Skills reachy-mini

Control a Reachy Mini robot (by Pollen Robotics / Hugging Face) via its REST API and SSH. Use for any request involving the Reachy Mini robot — moving the head, body, or antennas; playing emotions or dances; capturing camera snapshots; adjusting volume; managing apps; checking robot status; or any physical robot interaction. The robot has a 6-DoF head, 360° body rotation, two animated antennas, a wide-angle camera (with non-disruptive WebRTC snapshot), 4-mic array, and speaker.

install
source · Clone the upstream repo
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/skills
Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/afalk42/reachy-mini" ~/.claude/skills/openclaw-skills-reachy-mini && rm -rf "$T"
OpenClaw · Install into ~/.openclaw/skills/
T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/openclaw/skills "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.openclaw/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/afalk42/reachy-mini" ~/.openclaw/skills/openclaw-skills-reachy-mini && rm -rf "$T"
manifest: skills/afalk42/reachy-mini/SKILL.md
source content

Reachy Mini Robot Control

Quick Start

Use the CLI script or

curl
to control the robot. The script lives at:

~/clawd/skills/reachy-mini/scripts/reachy.sh

Set the robot IP via

REACHY_HOST
env var or
--host
flag. Default:
192.168.8.17
.

Common Commands

reachy.sh status                    # Daemon status, version, IP
reachy.sh state                     # Full robot state
reachy.sh wake-up                   # Wake the robot
reachy.sh sleep                     # Put to sleep
reachy.sh snap                      # Camera snapshot → /tmp/reachy_snap.jpg
reachy.sh snap /path/to/photo.jpg   # Snapshot to custom path
reachy.sh play-emotion cheerful1    # Play an emotion
reachy.sh play-dance groovy_sway_and_roll  # Play a dance
reachy.sh goto --head 0.2,0,0 --duration 1.5  # Nod down
reachy.sh volume-set 70             # Set speaker volume
reachy.sh emotions                  # List all emotions
reachy.sh dances                    # List all dances

Environment

VariableDefaultDescription
REACHY_HOST
192.168.8.17
Robot IP address
REACHY_PORT
8000
REST API port
REACHY_SSH_USER
pollen
SSH username (for
snap
command)
REACHY_SSH_PASS
root
SSH password (for
snap
command, uses
sshpass
)

Movement Guide

Head Control (6 DoF)

The head accepts pitch, yaw, roll in radians:

  • Pitch (look up/down): -0.5 (up) to 0.5 (down)
  • Yaw (look left/right): -0.8 (right) to 0.8 (left)
  • Roll (tilt sideways): -0.5 to 0.5
# Look up
reachy.sh goto --head -0.3,0,0 --duration 1.0

# Look left
reachy.sh goto --head 0,0.4,0 --duration 1.0

# Tilt head right, look slightly up
reachy.sh goto --head -0.1,0,-0.3 --duration 1.5

# Return to neutral
reachy.sh goto --head 0,0,0 --duration 1.0

Body Rotation (360°)

Body yaw in radians. 0 = forward, positive = left, negative = right.

reachy.sh goto --body 1.57 --duration 2.0   # Turn 90° left
reachy.sh goto --body -1.57 --duration 2.0  # Turn 90° right
reachy.sh goto --body 0 --duration 2.0      # Face forward

Antennas

Two antennas [left, right] in radians. Range ~-0.5 to 0.5.

reachy.sh goto --antennas 0.4,0.4 --duration 0.5    # Both up
reachy.sh goto --antennas -0.3,-0.3 --duration 0.5   # Both down
reachy.sh goto --antennas 0.4,-0.4 --duration 0.5    # Asymmetric

Combined Movements

# Look left and turn body left with antennas up
reachy.sh goto --head 0,0.3,0 --body 0.5 --antennas 0.4,0.4 --duration 2.0

Interpolation Modes

Use

--interp
with goto:

  • minjerk
    — Smooth, natural (default)
  • linear
    — Constant speed
  • ease
    — Ease in/out
  • cartoon
    — Bouncy, exaggerated

Emotions & Dances

Playing Emotions

80+ pre-recorded expressive animations. Select contextually appropriate ones:

reachy.sh play-emotion curious1       # Curious look
reachy.sh play-emotion cheerful1      # Happy expression
reachy.sh play-emotion surprised1     # Surprise reaction
reachy.sh play-emotion thoughtful1    # Thinking pose
reachy.sh play-emotion welcoming1     # Greeting gesture
reachy.sh play-emotion yes1           # Nodding yes
reachy.sh play-emotion no1            # Shaking no

Playing Dances

19 dance moves, great for fun or celebration:

reachy.sh play-dance groovy_sway_and_roll
reachy.sh play-dance chicken_peck
reachy.sh play-dance dizzy_spin

Full Lists

Run

reachy.sh emotions
or
reachy.sh dances
to see all available moves.

Motor Modes

Before movement, motors must be

enabled
. Check with
reachy.sh motors
.

reachy.sh motors-enable     # Enable (needed for movement commands)
reachy.sh motors-disable    # Disable (robot goes limp)
reachy.sh motors-gravity    # Gravity compensation (manually pose the robot)

Volume Control

reachy.sh volume            # Current speaker volume
reachy.sh volume-set 50     # Set speaker to 50%
reachy.sh volume-test       # Play test sound
reachy.sh mic-volume        # Microphone level
reachy.sh mic-volume-set 80 # Set microphone to 80%

App Management

Reachy Mini runs HuggingFace Space apps. Manage them via:

reachy.sh apps              # List all available apps
reachy.sh apps-installed    # Installed apps only
reachy.sh app-status        # What's running now
reachy.sh app-start NAME    # Start an app
reachy.sh app-stop          # Stop current app

Important: Only one app runs at a time. Starting a new app stops the current one. Apps may take exclusive control of the robot — stop the running app before sending manual movement commands if the robot doesn't respond.

Camera Snapshots

Capture JPEG photos from the robot's camera (IMX708 wide-angle) via WebRTC — non-disruptive to the running daemon.

reachy.sh snap                        # Save to /tmp/reachy_snap.jpg
reachy.sh snap /path/to/output.jpg    # Custom output path

Requirements: SSH access to the robot (uses

sshpass
+
REACHY_SSH_PASS
env var, default:
root
).

How it works: Connects to the daemon's WebRTC signalling server (port 8443) using GStreamer's

webrtcsrc
plugin on the robot, captures one H264-decoded frame, and saves as JPEG. No daemon restart, no motor disruption.

Note: The robot must be awake (head up) for a useful image. If asleep, the camera faces into the body. Run

reachy.sh wake-up
first.

Audio Sensing

reachy.sh doa               # Direction of Arrival from mic array

Returns angle in radians (0=left, π/2=front, π=right) and speech detection boolean.

Contextual Reactions (Clawdbot Integration)

Use

reachy-react.sh
to trigger contextual robot behaviors from heartbeats, cron jobs, or session responses.

~/clawd/skills/reachy-mini/scripts/reachy-react.sh

Reactions

reachy-react.sh ack           # Nod acknowledgment (received a request)
reachy-react.sh success       # Cheerful emotion (task done)
reachy-react.sh alert         # Surprised + antennas up (urgent email, alert)
reachy-react.sh remind        # Welcoming/curious (meeting reminder, to-do)
reachy-react.sh idle          # Subtle animation (heartbeat presence)
reachy-react.sh morning       # Wake up + greeting (morning briefing)
reachy-react.sh goodnight     # Sleepy emotion + sleep (night mode)
reachy-react.sh patrol        # Camera snapshot, prints image path
reachy-react.sh doa-track     # Turn head toward detected sound source
reachy-react.sh celebrate     # Random dance (fun moments)

Pass

--bg
to run in background (non-blocking).

Built-in Behaviors

  • Quiet hours (22:00–06:29 ET): All reactions except
    morning
    ,
    goodnight
    , and
    patrol
    are silently skipped.
  • Auto-wake: Reactions ensure the robot is awake before acting (starts daemon + wakes if needed).
  • Fault-tolerant: If robot is unreachable, reactions exit cleanly without errors.

Integration Points

TriggerReactionNotes
Morning briefing cron (6:30 AM)
morning
Robot wakes up and greets
Goodnight cron (10:00 PM)
goodnight
Robot plays sleepy emotion, goes to sleep
Heartbeat (periodic)
idle
Subtle head tilt, antenna wave, or look-around
Heartbeat (~1 in 4)
doa-track
Checks for nearby speech, turns toward it
Heartbeat (~1 in 6)
patrol
Camera snapshot for room awareness
Important unread email
alert
Antennas up + surprised emotion
Meeting <2h away
remind
Welcoming/curious emotion
Request from Alexander
ack
Quick head nod
Task completed
success
Random cheerful/happy emotion
Good news or celebration
celebrate
Random dance move

DOA (Direction of Arrival) Tracking

The

doa-track
reaction uses the robot's 4-mic array to detect speech direction and turn the head toward the speaker. The DOA angle (0=left, π/2=front, π=right) is mapped to head yaw. Only triggers when speech is actively detected.

Camera Patrol

The

patrol
reaction captures a snapshot and prints the image path. Use this during heartbeats to check the room periodically. Combine with image analysis to detect activity or changes.

Direct API Access

For anything not covered by the CLI, use

curl
or the
raw
command:

# Via raw command
reachy.sh raw GET /api/state/full
reachy.sh raw POST /api/move/goto '{"duration":1.0,"head_pose":{"pitch":0.2,"yaw":0,"roll":0}}'

# Via curl directly
curl -s http://192.168.8.17:8000/api/state/full | jq
curl -s -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"duration":1.5,"head_pose":{"pitch":0,"yaw":0.3,"roll":0}}' \
  http://192.168.8.17:8000/api/move/goto

Reference

For the complete API endpoint list, schemas (GotoModelRequest, FullBodyTarget, XYZRPYPose), and full emotion/dance catalogs, see references/api-reference.md.

Troubleshooting

  • Robot doesn't move: Check
    reachy.sh motors
    — must be
    enabled
    . Run
    reachy.sh motors-enable
    .
  • No response: Check
    reachy.sh status
    . State should be
    running
    . If not, run
    reachy.sh reboot-daemon
    .
  • Movements ignored: An app may have exclusive control. Run
    reachy.sh app-stop
    first.
  • Network unreachable: Verify the robot IP with
    ping $REACHY_HOST
    . Check
    reachy.sh wifi-status
    .
  • Snap shows black image: Robot is likely asleep (head down). Run
    reachy.sh wake-up
    first.
  • Snap fails with SSH error: Ensure
    sshpass
    is installed and
    REACHY_SSH_PASS
    is set correctly.