Wire-pod

Wire-pod is a custom voice server software for the Anki/DDL Vector robot. It is an open-source free alternative to the official Escape Pod product and does not require any payment to Digital Dream Labs nor any connection to their servers. It works with every Vector, including ones which haven't even been unlocked.

THIS WHOLE PAGE WAS TAKEN FROM https://github.com/kercre123/wire-pod/wiki/Installation THANKS WIRE

Features

• Every voice command is implemented
• Weather commands are easy to setup via weatherapi.com or openweathermap.org
• Knowledge-graph ("I have a question") commands are easy to setup via Houndify, OpenAI, Together, or Ollama
• Intent-graph is available when using OpenAI or Together as the knowledge-graph provider. This means you can configure wire-pod to send transcribed text to an LLM directly (if it doesn't match a command) rather than need you to go through "I have a question" first
• Custom commands
• Token and jdocs handlers, so a robot can be "signed in" to it
• A robot can sign in to wire-pod without ever touching a DDL server
• A robot can also sign in to wire-pod without needing to clear user data
• There is a Vector mobile app replacement hosted at port 8080 (by default) which allows you to change bot settings and the wire-pod configuration
• When a bot is authenticated, the bot is added (or modified if already there) to sdk_config.ini, which allows the Python SDK to continue to work

Caveats

• The Vector mobile app cannot work with a bot that has been authenticated with wire-pod.
  • An alternative, fully functional web app alternative is included
• When (if) Digital Dream Labs provides newer escape pod robot software, you can upgrade to those and they should retain functionality with wire-pod.

How

• It is all thanks to Digital Dream Labs for open-sourcing the chipper voice server software and for creating Escape Pod in the first place.
• The Raspberry Pi Escape Pod images contain compiled chipper binaries packed with upx. It was easy to run upx -d on them and to open them up in a hex editor then to take out the pub/priv key combo. Those certificates are now located in ~repo/chipper/epod. This is what allows compatibility with production robots running escape pod software.
• The community has also played a huge role in fleshing out wire-pod and making it what it is.

Installation

Prerequisites

• An Anki or Digital Dream Labs Vector robot
  • Can be a regular production Vector 1.0 or 2.0, can also be OSKR/dev-unlocked
• Either a computer running Linux, macOS, or Windows 10/11; or an Android phone running Android 6.0 or above.
  • Distros with pacman, dnf, or apt are supported. Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit), Ubuntu, and Debian are good choices
• A device with Bluetooth support
  • Can be the same machine as above, doesn't have to be a seperate one
  • A computer running Windows or macOS is preferred
  • An Android phone works too
• Some command-line knowledge and experience

---

Preparing the bot (production bots only)

• NOTE: This section is for production bots only. If you have an OSKR/dev-unlocked bot, skip this section.
• What this section does:
  • Puts the bot in recovery mode, where you can put on any (production-signed) firmware version
  • It does NOT matter what firmware version you start on. v1.8, v1.6, v2.0, etc. This is able to put any bot on the software version it needs to be on.
  • Applies a special firmware compiled by DDL which allows functionality with escape pod
    • The use of this OTA does not require paying for escape pod
    • You can tell if this software is applied by not by going to the CCIS page and looking at the firmware string. It should have ep at the end of it.
    • Just running v2.0.* on your bot is NOT enough. You need this special ep firmware.

1. Put Vector into recovery mode. This can be done by setting him on the charger and holding his button for ~15 seconds. He will turn off. Keep holding until the lights come back on.
   • This is NOT the same as clearing user data. This step will not clear user data.
2. Once he has reached the anki.com/v or ddl.io/v screen, open Chrome (some other Chromium-based browsers work too) on a device with Bluetooth support and go to https://wpsetup.keriganc.com/.
   • If you see an error about Chrome, even though you are running Chrome, enter chrome://flags in your URL bar, enable "Enable experimental web platform features", relaunch Chrome, then try again.
   • On many Linux distributions, you may need to open the system's Bluetooth settings menu and have it discovering in the background as you try pairing with vector-wirepod-setup.
     • BLE support is much more stable in the very modern distros, like Debian bookworm, so you don't need to do this on some
3. Follow the directions. The bot should start downloading an update.
4. When the update is done, clear your bot's user data. Your bot can technically work with WirePod if you don't, but weird behavior WILL happen and I am not responsible.
   1. Place Vector on the charger
   2. Double press his button
   3. Lift his lift up then down
   4. Take Vector off of the charger and twist one of the wheels until the cursor is on "RESET" (or "CLEAR USER DATA")
   5. Lift the lift up then down again
   6. Move the wheel until the cursor is on "CONFIRM"
   7. Lift the lift up then down again
5. Now move on to installing wire-pod.

---

Installing wire-pod

• wire-pod supports most Linux distributions, macOS, Windows 10/11, and Android. Follow one of the following guides, then continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod".

Guide 1: Debian/Ubuntu

• Should be compatible with pretty much any OS you throw it at. Tested on Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 22.04.

1. Make sure no other wire-pod instances are running on the network.
2. Head to the latest WirePod releases page (different from wire-pod).
3. Download "wirepod_<arch>-#.#.#.deb" (#.#.# corresponds to the latest release version) from that releases page.

• If you don't know your device's architecture (arch), open a Terminal and run uname -m.
  • If it shows x86_64, use amd64.
  • If it shows armv7l, use armhf.
  • If it shows aarch64 or arm64, I would still use armhf. Use arm64 if you know for a fact you have a 64-bit OS. armhf works on both 32-bit and 64-bit ARM SBCs (usually).
    • arm64 is required if you want to use the Raspberry Pi 5. The armhf version segfaults.

1. Open a terminal and run the following commands (replace <arch> with the architecture of your device, #.#.# with the current version):

cd Downloads
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y ./wirepod_<arch>-#.#.#.deb

1. The terminal should show a message saying "WirePod configuration page: ip:port". Open that link in a browser and follow the instructions.
2. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod".

Guide 2: Other Linux (or macOS if you want to build it yourself)

• If you are on macOS and want an easier experience, scroll down to Guide 4.

1. On the device you would like to install wire-pod on, open a Terminal application
2. Install git via your package manager. On Debian/Ubuntu/Raspberry Pi OS, the command would be sudo apt install -y git.
   • On macOS you probably already have git installed. But if for some reason you don't have it, install it using brew install git.
3. Clone the directory with the following commands.

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/kercre123/wire-pod --depth=1

Warning

Do NOT use SSH, use HTTPS, or you won't be able to update the installation later.

1. Run setup.sh.

cd ~/wire-pod
sudo STT=vosk ./setup.sh

(If you want to choose a different STT service, use just sudo ./setup.sh)

1. Start wire-pod with the following command:

sudo ./chipper/start.sh

It should show a log similar to the following.

Initializing variables
SDK info path: /home/kerigan/.anki_vector/
API config JSON created
Initiating vosk voice processor with language 
Loading plugins
Wire-pod is not setup. Use the webserver at port 8080 to set up wire-pod.
Starting webserver at port 8080 (http://localhost:8080)
Starting SDK app
Starting server at port 80 for connCheck
Configuration page: http://192.168.1.221:8080

1. With a device on the same network as wire-pod, open a browser and head to the configuration page. In the case of the above log, http://192.168.1.221:8080. In that page, follow the instructions. Wire-pod should then be set up!
2. If you want to make wire-pod run in the background (as a daemon), run the following commands (press CTRL+C to stop wire-pod if you are running it):

sudo ~/wire-pod/setup.sh daemon-enable
sudo systemctl start wire-pod

1. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod"., near the bottom of this page.

Guide 3: Windows 10/11

• I have created an installer executable for wire-pod.
• To set up wire-pod on your Windows machine:

1. Make sure no other wire-pod instances are running on the network.
2. Make sure no other devices on the network are called escapepod.
3. Head to the latest WirePod releases page (different from wire-pod).
4. Download "WirePodInstaller-v#.#.#.exe" (#.#.# corresponds to the latest release version) from that releases page and run it. It may take a little while at first launch. Do not download the .zip file - that will be gotten by the installer automatically.
5. Windows SmartScreen may come up. Click More Info then select Run Anyway.
6. Follow the instructions.
7. Open wire-pod if it isn't open already. On the message pop-up, click "Open browser" and finish setting wire-pod up.
8. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod"..

Guide 4: macOS 11 and above

1. Make sure no other wire-pod instances are running on the network.
2. Make sure no other devices on the network are called escapepod.
3. Head to the latest WirePod releases page (different from wire-pod).
4. Download "WirePod-v#.#.#.dmg" (#.#.# corresponds to the latest release version) from that releases page and run it.
5. Drag WirePod to the Applications folder and close the window.
6. Go to your Applications and run WirePod.
7. You will get a popup saying the developer is unidentified. Go to Settings/System Preferences -> Security then click Run Anyway.
8. Follow the prompts from WirePod.
9. Click "Open browser" and finish setting wire-pod up.
10. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod".

Guide 5: Android 4.4 and above

• This is still in an early proof-of-concept stage. Though, it is fully featured.
• Make sure you are using Google Chrome for all of the links.

1. Make sure no other wire-pod instances are running on the network.
2. Make sure no other devices on the network are called escapepod.
3. On an Android device, head to the latest WirePod releases page (different from wire-pod).
4. Download "WirePod-#.#.#.apk" (#.#.# corresponds to the latest release version) from that releases page and run it.
5. Install it. This can be done by pressing on it in the notifications panel. If it prompts you, open it with Package Installer.
6. You might get a "For your security, your phone is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source." warning. Click "Settings", toggle "Allow from this source", then (if it doesn't do it after a few seconds) press the back button (or do the back gesture) and click "Install".
7. You might get a Play Protect warning. Press "More details" (or something akin to that) and select "Install anyway".
8. Go to Settings > Apps > WirePod. Make sure "Battery" is set to "Unoptimized" or "Not optimizied". If this setting doesn't exist, you can skip this step.
9. Open WirePod and select "Start".
10. Go to the URL under "WirePod Control" in the device browser and finish setting WirePod up.

• The "with specific grammer?" checkbox removes some words from the speech model. This speeds up speech recognition, but means the robot will only understand the words he needs to understand. So you can't directly ask "what's the meaning of life?" or something like that. Only words in commands (like "how are you?") would be recognized correctly. It is recommended you don't check this, but you can check it if you want better performance. It is especially recommended if you are running WirePod on very old (Android KitKat-era) devices.
• If you are setting WirePod up with an unlocked robot, you must chosoe a port above 1024. The default port (443) will not work because Android doesn't allow binding to privileged ports (ports below 1024).

1. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod".

Guide 6: Docker compose

This requires the host to posess either the hostname of escapepod.local or have an mDNS configuration for it

On a Debian based system you can setup an mDNS alias as follows:

1. install avahi-utils

sudo apt install avahi-utils

1. create a systemd service config

# /etc/systemd/system/avahi-alias@.service
[Unit]
Description=Publish %I as alias for %H.local via mdns

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/avahi-publish -a -R %I $(avahi-resolve -4 -n %H.local | cut -f 2)"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

1. Start the service and enable it's persistence

sudo systemctl enable --now avahi-alias@escapepod.local.service

Now you can proceed with the docker portion.

1. On the device you would like to install wire-pod on, make sure you have docker installed. This can be done with the command sudo apt install docker-ce for linux.
2. Verify if the docker engine is working with the command sudo service docker status
3. Run this command to create and download the wire-pod application

docker compose up -d -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kercre123/wire-pod/main/compose.yaml

1. With a device on the same network as wire-pod, open a browser and head to the configuration page. http://your_ip:8080/. In that page, follow the instructions. Wire-pod should then be set up!
2. Continue on to "Authenticate the bot with wire-pod", near the bottom of this page.

Authenticate the bot with wire-pod

This is a required step which allows the "Bot Settings" portion in the web app to work.

The steps are different depending on if your bot is unlocked or not. Double-check that you are completing the correct section.

Authenticate a production bot

1. Head to the WirePod interface and click "Bot Setup". Follow the instructions in the "Authenticate" section.
   • One of two things may happen. It might give you a link to go to. If it does, go to that and follow the directions on that site.
     • Note that the vector-wirepod-setup page is a page which does not just serve one purpose. If the bot is in recovery mode, it puts firmware on the bot. If not, it will attempt to authenticate the bot.
   • Some builds of WirePod will give you the option to use WirePod's inbuilt BLE rather than an external web page. If this is the case, the interface will not show another web page to go to. It will just have instructions to follow and a "Scan" button. If this is the case, just follow the directions.
2. You should end up at a screen with an "ACTIVATE" or "AUTHENTICATE" button. Click on it.
   • If it shows an error, wait around 20 seconds and try again. It may take a few tries.
3. If you are using the external web page, enter the desired settings (can be changed later) then click "SAVE SETTINGS". If you are using the inbuilt BLE, choose an onboarding option.
4. Once setup shows "Vector setup is complete!" or something along those lines, you are done! Your bot should now be fully authenticated and set up!

• If you are having issues, check the Troubleshooting page

Authenticate an unlocked bot

1. Head to the wire-pod web interface. This is the same as the configuration page mentioned in the previous section.
2. Click on "Bot Setup"
3. In the second section, "Set up OSKR/dev bot", follow the instructions.
   • You may need to run this twice if it ever shows "not running (error: )". It's success will be made clear.
4. Head to the WirePod interface and click "Bot Setup". Follow the instructions in the "Authenticate" section.
   • One of two things may happen. It might give you a link to go to. If it does, go to that and follow the directions on that site.
     • Note that the vector-wirepod-setup page is a page which does not just serve one purpose. If the bot is in recovery mode, it puts firmware on the bot. If not, it will attempt to authenticate the bot.
   • Some builds of WirePod will give you the option to use WirePod's inbuilt BLE rather than an external web page. If this is the case, the interface will not show another web page to go to. It will just have instructions to follow and a "Scan" button. If this is the case, just follow the directions.
5. You should end up at a screen with an "ACTIVATE" or "AUTHENTICATE" button. Click on it.
   • If it shows an error, wait around 20 seconds and try again. It may take a few tries.
6. If you are using the external web page, enter the desired settings (can be changed later) then click "SAVE SETTINGS". If you are using the inbuilt BLE, choose an onboarding option.
7. Once setup shows "Vector setup is complete!" or something along those lines, you are done! Your bot should now be fully authenticated and set up!

Modifying bot settings

1. Head to the web app/configuration page.
2. Click on "Bot Settings" and select your bot.
3. Here, you can modify bot settings like location and weather units.

Troubleshooting

Vector authenticated with vector-wirepod-setup, but wire-pod doesn't seem to know he exists.

• This likely means that Vector is not running escape pod firmware like he should be. He authenticated with the official servers. Follow the first section of the installation steps again, and make sure he actually gets to recovery mode. His face will show either "anki.com/v" or "ddl.io/v" if he is in recovery mode.

Vector has working commands, and is communicating with wire-pod, but isn't showing up as a bot in "Bot Settings".

• Follow the last section of the installation guide. You need to go back to the vector-wirepod-setup page and finish authentication. You don't only use the site once.

"Error logging in. The bot is likely unable to communicate with your wire-pod instance."

• This error appears on the vector-wirepod-setup page when the bot reports an error communicating with wire-pod. This is a common error and many things could be causing it.
  • Please do not send Wire (creator of wire-pod) an email about it, no matter how stuck you are. This error is generally caused by a router being cheap/old/misconfigured, which is outside of wire-pod's control.

1. Make sure you don't have an official escape pod running, or any other device with the hostname escapepod.
2. Make sure you are using the latest version of wire-pod. If you are using a prepackaged application (WirePod), download the latest version from the releases page.
3. escapepod.local must resolve to your wire-pod instance. You can check this by opening a browser on another device on the same network and going to http://escapepod.local:8080
4. Restart your Vector and the device running wire-pod a few times. mDNS can be finnicky.
5. Try toggling some router settings. Google your router model and figure out how to get to the configuration page. Look for settings related to "UPnP", "Multicast", "Zeroconf" (Zero Config), and/or "mDNS" and make sure they are turned on. Also try finding "AP Isolation" and make sure that is turned off.
6. Wait a minute or so and try again. mDNS broadcasts every 60 seconds, you might just need to wait for that.
7. Ensure any firewalls are disabled or are allowing traffic between wire-pod and Vector.
8. If you are running wire-pod on Linux, try:

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname escapepod
sudo systemctl restart avahi-daemon