🔄 Reachy Mini Boot Sequence

⚠️ Critical Discovery

Reachy has a two-stage activation process. The web dashboard auto-starts, but the motor control backend requires manual activation via the dashboard's red switch for safety reasons.

📊 Boot Timeline

Stage 1: Hardware Power-On (0-30 seconds)

  • Power applied to Raspberry Pi 4
  • Bootloader loads kernel from SD card
  • Linux kernel (Raspbian) initializes
  • Network stack loads, connects to saved WiFi
  • mDNS registers reachy-mini.local

Stage 2: Web Dashboard Service (30-60 seconds)

  • Dashboard service starts via systemd
  • Uvicorn ASGI server binds to port 8000
  • Static content (HTML/CSS/JS) becomes accessible
  • Health check endpoint returns {"status":"ok"}
  • WebSocket server ready for real-time communication
✅ Active: /health-check, dashboard HTML
❌ Inactive: Motor control, movement APIs

Stage 3: Backend Dormant State (60+ seconds)

  • Robot control backend does NOT auto-start
  • Dashboard shows red "power" switch (OFF state)
  • Movement APIs return {"detail":"Backend not running"}
  • Safety feature prevents unexpected movement
  • Resources saved (Python SDK not running)
⚠️ This is intentional! Prevents robot from moving after power loss.

Stage 4: Manual Backend Activation ⚠️ USER ACTION REQUIRED

🔴 CRITICAL: You MUST click the red switch in the dashboard!

What happens when you click the switch:

  • Sends command to start reachy-sdk-server
  • Motor controllers initialize
  • Joint position sensors calibrate
  • Camera modules connect
  • Movement libraries load from cache/HuggingFace
  • Control loops establish

Stage 5: Fully Operational 🚀

  • All movement APIs functional
  • 70+ emotions available
  • 19 dances available
  • Motor control online
  • Real-time WebSocket control active
  • Safety systems active (collision detection, joint limits)

🔬 Technical Details

Why This Architecture?

🛡️ Safety First

The robot doesn't start moving immediately after power-on. Someone must intentionally "wake" it to prevent unexpected movement after power loss or reboot.

💾 Resource Management

The heavy Python backend with motor control doesn't consume CPU/RAM until needed. The Raspberry Pi can run other services without the overhead.

🐛 Debugging Friendly

Web interface remains available even if robot backend crashes, allowing remote diagnosis and recovery without physical access.

⚡ Power Loss Recovery

After unexpected shutdown, robot remains in safe state until manually reactivated, preventing damage from uncontrolled movements during unstable power.

✅ Verification Commands

# Stage 2: Check if dashboard is up
curl -X POST http://reachy-mini.local:8000/health-check
# Expected: {"status":"ok"}

# Stage 3: Check if backend is running
curl -X POST http://reachy-mini.local:8000/api/move/play/\
  recorded-move-dataset/pollen-robotics/\
  reachy-mini-emotions-library/test
# Expected if dormant: {"detail":"Backend not running"}

# Stage 5: Verify full operation
./aurion status
# Should show:
# Reachy Dashboard: ● Online
# Reachy Backend:  ● Active