hotdog_patrol

Route patrols of HotDog: from the dock, on demand or at fixed times of the day, along a taught route whose stop points are inspected, with a summary of what the inspections found, and back to the dock. A watchdog guards every patrol and walks the taught route back to the dock when the battery runs low, the patrol runs too long or the robot is blocked.

Node

patrol_node (ros2 launch hotdog_patrol patrol.launch.py, started by ros2 launch hotdog robot.launch.py):

Interface	Type
patrol/start	hotdog_interfaces/StartPatrol	start a patrol on a route of the active site
patrol/stop	std_srvs/Trigger	stop it (the follower stops, the robot stands)
patrol/return	std_srvs/Trigger	walk the route back to the dock now
patrol/status	hotdog_interfaces/PatrolStatus	latched: state, route, findings per severity, schedule
navigation/status	dharma_interfaces/NavigationStatus	the follower, to the end of the route (input)
inspection/report	hotdog_interfaces/InspectionReport	the points inspected on the way (input)
health/status, control/status, /m20/battery, site/status		the start checks (input)

A patrol

ros2 service call /patrol/start hotdog_interfaces/srv/StartPatrol "{route: 2026-11-01_09-30-00}"
ros2 topic echo /patrol/status
ros2 service call /patrol/stop std_srvs/srv/Trigger

route is a file of the active site's routes/ (the .csv is optional); empty: the route patrolled last on this site (<site>/patrol/state.json), else the route the follower loaded last. The start sequence runs in order and stops at the first step that fails (patrol/status says which and why):

Step
checks	health level at most start.max_health (WARN), no e-stop, battery ≥ start.min_battery
re-anchor	localization/assume_origin: the robot stands at the dock, the map origin (start.reanchor)
stand up	/m20/stand_up (start.stand_up_service, empty: skipped)
auto	control/set_mode auto: navigation drives through the control mux
route	navigation/load_path <site>/routes/<route>.csv
start	navigation/start

Then the follower patrols; at each stop point it calls inspection/inspect. The patrol ends when the follower reaches the end of the route (done), fails (failed) or is stopped (stopped). The summary goes to <reports_dir>/<day>/patrol_<time>.json (route, duration, points inspected, findings per severity, the worst one) next to the day's inspection reports, and after a done patrol the M20 is sent back to its dock (/m20/charge_start, finish.dock_service).

Odometry only. The re-anchoring makes the dock the origin of every patrol: start each patrol from the dock, where the route was taught from. A route ending at the dock's approach lets the M20 dock by itself afterwards.

Watchdog and the way back

Every second while a patrol runs:

Condition	Default	Then
battery below abort.min_battery	20 %	back to the dock
running longer than abort.max_duration_min	120 min	back to the dock
BLOCKED longer than abort.hold_timeout_sec	180 s	back to the dock
off the route or not localized longer than hold_timeout_sec	180 s	stop where it stands
no navigation/status for abort.nav_timeout_sec	5 s	stop where it stands
paused by an operator, the e-stop or REMOTE	—	nothing: the operator rules

The way back (patrol/return, or the watchdog with abort.return_to_dock): nothing is mapped, so the only ground known to be clear is the taught route. The follower is stopped, the route is cut at the nearest waypoint of its first pass within abort.near_m of the robot (a route out and back along one walkway returns the short way), reversed without stop points into <site>/patrol/return.csv and followed, facing the way, to abort.dock_clearance_m before the route's start; then the M20 docks itself (finish.dock_service). patrol/status shows RETURNING, then the patrol ends STOPPED (operator) or FAILED (watchdog) with returned: true. A way back that is blocked, lost or silent stops the robot; the summary says why.

Schedule

ros2 param set /patrol_node schedule.enabled true
ros2 param set /patrol_node schedule.times "['06:00', '14:00', '22:00']"
ros2 param set /patrol_node schedule.route 2026-11-01_09-30-00

At each time (local time of the robot computer) a patrol starts, unless one is running; a time missed by more than schedule.window_min (robot busy, off) is skipped, not caught up. Keep the schedule in the robot's site file (params_file) to have it after a restart.

Parameters

config/patrol.yaml; every one with its range: ros2 param describe /patrol_node <name>. {robot_ns} in a topic or service name is the driver namespace (robot_ns, passed by the bringup).

Test

colcon test --packages-select hotdog_patrol && colcon test-result --verbose

test/unit: the start steps, the patrol's end from the follower's states (a state left from the last patrol is ignored), the findings, route names, the schedule, the watchdog, the way back (short way on an out-and-back route, at the dock already, the remembered route). test/ros: the node against a fake stack (a patrol from the dock to the end of the route with its summary and the dock, a refused stand-up, one patrol at a time, an operator return walked to the dock, a low battery sending the patrol back, the last route used when none is named).