Advanced Tips

Moving Vector between WiFi networks

When you move Vector from one WiFi network to another (using the Vector App), or if your Vector’s IP changes, the SDK will need to determine Vector’s new IP address. There are two ways to accomplish this.

1. Automatic: mDNS Discovery

The SDK will automatically discover your Vector, even on a new WiFi network, when you connect as follows:

import anki_vector

with anki_vector.Robot(name="Vector-A1B2") as robot:
    # The sdk will try to connect to 'Vector A1B2',
    # even if its IP address has changed.
    pass

You will need to install the zeroconf package to use this feature:

pip3 install --user zeroconf

2. Manual: Update Configuration

Alternatively, you can manually make changes to your SDK setup. To assist in this migration, the anki_vector.configure executable submodule provides a -u parameter to quickly reconnect to Vector.

To update your connection, you will need to find the IP address on Vector’s face, and the serial number of the robot you are updating. Then from your terminal run:

python3 -m anki_vector.configure -u "<your_new_ip>" -s "<your_robot_serial_number>"

Using multiple Vectors

If your device is configured to use more than one robot, you can specify which robot you want to use by passing its serial number as a parameter to the Robot constructor:

with anki_vector.Robot("00e20142") as robot:
  robot.anim.play_animation_trigger("GreetAfterLongTime")

Alternatively, you can pass a --serial flag on the command line, and anki_vector.util.parse_command_args will parse out the serial number:

./01_hello_world.py --serial 00e20142

Set ANKI_ROBOT_SERIAL

In order to avoid entering Vector’s serial number for each program run, you can create environment variable ANKI_ROBOT_SERIAL and set it to Vector’s serial number:

export ANKI_ROBOT_SERIAL=00e20100

Set ANKI_ROBOT_HOST and VECTOR_ROBOT_NAME

When running the anki_vector.configure executable submodule, you must provide Vector’s ip and name. To avoid typing these in, you can instead create environment variables ANKI_ROBOT_HOST and VECTOR_ROBOT_NAME. Then anki_vector.configure will automatically pick up those settings:

export ANKI_ROBOT_HOST="192.168.42.42"
export VECTOR_ROBOT_NAME=Vector-A1B2

Keeping Vector Still Between SDK Scripts

Vector can be controlled so that (like Cozmo) he will not move between SDK scripts. There are three options for entering this mode of operation:

  • Control can be reserved from the command prompt: python3 -m anki_vector.reserve_control Vector will remain still between SDK scripts until the script/process is exited.

  • There are OS-specific scripts (Mac/Win) in the examples/scripts/ folder that can be double-clicked to more easily reserve behavior control. The script will open in a new window; closing the window or otherwise stopping the script will release control back to the built-in robot behaviors.

  • A single Python file can explicitly reserve control using the ReserveBehaviorControl object. Consult the anki_vector.connection documentation for more information.

While normal robot behaviors are suppressed, Vector may look ‘broken’. Closing the SDK scripts, disconnecting from the robot, or restarting the robot will all release behavior control.

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