. Magnetic limit — a hardware sensor cutoff using the same type of magnet as the datum sensor, embedded in the racking near each end. Adding or removing rail sections means physically relocating this magnet to the new end of the rail.
  3. Soft limit — a value set in software that stops the track gently before it reaches the magnetic/physical limit. The axis must be homed before soft limits can be set.

You get about 3 seconds to move off a limit magnet

If the track is re-enabled while still sitting on (or very near) the magnetic limit, you have roughly 3 seconds to move it off before the axis automatically disengages again.

Setting a Soft Limit

  1. Home the track first (see above).
  2. Jog the track toward the end you're setting a limit for — expect it to hit the magnetic limit and disengage; that confirms where the hardware limit is.
  3. Re-enable the track and move it back off the magnet (within the ~3-second window above).
  4. Open Setups > Axis Setup, find the Track axis's Limit Minimum / Maximum fields.
  5. Either type the position directly, or use the button that stores the current axis position into the field, then press Apply to use it immediately.
  6. Apply is temporary (until Flair closes); Save also writes it to disk so it's reloaded automatically next time Flair starts.
  7. Repeat at the other end of the track. Redo this whenever the physical track configuration changes (rail sections added or removed).

Lens Motor Limits

Lens motors handle their own limits differently — they self-calibrate and work out their own end-of-travel limits automatically on power-up. If a motor is unplugged/removed, or the lens is moved by hand while the motor is off, the motor loses track of its position and needs recalibrating before it's driven again, or it doesn't know where the physical stops are.

To recalibrate: hold the motor's Calibrate button — it flashes while sweeping to find both end limits, then turns solid (stops flashing) once it's finished and ready to drive normally. Power-cycling the motor (unplug/replug) has the same effect if auto-calibrate-on-power is enabled.

Connecting to the Robot's Own Interface (Teach Pendant Software)

The robot controller has its own interface, independent of Flair, reachable at any time (even with Flair closed) via MRMC's teach-pendant-style software:

  1. Open the pendant software, press Connect.
  2. Enter the password: mrmc1234.
  3. If it reports the robot needs to be powered on, press through — this isn't always required; it depends on how the robot was last shut down.
  4. If the robot was powered off without being cleanly shut down from Flair first, you'll get a robot position verification screen — confirm it matches the robot's actual current pose, then continue.
  5. Back in Flair: Start the engage sequence, switch to Remote, then Engage Robot again. The axes turn green once the motors are live.

Never free-drive with the wrong payload set

Never enable free drive (or Push Moco) immediately after changing what's mounted on the robot without first telling Flair the new payload. If you remove a camera and free-drive without updating the payload, the arm reads gravity wrong (assumes weight that isn't there) and can move upward on its own. The reverse — adding weight without updating payload — can cause it to drop. Always set the payload correctly before driving the arm by hand.

Setting the Payload (Teach Pendant Method)

This is a different, more precise method than the Flair 7 payload wizard covered in Cinebot Mini/Max — Payload Wizard Missing — this one runs through the robot's own teach pendant software:

  1. Switch the robot out of Remote (Flair) control into Local control (pendant software has authority).
  2. In the pendant software: Installation > Payload > Measure.
  3. Move the robot's small wrist-joint axes (not the large main axes) into four distinct positions, pressing Set Position and Next after each. It's the wrist joints that let the system triangulate the payload's centre of gravity — the large axes moving doesn't help this measurement.
  4. After the fourth position, press Finish, then Save All.
  5. Switch back to Remote control and re-engage the robot from Flair.
YouTube 1 - Unboxing the Cinebot Mini Flair 7

▶ Full crate-to-assembled-rig walkthrough, including transport-prep notes

YouTube 3 - Overview of the Cinebot Mini Flair 7

▶ 00:13 — Rail, racking, buffers, base E-stops, bearings, and extension naming ▶ 01:20 — Mitchell/Moy nut base fitting, removal and tripod/dolly mounting

YouTube 4 - Starting up the Cinebot Mini Flair 7

▶ Full power-up sequence, teach pendant connection, and payload measurement via wrist-joint positions

YouTube 6 - Starting Flair & Overview Flair 7

▶ 00:28 — What the "board already loaded" reload-positions prompt means, per-board (track/turntable have separate boards) ▶ 02:25 — Engage Robot: payload weight check, brake release, axes turning green, track engaging separately

YouTube 7 - Setting up Home, Zero & Limits Flair 7

▶ 02:40 — Zero Home in Flair: datum magnet, approach direction, zero offset ▶ 04:26 — The three kinds of limits: physical buffer, magnetic limit, soft limit ▶ 05:35 — Setting the soft limit in Axis Setup, Apply vs Save ▶ 07:15 — Lens motor self-calibration and the Calibrate button

YouTube Flair Lite - PushMoco & Waypoint Timings Flair Lite

▶ 01:24 — Same payload danger demonstrated on Flair Lite: if payload isn't set correctly, the rig starts moving by itself as soon as Push Moco is enabled

Source: MRMC video tutorials "1 - Unboxing the Cinebot Mini," "3 - Overview of the Cinebot Mini," "4 - Starting up the Cinebot Mini," "6 - Starting Flair & Overview," and "7 - Setting up Home, Zero & Limits" (Cinebot Mini/Max & Flair 7 Training playlist)