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4. Initial Power-Up AIRBOT Play#

This step takes approximately 5 minutes.

Make sure you have completedHardware Installation与Software Installation.

Below is the quick-start procedure for first-time power-up; refer to Product Functions for full details.

4.1 Power On / Off#

Hot-plug or unplug the power cable to hot-start or hot-stop the arm. The arm is designed to stay powered for long periods.

Hot-plug sequence

To power down the arm, always unplug the power connector at the Base Board; do not switch off the mains strip while the cable is still inserted.

4.2 Start the Driver Service#

Pre-Start Checks

Ensure all connections are made as described in Base Connection:

  • If the LED strip shows a green breathe pattern, the arm is in external-control mode and you can start the driver service;
  • If the LED strip is pulsing yellow, perform Zero calibration first.

For the meaning of the LED status strip and button operations, please refer to Status & LED Indicators.

The driver server delivers all core functions of the AIRBOT family—servo control, motion planning, collision detection, health monitoring and the SDK interface. To start it:

airbot_fsm -i <INTERFACE> -p <PORT>
or 
airbot_server -i <INTERFACE> -p <PORT>

  • <INTERFACE> CAN interface name shown by ip link. The default device name is canX (where X starts at 0), e.g. can0, can1, …
  • <PORT> gRPC server listen-port. Use a unique port per device (e.g. 50000, 50001, 50010) when several arms are connected.

4.3 Zero calibration(Optional)#

AIRBOT Play, after power-on stabilization, if the LED status bar shows a yellow breathing pattern (yellow blinking), it indicates that AIRBOT has lost its zero reference and needs to be re-zeroed:

  • Press and hold the base button for 3 seconds. When you hear a distinct “click” (or “clack”) sound, the motors switch to free-drive mode and the joints will feel noticeably stiffer due to higher friction;
  • Manually move the arm to the zero position: align the zero-alignment marks on each link (joints 4, 5 and 6 can be left in any position);
    zero position
  • Press the base button once more; when you hear the same “click” again, calibration is complete.

After calibration, the status LED bar will breathe white if a USB cable is connected, or stay solid white if no USB cable is attached.

4.4 Keyboard control#

Open a new terminal, activate the Python virtual environment you created with Conda, and launch the keyboard-control demo:

python3 -m airbot_examples.task_kbd_ctrl -p <PORT>
  • <PORT> Port for the gRPC server to listen on. If several devices are connected, each one must use a different port number. Assign a custom PORT value per device; it has to match the port you started the corresponding driver service with.

For a detailed description of every key, please refer to Keyboard Control.

Note: the SDK is only a thin "shell" for talking to the server; it does not manage the driver life-cycle. Several SDK clients may therefore be connected at the same time, yet none of them owns the driver. Disconnecting an SDK client does not imply—and should not be used to signal—that the driver should shut down.

4.5 Drag-to-Teach & Replay#

With the control service up and running, please see the Drag-to-Teach & Replay section for instructions and try the feature.

4.6 Stopping the driver service#

In the terminal window that belongs to the device, press Ctrl + C. The driver shuts down, the arm returns to its initial pose, and the LED bar resumes the white-breathing pattern.

Congratulations! You have now mastered the basic operation of the arm. To explore all features, please read the Product Functions guide.

Ready to code?: If you’d like to program and extend the robot’s capabilities, head over to the SDK Documentation section:

  • Browse the Python or C++ SDK API docs and run the rich set of examples
  • Learn about the built-in ROS 1 / ROS 2 interfaces
  • Work through the demo tutorials and complete tasks on your own with AIRBOT Play.