NAO robot - first steps

Owned by Ündes, B. (Bülent)
Last updated: Oct 24, 2022
2 min read

Do’s and Don’ts with the NAO Robot

In the course, you will work closely with a NAO robot. Even though they might look cute and robust, it is important to notice that those robots are very expensive (about 7,000 EUR each!) and very sensitive. Hence, there are certain rules you need to follow when working with the robot.

Before working with a NAO robot, watch the videos provided by the Softbank on how and work with a NAO robot. The videos are provided via the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU2x4uo25hLGANcGjETaPk19c4tqs0X9F

Important rules

  • Always place the NAO robot on the floor!

  • The NAO robot stays in the lab!

  • Watch your step when walking around in the lab.

  • Grab the NAO robot under the arms and armpits when taking them out

  • When trying out a new movement (with choregraphe) always make sure that you watch and spot the robot, as the NAO robot could easily lose the balance!

  • Never pull the fingers of the NAO robot, as those can break easily!

  • Do not try to force the NAO robot to change position if it’s locked.

Now that you know how to work with a NAO robot, the next step is to connect to it.

How to connect to the NAO robot

The following steps will result in a successful connection between your laptop and robot:

  1. Connect to the same WiFi network as the NAO Robot

    • (see this page, if you need to change the network of the NAO robot).

  2. Open a terminal and navigate to the folder in which you cloned the docker repo (see here for further info). Open the ‘sic-local’ folder. Run the robot-installer.jar file by either double-clicking on it, launching run-robot-installer.bat (Windows) or run-robot-installer.sh (Linux/Mac).

    • Java 8 or later is required to be installed on your machine

  3. Fill in the required fields in the pop-up box and then press “OK”

    • username: “nao”; password: “nao”

    • You can inspect the log output of the various processes running on the robot using the different action tabs.

  4. When done, click “Disconnect” (always do this to prevent lingering processes).

A NAO robot is composed of multiple so-called SIC devices. These will be topic of the next page.