Before you begin
Starting knowledge
- List the research tasks and likely users.
- Identify space, supervision, compute and maintenance ownership.
Equipment & environment
Begin with an inventory and simulation/shared-data access. Hardware procurement follows an experiment and ownership plan.
No fixed completion time: use the evidence gates below to decide when to advance. Resource links open the botstest directory entry; check its publisher documentation for the exact version and configuration.
Beginner
Create an experiment-to-equipment matrix
Separate what the lab wants to study from the form of a robot.
Learn in this order
- Manipulation, navigation, learning and sensing requirements
- Control interfaces and software access
- Tooling, space and compute as part of the system
Put it into practice
- Map the first planned experiments to observations and controls.
- Compare simulation, shared hardware and new procurement options.
A lab requirements matrix and procurement brief.
Ready for the next step when…
Resources for this stage
Investigate a force-sensitive manipulation platform and confirm the exact research interfaces and configuration.
Explore a compact mobile learning platform with a documented development ecosystem.
Study mobile manipulation research and the required development and supervision workload.
Intermediate
Standardize onboarding and recording
Make a new researcher productive without undocumented knowledge.
Learn in this order
- Calibration, software environments and reference tasks
- Logs, dataset storage and access permissions
- Scheduling, consumables and incident reporting
Put it into practice
- Create a versioned setup and reference experiment for each shared platform.
- Ask a new user to reproduce the reference task from the instructions.
A lab onboarding pack, platform register and recording policy.
Ready for the next step when…
Resources for this stage
Follow the official middleware learning path; use documentation matching your installed distribution.
Investigate a robot-data recording format and verify interoperability with your actual logging tools.
Follow robot-data recording, dataset, policy and evaluation workflows for supported hardware and software.
Professional
Operate the lab as maintainable infrastructure
Preserve reproducibility across staff and project changes.
Learn in this order
- Asset lifecycle, spares and support terms
- Review gates for experiments and publication
- Backup recovery and decommissioning responsibilities
Put it into practice
- Rehearse recovery of a project environment and its dataset.
- Review platform lifecycle and replacement needs before the next procurement cycle.
A lab operating manual, recovery drill and lifecycle plan.
Ready for the next step when…
Resources for this stage
Explore research areas and educational material to position a robotics study or learning plan.
Investigate a force-sensitive manipulation platform and confirm the exact research interfaces and configuration.
Inspect recorded robot signals and build views that expose timing and system failures.
Common pitfalls
- Buying one impressive platform before agreeing on experiments.
- Depending on undocumented personal workstations and calibration files.
Where to go next
Use the experiment-specific research routes for each new project and revisit equipment needs when its evidence changes.
Explore other research paths →