Available system services

System services are available on the robot to automatically launch at boot the most commonly used features of the robot. It is useful when you just want to use our Python SDK without having to worry about running by hand Reachy’s core ROS code. Nevertheless, you may want to use Reachy differently and deactivate them.

We use system.d to handle the services. If you are not familiar with this system, you should refer to the official documentation.

💡 The services are in user mode and stored in ~/.config/systemd/user.

Services available #

reachy_sdk_server.service #

For each Reachy’s configuration except for the Arm kit (i.e. Full, Starter and Mobile kit), the service reachy_sdk_server.service is available and enabled by default.

You can see how the service is defined on reachy_sdk_server repository but basically what this service does is executing a bash file which itself executes the ROS command:

ros2 launch reachy_bringup reachy.launch.py start_sdk_server:=true

The bringup launch file will start each useful Reachy’s ROS node like a node to handle the joints, one for the kinematics, another for the cameras (if Reachy’s configuration has a head), …

For the complete list of the ROS nodes launched by the service, check reachy.launch.py file.

reachy_mobile_base.service #

If your Reachy is equipped with a mobile base, the service reachy_mobile_base.service is also available and enabled by default. Having separate services for Reachy and the mobile base allows to work separately with the mobile base or Reachy when you have a Reachy Mobile.

As reachy_sdk_server.service, reachy_mobile_base.service is defined in the mobile_base_sdk_server repository. The service executes a bash file which itself executes the ROS command:

ros2 launch mobile_base_sdk_server run_mobile_base_sdk_server_and_hal.launch.py

if a mobile base version is specified in Reachy’s configuration file.

The launch file launched will start the ROS nodes for the HAL of the mobile base and the node to start the gRPC SDK server to use the mobile base Python SDK.

For the complete list of the ROS nodes launched by the service, check run_mobile_base_sdk_server_and_hal.launch.py.

reachy_dashboard.service #

The reachy_dashboard.service is also available and enabled by default on each Reachy. This service makes sure that the dashboard is started when the robot boots and that you can check its IP address on the LCD screen installed in its back.

What if I don’t want to use services #

If you don’t want to use the default services, you can simply disable them so that they won’t start when booting the robot and launch Reachy’s ROS launch files by hand.