Documentation
Docs Overview
developer documentation

Build on Buildo

Everything you need to bring up ROS 2 on Buildo and program against it directly: hardware specifications, bringup and integration guides, the full topic/service/action reference, and the safety systems you should know about before you send your first command.

Documentation

New to Buildo? Start with Quickstart — it gets a command you wrote running in under ten minutes. Bringing up a full workspace instead? Go straight to ROS 2 Integration. Already running and just need the interface list? API & SDK Reference has it.

01 · Start here
Quickstart

Connect with the SDK, read joint state, and command your first grasp — ten minutes, one script.

 02 · Integration
ROS 2 Integration

Supported distros, workspace setup, the node graph, coordinate frames, manipulation, navigation, and simulation.

 03 · Reference
API & SDK Reference

Every topic, service, and action Buildo exposes, with message definitions and both Python and C++ examples.

 04 · Operations
Safety & Support

Torque limiting, diagnostics, firmware updates, and how to reach us.

Something not working the way you expect? FAQ & Troubleshooting covers the connectivity, motion, and firmware issues developers hit most often.

Getting started

  1. Charge and power on. Seat the hot-swap battery. The display shows boot status; a steady ring on the base means the robot is up and every actuator is responding.
  2. Connect. Buildo advertises a Wi-Fi access point on first boot, or join it to your network from the setup page at http://buildo.local:8080. SSH and the ROS 2 graph are reachable once it's on your LAN.
  3. Set your DDS domain. Each unit ships on ROS_DOMAIN_ID=0 — change it before running more than one Buildo on the same network.
  4. Check it's alive from your workstation: 
    ros2 topic echo /buildo/joint_states --once
ros2 node list | grep buildo
  5. Write your first command. Command a grasp in ten minutes — see Quickstart. To bring up the full workspace instead, see ROS 2 Integration.
Note

Factory default control mode is STANDBY. Actuators are backdrivable but won't accept motion commands until you call /buildo/set_control_mode — nothing moves on a cold boot until you ask it to.