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Depending on your platform, the requirements may vary.

Windows 7, 8 or 8.1:
You need to download and install the drivers for Fable Hub. Check the “How do I install the Fable Hub driver? (Windows 7 & 8)” topic in the Troubleshooting section of this FAQ.

Chromebook:
Requires the Play Store to be enabled on the device. Please check here to see if your Chromebook is compatible with Fable Blockly.

Chromebook / iPad:
Most probably, you will need to run a critical one-time update to every single one of your Fable Hubs before you can use any Fable modules on these two platforms. If your device cannot find a Fable Hub, this means you should update that Hub. Once updated, the Fable Hub should be discovered by your device. Please contact support@shaperobotics.com for assistance on how to update or if you still cannot discover the Hub even after updating.

Fable Blockly
Camera – You can use an inbuilt laptop webcam or a USB camera. Used to stream video, snap pictures, detect motion and color.
Keyboard – The Fable system can use any keyboard. The keyboard use ranges from regular typing to using specific keys to trigger a specific behavior. For example, one can use the arrow keys to drive the spin module
Microphone – Fable can use inbuilt or peripheral microphone devices that are plugged into your computer. Currently the microphone senses the noise levels around the computer.
Time – The time that has passed since the program was started can be read and used, for example in mathematical formulas that control the robot.

Fable Joint
Motor Angle – The joint module can measure the angle of both its motors. This is done with a precision of 0.29 degrees and in the range from -90 to +90 degrees.
Motor Speed ​​– The joint module can measure the speed at which its motors move. Works both when the module is moved manually and when it is programmed to move itself.
Motor Torque – The joint module can measure the force with which its motors turn.

Fable Spin
Motor Angle – The spin module can measure the angle of both its motors. This is done in the range from -32,768 to +32,767 degrees, marking a complete revolution every 360 degrees in each direction.
Motor Speed ​​– The spin module can measure and/or change the speed at which its motors move.
Headlights – The spin module has headlights, just like a car, but smaller.
Ambient / Directed light detection – The spin module can detect light sources. The current version allows a user to point the spin sensor array to a lightbulb and detect the intensity. Similarly the spin can detect the intensity of ambient light.
Proximity detection – The spin module can perceive objects within a small range in front of its sensor array.
Color detection – The spin module can also identify predefined colors. This feature is best used together with the Spin module headlights. More light means better detection.
Infrared communication – The spin module can use its inbuilt IR components to send and receive messages in the infrared wave spectrum. For example, one spin module can send a specific letter to another module as a simple implementation of robot to robot communication.

Fable Face / Fable Blockly (on iPad and Chromebook)
Accelerometer – You can use this feature to visualize gravitational acceleration or the phone’s acceleration in three axes in real time.
Touchscreen – smartphones, iPads and select Chromebooks (those that have a touchscreen) can utilize this powerful feature and read the number of fingers touching the screen or the location of the finger on the screen (ranging between -100 to 100 on both the X and Y axis).
Geolocation – You can use this feature to visualize the geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude, altitude) of the phone, tablet or computer in real time.

General
Battery level – All active modules in the Fable system allow the user to check battery levels.

Fable Blockly
Windows 7, 8, 8.1 – 64-bit systems only. Additionally, you need to download and install the drivers for Fable Hub. Check the “What are the requirements to run Fable Blockly on my device?” for more information.
Windows 10
Mac OS X – Yosemite and newer.
iPad – requires iOS 10.0 and newer.
Chromebook – requires the device to be Android-compatible. Check the “What are the requirements to run Fable Blockly on my device?” for more information.

Fable Face
Android – requires Android 4.4 or newer.
iOS – requires iOS 8.0 or newer.

The majority of features in Fable Blockly are supported across all platforms. The following is a list of feature differences:

Connecting a Fable Hub – through a USB cable on Windows/Mac, through Bluetooth on Chromebook/iPad. Bluetooth is slightly slower, so expect a small delay if you’re attempting to execute something extremely time-sensitive.
Camera – not available on Chromebook/iPad.
Fable Face – will not be able to connect to Chromebook/iPad.
Plotting – not available on iPad.
Custom sounds – not available on iPad.
Programming language – Python only available on Windows/Mac. JavaScript only available on Chromebook/iPad.
Projects – not available on iPad. Check the “How do I import project files?” for more info.

Across all devices, you can currently use three different frameworks to program:

Blockly – A powerful block-based programming editor. It is extremely versatile and perfect for beginners, since it requires no coding skills to select one of the available blocks and just run it inside the app. An advanced version is also available for more experienced users or older pupils, which supports more advanced features such as math, functions, logic and variables.
Python (Windows and Mac OS only) – A high-level, object-oriented programming language. It has easy to learn syntax and is perfect for both novice and advanced programmers.
JavaScript (Chromebook and iPad only) – A high-level programming language suited for beginners. Has a low barrier of entry due to its simple syntax and ability to ignore small errors (e.g. missing semicolons). It is one of the most used programming languages in the world. Prioritizes functions.

Some of the features on both Fable Blockly and Fable Face require special permissions. The following is a detailed list of those permissions and the reasoning for needing them:

Location – Both apps require Bluetooth to connect to a Fable Hub. On Android 6.0 and newer, the Location permission needs to be granted before the device can scan, discover, and communicate with Fable Hubs. More information is available here. Additionally, any user can use the location of the device if their custom Blockly/Python/JavaScript program uses the geolocation sensor. The location can only be reported if the permission is granted.
Storage – Fable Blockly requires this permission in order to save and load projects. It is also needed when playing custom sounds and saving plot images.
Microphone – Fable Blockly requires this permission when the user uses the “sound level” feature of the app. This feature reports back the loudness around the device by using its microphone.
Camera – Fable Blockly requires this permission for all of its camera features – taking pictures, detecting colors and motion, etc.

Step 1:
Install the Fable Face app from the app store (for Android or iPhone).
Step 2:
Connect the Fable Hub to a PC or laptop.
Step 3:
Activate Bluetooth on your phone.
Step 4:
Start the Fable Face app.
Step 5:
The Fable Face app should now find your Hub. Select your Hub by ID and tap connect.
Step 6:
Once the Face App connects to the Fable Hub it will display a set of eyes which can be programmed.

Troubleshooting:
Sometimes there are issues with the Fable Face App, for example the app cannot find any Bluetooth devices or it will not connect to the Fable Hub. If you experience such problems please try the following:

1. Close and restart the app
2. Turn off Bluetooth and turn it back on shortly after
3. Remove power from the Hub by plugging it out, then plug it back in.
4. Make sure you have the newest version of the App
5. (Android only) Go to Settings > Apps > Fable Face > Permissions and make sure the Location permission is granted.

If the problems persist please contact us on support@shaperobotics.com and let us know which Phone model and version of operating system you are using.

Importing projects in Fable Blockly is extremely easy!

Windows/Mac
Tap the file icon at the top left, then select the open project option. A file selection screen will open and all you have to do is find the project and open it.

Chromebook
Select the Open Project option. Then select the Import Project option. The Storage permission is required after this step, so make sure to grant it when the app asks for it.

iPad
The feature is not yet supported.

Yes, in most cases you will not meet any problems when opening projects.

If the project was saved using an old version of Fable Blockly, there is a small chance some of the blocks have changed. Our app will try its best to update the old blocks to their new counterparts.

If the project was saved using the newest version of Fable Blockly and opened on an old version, there is a chance the project doesn’t open at all. This depends on the blocks that were used in the project.

If you save a project on a Windows, you can open it on a Mac without any issues, and vice-versa.

On Chromebooks, there are several features from PCs that are not yet supported. The project will open, but will alert you which sections of the project are not supported. Projects from other Chromebooks will have

On iPads, the ability to open projects from other systems or devices is not yet supported.

In your Documents folder, search for a folder called “Fable”. Inside it, there should be another folder called “My Fable Sounds”. Place your sound files in that folder. After doing so, the sounds should show up as options of the “play custom sound” block.

If one of both of the folders are missing, just create them manually.

At this point, we support WAV and MP3 files.

On Chromebook, the Storage permission is required to discover and play custom sounds.

On iPad, the feature is not yet supported.