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OI 8 ‐ Lessons Learned

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Nitzan Orr edited this page Apr 28, 2024 · 12 revisions

Lessons Learned from Spot Operation

  1. Spot DOES NOT include the Spot Arm in its collision avoidance models. Operate the arm with caution around any possible collisions.

  2. Spot is capable of opening doors autonomously; however, doors must be ENTIRELY clear of obstacles on either side. It appears that collision avoidance is disabled while going through the door, until Spot has completely cleared the full length of the door.

  3. Touching a point on the floor on the tablet WILL cause Spot to go to that location, even if arm is being operated. Spot must be SPECIFICALLY in the 'grab object' mode to allow auto-grab by selecting an object.

  4. Top-down is the preferred mode for grasping most objects. It will orient the 'palm' of the gripper down and grab the object from two sides.

  5. DANGER! When commanding a robot movement via the API, typically a movement command will throw an exception unless a software E-Stop "endpoint" is running in a separate terminal (see BD Python API quickstart guide). HOWEVER, if the tablet is logged into the robot and no "STOP" button shows, the robot still thinks there is an "E-STOP Endpoint" and will execute the API movement without the user having a STOP button available to them. As such, it's best to NOT use/log-in on the tablet when commanding the robot via the API. Alternatively, intentionally rely on the tablet to be the E-Stop instead of the software E-Stop.

  6. When accessing robot through Python API, instead of having to type in the robot password every time, you can automatically authenticate the robot in your code. See the Computer Payload wiki page for instructions

  7. When attaching a payload to Spot, update Spot's internal database of payloads to let it know about the new objects on its back (for collision avoidance and to help it account for its new center of gravity). The payload settings page is accessible through Spot's website (navigate to the robot IP Address in your web browser).

  8. When charging a battery in the charger, make sure to remove the battery once it is charged. When spot is connected to Shore Power, placing a battery in the battery charger will cause Spot to NOT charge at all (even once the battery is done charging). That can lead to irreparable damage to the battery in Spot!

  9. When requesting images from Spot, note that the image's acquisition time is in the Spot's Clock. At of time of writing, Spot's clock is roughly 4 minutes in the future. As such, you'll need to convert the acquisition time to the computer payload's time using the clock difference provided by Spot's Time Sync functionality. See here for more information.

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