vector-robot

What This Skill Does

The vector-robot skill provides a robust interface for controlling an Anki Vector robot integrated with wire-pod. It grants the user granular control over the robot's physical movements, visual display, and audio output. This includes manipulating the head and lift, controlling wheel speeds, changing eye colors, and triggering various predefined intents like dancing or exploring. Beyond simple movement, the skill allows the agent to utilize Vector's camera stream for visual feedback and facilitate voice-based interactions by connecting to the wire-pod voice-to-text pipeline. It transforms Vector from a standalone toy into a responsive, programmable agent capable of acting on environmental cues.

Installation

To begin, ensure your Anki Vector is running the escape pod firmware and that a wire-pod instance is active at your designated URL. Install the skill using the command clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/bogorman/vector-robot. Once installed, verify your serial number (default: 00501a68) and ensure the environment variable WIREPOD is correctly set in your configuration. For voice integration, execute node scripts/proxy-server.js and update the wire-pod Knowledge Graph settings with the 'openclaw' API provider, using the endpoint http://localhost:11435/v1 to bridge the voice communication gap.

Use Cases

This skill is perfect for home automation enthusiasts, educators, and developers building interactive AI characters. You can use Vector as a mobile telepresence scout, have it respond to your questions with personality-driven voice output, or use its movement capabilities to create autonomous behavior loops. It is ideal for users who want to move beyond static LLM interfaces into physical, real-world interactions.

Example Prompts

1. "Vector, can you please look around the room and tell me if you see anyone?"
2. "Make Vector dance and turn his eyes blue for a few seconds."
3. "Hey, use Vector to drive forward, turn left, and head back to his charger."

Tips & Limitations

Safety is paramount when using the motor controls. Note that cliff sensors are automatically disabled while behavior control is active, which means Vector will not stop itself from falling off a desk or ledge; always supervise the robot during movement tasks. The camera feed is provided via an MJPEG stream, so ensure you have a stable network connection for smooth visual updates. For the best experience, keep the robot within range of the local wire-pod server to minimize latency in voice recognition and motor command execution.