Drive a single DotBot

Build and flash one DotBot and a gateway, cable them to your computer, and drive the DotBot from the web UI. This is the smallest real-hardware setup. For the no-hardware path, use the simulator instead.

Flashing needs nrfjprog (see the README prerequisites). The commands below flash the pinned release, fetched on first use; to flash your own build instead, run dotbot fw build <app> ... (needs SEGGER Embedded Studio) and add -f local to each device flash.

1. Flash the DotBot

The DotBot v3 is an nRF5340, which has two cores - the application core (your app) and the network core (the radio) - so you flash two images:

# cable-flash to the DotBot whose J-Link serial starts with 77
dotbot device flash dotbot --bare --probe 77                 # app core
dotbot device flash nrf5340_net -b nrf5340dk-net --probe 77  # network core

2. Flash the gateway

The gateway is a dev board (e.g. an nRF52840-DK) plugged into your computer; it bridges the DotBot’s radio to USB serial.

# cable-flash to the DK whose J-Link serial starts with 10
dotbot device flash dotbot_gateway -b nrf52840dk --probe 10

3. Drive it from the web UI

With the gateway plugged in, point the controller at its serial port and open the web UI:

dotbot run controller --conn /dev/ttyACM0  # serial gateway; no swarm-id needed

Select the DotBot in the browser and steer it with the joystick. See the controller + web UI guide for the full UI tour, and fw / device for the firmware commands.

Next

• Operate many DotBots over the air - the swarm reference.

• Add real-world positions - LH2 calibration, captured over the air once you’ve provisioned a swarm.