Robot Maintenance

Most faults we are asked about are wear, dirt, a loose fastener or a flat battery — not a broken robot. A few minutes of checking catches nearly all of them before they become a ticket.

Read Operational Safety before working on a robot. Power it off and disconnect the battery before touching anything mechanical.

Routine checks

There is no universal service interval, and we would rather give you triggers you can actually act on than a schedule you would ignore. Work to what the robot is doing, not to a calendar.

When	Check
Before each use	Visible damage, loose or missing fasteners, frayed or pinched cables, battery charge, anything hanging off a payload mount
After each use	Wipe off dust and debris, especially around wheels, feet, joints and cooling vents
Every few weeks in regular use	Tyre condition and pressure, fastener torque on payload mounts, connector seating, fan and vent cleanliness
After any impact, fall or collision	Inspect the whole robot before powering it on again, not just the part that hit something
Monthly in storage	Battery charge level — see Batteries

Anything that has changed since the last check — a new noise, more play in a joint, a robot that pulls to one side — is worth investigating while it is small.

Batteries

The single most common cause of a robot that will not run, and the component most easily ruined by neglect.

Connect and disconnect in this order

Charging: connect the charger to the robot first, then to the wall.

Finishing: disconnect from the wall first, then from the robot.

Doing it the other way round can arc the connector.

• Do not over-discharge. The robot alarms at low battery; charge it then rather than later.
• Charge in a clear area, away from flammable materials, on a non-flammable surface.
• Do not leave it charging unattended, and disconnect once it is full.
• Use only the supplied charger. Voltage and chemistry have to match.
• Do not modify or substitute the original batteries.
• In storage, charge at least once every two months. A lithium pack left flat for months may not recover.
• Stop using any pack that is swollen, dented, punctured or has taken a hard knock. Isolate it and contact us — do not charge it to test it.

Cleaning

Assume the robot is not waterproof. Unless yours was specifically customised, no hose, no pressure washer, no submersion. See the ratings by platform.

• A dry brush or compressed air for dust; a barely damp cloth for the shell.
• No solvents on plastics or painted surfaces.
• Keep cooling vents and fans clear — a blocked fan is a thermal shutdown waiting to happen.
• Keep connectors dry and clean. Blow out debris rather than wiping grit into a housing.
• Clean around joints, wheel hubs and feet rather than driving grit into them.

By platform

Wheeled bases

Scout Mini, Ranger Mini — see UGVs.

Tyres matter more than people expect on skid-steer platforms. Worn or unevenly inflated tyres change the friction each wheel sees, which degrades odometry and driving accuracy, and in the worst case loads the drivetrain unevenly enough to damage it.

• Check pressure regularly on platforms with pneumatic tyres:

  Platform	Pressure
  Scout 2.0 and later	1.8–2.0 bar
  Hunter 2.0	around 0.8 bar

  Pressures for other platforms

  These are the figures we have published. If your platform is not listed, check the manual supplied with it rather than assuming a value — and tell us, because it means this table has a gap.

• Replace worn tyres promptly. Running them down damages more than the tyre.

• Check for uneven wear across the four wheels — it usually points at a mechanical or alignment problem rather than the tyre itself.

• Clear debris from wheel hubs, particularly hair, wire and cable ties, which wrap around axles.

• Recalibrate after wheel or tyre work where the platform supports it — see the Ranger Mini calibration guide.

Quadrupeds and humanoids

Go2, B2, G1, H1-2 — see Quadrupeds and Humanoids.

Do not service the joints yourself

If you meet stiffness, play, unusual noise or motor faults in a joint, contact us with your serial number rather than opening or lubricating it. There is no owner-serviceable lubrication schedule on these platforms, and a joint opened incorrectly is an expensive repair.

There is no fixed lubrication schedule to follow — stiffness, play, noise or a motor fault is the trigger, not an interval. Applies to the G1, Go2 and B2.

What you should do:

• Inspect foot pads for wear and for embedded grit. Worn pads change traction and gait.
• Check for play by hand with the robot powered off and supported: a joint that has developed noticeable free movement is worth reporting early.
• Keep the leg linkages and joint seals clean. Grit works its way in.
• Let overheated motors cool rather than power-cycling repeatedly. On the Go2 a sudden limp into damping mode is thermal protection — see the Go2 FAQ.
• Inspect after every fall, including the shell, the wiring and the connectors, not just the joint that landed first.
• Use the diagnostics tools before raising a ticket: Go2 diagnostics, B2 diagnostics.

Manipulators

WR65, WRL63, xArm, Z1, Piper, Kinova Gen3 Lite — see Manipulators.

• Check the base mounting bolts. An arm applies real reaction forces to its base and they cycle constantly, which is exactly the condition that loosens fasteners. A base that has begun to move ruins repeatability before it becomes obviously loose.
• Check the end effector mounting and its cabling. Tool-side cables flex every cycle and fail before anything else does.
• Watch the cable routing through the joints. Cables that have been re-routed during integration can chafe over thousands of cycles.
• Confirm repeatability if positioning accuracy has drifted: run a known pose and compare. Drift usually means a mechanical problem, not a software one.
• Keep the arm clean of process debris — swarf, dust and adhesive around joint seals.
• Support the arm before removing power if it is extended or carrying a payload, since not every joint necessarily brakes. See Operational Safety.

Storage and transport

• Charge to a storage level and top up every two months. Do not store flat.
• Store dry, indoors, out of direct sun, and away from heaters.
• Support the robot in its resting position. Do not store a legged robot standing under power, or an arm extended.
• Transport in the original case or crate where you still have it, with the battery secured.
• Check the shipping rules for lithium batteries before flying or freighting — they are restricted.
• Inspect fully after transport, before the first power-on at the other end.

Firmware and software

• Record the version before and after any update. When something changes behaviour, the version you were on is the first thing we will ask for.
• Do not update firmware mid-project unless you need the fix. Update at a point where you can re-test.
• Keep a note of what is installed on the onboard computer, especially anything you built yourself — reimaging loses it.

When to call us instead

Stop and contact us rather than continuing:

• Any joint stiffness, play, noise or motor fault on a legged robot or an arm
• A battery that is swollen, damaged or will not hold charge
• Anything smoking, smelling hot or discoloured
• Damage found after a fall, collision or transport
• Repeatability or odometry that has drifted and does not come back after a recalibration

Have the serial number, firmware version and any error codes ready — Before you contact us lists what else helps and the commands to gather it.

Support

• Operational Safety — read before working on a robot
• Before you contact us — what to collect