EarthRover Mini Plus

The EarthRover Mini Plus is a fully open source mobile robot that connects through the cloud using the Frodobots SDK. This lets you control the robot and record datasets for training AI models.

What You Need

Hardware

EarthRover Mini robot
Computer with Python 3.12 or newer
Internet connection

Setting Up the Frodobots SDK

The robot needs the Frodobots SDK running on your computer. Here's how:

Download and install the SDK:

bash

git clone https://github.com/frodobots-org/earth-rovers-sdk.git
cd earth-rovers-sdk
pip install -r requirements.txt

Save Credentials:

Write your .env variables with the SDK API key and bot name provided by the Frodobots team.

bash

SDK_API_TOKEN=your_sdk_api_token_here
BOT_SLUG=your_bot_slug_here
CHROME_EXECUTABLE_PATH=/path/to/chrome_or_chromium
# Default value is MAP_ZOOM_LEVEL=18 https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Zoom_levels
MAP_ZOOM_LEVEL=18
MISSION_SLUG=your_mission_slug_here
# Image quality between 0.1 and 1.0 (default: 0.8)
# Recommended: 0.8 for better performance
IMAGE_QUALITY=0.8
# Image format: jpeg, png or webp (default: png)
# Recommended: jpeg for better performance and lower bandwidth usage
IMAGE_FORMAT=jpeg

Start the SDK:

bash

hypercorn main:app --reload

Open your web browser and go to http://localhost:8000, then click "Join"

The SDK gives you:

Live video from front and rear cameras

[!IMPORTANT] The SDK must be running before you can use the robot.

Install LeRobot

Follow our Installation Guide to install LeRobot.

In addition to the base installation, install the EarthRover Mini dependencies:

bash

pip install -e .

How It Works

The robot uses the internet to communicate:

Movement commands: Sent through the SDK
Camera video: Received from the SDK
Robot info: Battery, location, speed from the SDK

You don't need to plug anything in - it all works through the SDK.

Calibration

No calibration needed! The robot is ready to use as soon as the SDK is running.

Controlling the Robot

You control the robot using your keyboard - just like playing a video game with WASD keys.

Keyboard Controls

Key	Action
W	Move forward
S	Move backward
A	Turn left (with forward motion)
D	Turn right (with forward motion)
Q	Rotate left in place
E	Rotate right in place
X	Stop all movement
+/=	Increase speed
-	Decrease speed
ESC	Disconnect

Speed Settings

You can adjust how fast the robot moves:

Forward/backward speed: Default is full speed (1.0)
Turning speed: Default is full speed (1.0)
Speed changes: Use +/- keys to adjust by 0.1 each time

Try It Out

Test driving the robot before recording data:

python

from lerobot.robots.earthrover_mini_plus import EarthRoverMiniPlus, EarthRoverMiniPlusConfig
from lerobot.teleoperators.keyboard import KeyboardRoverTeleop, KeyboardRoverTeleopConfig

# Initialize robot
robot_config = EarthRoverMiniPlusConfig()
robot = EarthRoverMiniPlus(robot_config)

# Initialize teleoperator
teleop_config = KeyboardRoverTeleopConfig(
    linear_speed=1.0,
    angular_speed=1.0,
    speed_increment=0.1
)
teleop = KeyboardRoverTeleop(teleop_config)

# Connect
robot.connect()
teleop.connect()

# Teleoperate (use keyboard controls)
try:
    while True:
        action = teleop.get_action()
        robot.send_action(action)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass
finally:
    robot.disconnect()
    teleop.disconnect()

[!TIP] If you're using a Mac, you might need to give Terminal permission to access your keyboard for teleoperation. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Input Monitoring and check the box for Terminal.

Recording Data

Once you can drive the robot well, you can start recording data to train AI models. The system records:

What you do: How you move the robot (forward, backward, turning)
What the robot sees:
- Videos from both cameras
- Robot speed and direction
- Battery level and location
- GPS position and signal
- Other sensor data
When it happened: Timestamps for everything

Setting Up Hugging Face

We use Hugging Face to store your data online. First, log in with your token from Hugging Face settings:

bash

hf auth login --token ${HUGGINGFACE_TOKEN} --add-to-git-credential

Store your Hugging Face username:

bash

HF_USER=$(hf auth whoami | awk -F': *' 'NR==1 {print $2}')
echo $HF_USER

Start Recording

Use the standard recording command:

bash

lerobot-record \
    --robot.type=earthrover_mini_plus \
    --teleop.type=keyboard_rover \
    --dataset.repo_id=your_username/dataset_name \
    --dataset.num_episodes=2 \
    --dataset.fps=10 \
    --dataset.single_task="Navigate around obstacles" \
    --dataset.streaming_encoding=true \
    --dataset.encoder_threads=2 \
    # --dataset.vcodec=auto \
    --display_data=true

Replace your_username/dataset_name with your Hugging Face username and a name for your dataset.

What Gets Saved

Your dataset includes:

Your Actions (2 features):

linear_velocity: How much you moved forward/backward
angular_velocity: How much you turned left/right

Robot Observations (24 features):

Front camera video
Rear camera video
Current speed
Battery level
Orientation
GPS (latitude, longitude, signal strength)
Network signal strength
Vibration level
Lamp state (on/off)
Accelerometer (x, y, z)
Gyroscope (x, y, z)
Magnetometer (x, y, z)
Wheel RPMs (4 wheels)

Where Your Data Goes

On your computer: ~/.cache/huggingface/lerobot/{repo-id}

After recording, your data automatically uploads to your Hugging Face page:

bash

echo https://huggingface.co/datasets/${HF_USER}/earthrover-navigation

Your dataset will be tagged with LeRobot for community discovery.