[0.12.29] Construction robots stuck on charger

[Chumfactor]

I had my construction robots tear down an area I didn't like. They did, then they sat in the field for a very long time (15-20 min?)

Now they've been stuck sitting on the roboport(s, 2) -- I assume they're recharging -- for well over an hour. I never see any of them successfully recharge and then leave. Other robots come & go to robo port, though I'm not sure if any of them can use the chargers.

NOTE: there are a couple of hundred guys stuck like this.

The worst part is: most of them are holding solar panels (or accumulators) that I'd love to put back into play!

0.12.29, no mods.
Mac OSX El Cap latest
Steam install.

Screenshot attached. (I had a short video (3M), but not allowed.)

[Loewchen]

Do they have a logistics chest to drop those items in?
No? Then this is no bug but a user error.

[Chumfactor]

Um, ok... creating a requestor chest got them all to dump -- so no bug.

But now I'm a bit (more?!) confused.

* It looks like construction robots will NOT place on a blueprint; but need to go through logistics chests, right?

* If they return things to a requestor chest, but take things from a provider chest, how do I recycle items? If I have, say chest-A that requests solar cells and chest-B that provides solar cells, the robots just move things between the two chests.

Is there such a thing as a chest that both requests AND provides?

Thanks!

[Loewchen]

Is there such a thing as a chest that both requests AND provides?

There is even a better thing, a storage chest (https://wiki.factorio.com/index.php?title=Storage_Chest) in which robots can drop and take as they please

[Chumfactor]

The original reply (user error) mentions logistics chests. Do storage chests count?

Thanks again!!

[DevilXD]

There are four logistics chests in the game:

1. Active Provider Chest - logistic robots are trying to keep it empty by moving items to the available requester and storage chests.
2. Passive Provider Chest - logistic/construction robots take from these chests as needed. If they take to much, the rest goes into storage chests.
3. Requester Chest - logistic robots are trying to keep it supplied with the specified items. If the requested items don't fit inside the chest, they dump the rest into storage chests.
4. Storage Chests - logistic/construction robots will dump here any items that are currently not requested by the requester chests. Construction bots will dump items to these chests when deconstructing, and take from these when they are building.