This guide is intended for the technical/IT team of customers who need to connect their robot to a WiFi network with Certificates, or by configuring a USB drive to more quickly configure large numbers of robots.
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For enterprise WiFi that does not require certificates (username & password), see RoboKind Quick Robot Network Setup Guide. |
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Pre-requisites
See additional information at RoboKind Networking Requirements and Security Considerations
A virus scanned and empty USB thumb drive formatted with the FAT file system
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Some organizations have restrictions and blocking preventing the use of USB thumb drives - be sure to get appropriate approvals and take virus scanning precautions before using this method. |
Thumb Drive based WiFi setup without Certificates
The recommended method for configuring RoboKind R25 robots for wireless is to use the Robot chest screen, so the following instructions are intended only for situations where very large numbers of robots need to be configured. RoboKind Quick Robot Network Setup Guide
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Before using these instructions, please connect at least one robot to the network using the standard process at RoboKind Quick Robot Network Setup Guide in order to verify settings and compatibility. |
Plug in and turn on the robot, which will be needed later in the instructions.
Insert your empty, virus scanned thumb drive into the computer being used to configure the thumb drive, and make note of the drive letter.
WPA or WPA2 Personal (Bulk configuration (10+ robots) with USB drive)
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Connection with a pre-shared key |
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For fewer than 10 robots, see the easier RoboKind Quick Robot Network Setup Guide |
Open this wifi.conf file in a text editor (such as notepad)
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2. Replace the YOUR_NETWORK_SSID and YOUR_NETWORK_KEY fields with the proper values (Case sensitive).
WPA or WPA2 Enterprise with Username/Password with USB drive)
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Connection with a network account for the robot |
Contact your information technology team to create a network account with appropriatesecurity permissions and network access. RoboKind Networking Requirements and Security Considerations
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2. Open this file in a text editor, and replace the YOUR_NETWORK_SSID, ROBOT'S NETWORK USERNAME, and ROBOT'S NETWORK PASSWORD fields.
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Save the file on wifi.conf. (The file name wifi-enterprise.conf will not work) |
3. Save the modified file in the root directory of a USB thumb drive that is blank and formatted as FAT32.
If you encounter an error while saving the files, ensure that there is no write protection enabled on the thumb drives, and that your organization policies do not prevent the use of USB thumb drives.
4. Check to make sure that the file saved on the thumb drive is named wifi.conf. If the text editor adds an extension such as .TXT, it will not work.
5. Eject the USB thumb drive, but do not yet insert it into the robot.
6. Verify that the robot is powered on, within range of the desired 2.4Ghz WiFi network, and on the MAIN MENU screen.
7. Plug the USB drive into the robot’s rear panel.
8. Upon successful configuration, the robot will speak it’s IP Address.
If the robot does not respond to the drive being inserted within 30 seconds, then see Troubleshooting - USB Flash Drive.
9. From the robot, run a network test. How-To Test Companion App & Robot Network Connectivity
If the setup has not been successful, then please connect the robot to an alternate network from which RoboKind can connect to the robot (for example a hot spot, or an Ethernet network with UDP port 1194 open to cypress.robokind.us (72.249.182.162), and notify http://support.robokind.com using the “contact us” link at the bottom of the page so that we can connect to the robot and verify the configuration.
Thumb Drive WiFi Setup with Certificates
Contact your information technology team to create a network account with appropriatesecurity permissions and network access. RoboKind Networking Requirements and Security Considerations
The robots in question must be on robot software release 3.4.0 or later. How-to check your robots software version How-to Update the Robot
Generate the certificates required for step 3 for the given network account. Supported certificate formats are PEM (recommended) or DER. PKCS#12/.cer files are not supported.
Save the following files to your blank, virus scanned thumb drive.
The CA certificate file (if available), this will usually have a .PEM extension
The client certificate file , this will usually have a .PEM extension
The private key file. (If this does not come in a file, you can create a file named PRIVATE_KEY.key, and save the text into the file).
Plug in and turn on the robot, which will be needed later in the instructions.
Extract the 2 files in the following .ZIP file to the thumb drive. (wifi.conf and autorun.r25)
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7. Edit the wifi.conf file on the thumb drive with a text editor such as notepad.
8. Make the following edits in the wifi.conf file
SSID: In the quotes, update with the name of the network SSID.
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If your SSID is not being broadcast, you could attempt to use the BSSID (which is the MAC of the access point, and looks something like 04:03:01:12:02:01), but we do not guarantee support for null or un broadcasted SSID’s |
username: Replace ROBOT'S_NETWORK_USERNAME with the account which the robot will be authenticating.
We recommend that this not contain any spaces or special characters, and this must be the same account for which the certificates have been created.
ca-cert line: Replace CA_CERT_FILENAME.pem with the exact file name and extension of the CA Cert file saved on the thumb drive.
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If you do not have a CA certificate, delete the ca-cert= line from the wifi.conf file. |
client-cert line: Replace CLIENT_CERT_FILENAME.pem with the exact file name and extension of the client cert file saved on the thumb drive. This will usually have a .pem extension, which should be included.
private-key line: Replace PRIVATE_KEY_FILENAME.key with the exact file name and extension of the private key file saved on the thumb drive. This will usually have a .key extension, which should be included.
private-key-password line: Replace PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD with the exact, case sensitive password.
9. Verify and save all changes to the thumb drive.
10. Verify that the robot is powered on, within range of the desired 2.4Ghz WiFi or 5GHz WiFi network, and on the MAIN MENU screen or on the initial WiFi setup screen.
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If using 5Ghz, ensure this is plugged in and configured correctly How-to Connect your Robot to 5GHz WiFi |
11. Make sure the robots volume is at least at 50% (volume controls on the back). Plug the USB drive into the robot’s rear panel (removing the 5Ghz adapter if necessary). If the USB drive is formatted as FAT32 and the script is working, the robot should announce it’s progress in starting and completing the configuration. Make note of any messages spoken by the robot. If no sound comes from the robot, please see Troubleshooting - USB Flash Drive.
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If using 5Ghz, you will need to re-insert the 5Ghz adapter and reboot the robot. |
12. On the robot’s chest screen, choose:
Utilities
Network
Network Info
WiFi (button is on the 2nd row up)
make sure the 2nd line reads “Name:” and the SSID of the desired network. If this fails, reboot the robot and check again.
13. From the robot, run a network test. How-To Test Companion App & Robot Network Connectivity
If the setup has not been successful, then please connect the robot to an alternate network from which RoboKind can connect to the robot (for example a hotspot, or an Ethernet network with UDP port 1194 open to cypress.robokind.us (72.249.182.162), and notify http://support.robokind.com so that we can connect to the robot and verify the configuration.