LinkerBot O6 Community

What baud rate does the LinkerBot O6 use?

The O6 communicates at exactly 921600 baud over USB Serial. Connecting at any other baud rate produces corrupted frames. Standard FTDI and CH340 USB-to-UART chips support this rate; some low-quality generic adapters do not. Verify your adapter with rc devices before troubleshooting the application layer.

The port is not detected on Linux. What should I check?

First confirm the device appears at the OS level:

ls /dev/ttyUSB*
rc devices      # SDK scan of all visible serial ports

If the port does not appear, the USB driver may not be loaded or your user lacks access. Add yourself to the dialout group and re-login: sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER. If the port appears but rc devices does not detect the O6, confirm the hand is powered on (check the LED indicator).

I get corrupted or no frames. What's wrong?

Most likely causes: (1) wrong baud rate — verify it is 921600; (2) USB adapter does not support 921600 — replace with a quality FTDI or CH340 adapter; (3) cable too long — use a cable under 1 m; (4) hand power LED is off — confirm the hand is fully powered before opening a serial connection.

Is the LinkerBot O6 compatible with ROS2?

The O6 does not natively publish ROS2 topics. The RoboticsCenter SDK (pip install roboticscenter) provides a linker_agent that connects to the platform and streams sensor data. For ROS2 integration, wrap the SDK's stream() iterator in a ROS2 node, or use the platform WebSocket relay to republish data to your ROS2 graph.

How do I run without hardware?

Run rc connect --mock to start a simulated O6 session with synthesized sensor data. All SDK features, the browser teleop panel (finger position display, tactile heatmap, gesture presets), and data recording work identically in mock mode — no USB cable or physical hand required.

How do I calibrate the glove controller?

Open the browser teleop panel after connecting and navigate to Settings → Calibrate Glove. Follow the two-step flow: first hold the glove flat and relaxed (open position baseline), then make a closed fist (maximum closure). Calibration data is stored per-operator and persists across sessions. Re-calibrate any time a new operator uses the glove or if bend values clip at 0% or 100% without reaching the physical limits.

The tactile heatmap shows all zeros. What's wrong?

Confirm the tactile module cable is fully seated at the palm connector. Apply light pressure to a fingertip — you should see the corresponding region activate in the heatmap. If no regions respond, the tactile module may not be powered. Check the hand's power supply voltage and the module connector.

The browser panel is not updating (frozen). What should I do?

Reload the browser tab. If the SDK CLI is still running, the session WebSocket will reconnect automatically within a few seconds. If the CLI has exited, restart with rc connect and open the new session URL.