MicroDuck 0.17.8: Laptop Sound and Provisioning Checks

Pollen Robotics published non-prerelease daemon 0.17.7 on October 19 at 14:16 UTC and 0.17.8 at 14:24 UTC. This October 20 note reviews fixed 0.17.8 source. The announcements do not provide a physical acceptance record for these changes, and this site has not updated, provisioned or driven a robot. 0.17.7 release · 0.17.8 release.

Choose the sound output before diagnosing a silent duck

These choices affect the RT quack and LT held sound. Robot cues for a lost or returning pad still play. A receiver predating the sender-sounds flag ignores it and continues making trigger sounds on the robot. Compare both versions rather than assuming a broken speaker. Fixed guide · Robot handling.

If the laptop has no usable audio output, or Linux lacks libasound.so.2, the sender logs no sound on this machine. Without --robot-sound-on it still sets the sender-sounds flag: a compatible robot does not automatically become the fallback speaker. Control can continue while the trigger sounds are silent. Also, laptop sounds play for the selected pad even when the robot is not accepting its packets; hearing a quack is not a connection test. Check the sender panel and the robot response. Sender implementation.

Check the actual client and pad source

duckctl --version
duckctl udp-pad --help

systemctl is-active padd netpadd

UDP control must already be configured on a trusted LAN. Its persistent netpad setting selects netpadd instead of the Bluetooth padd service; the tool remains unauthenticated and is not an Internet remote-control endpoint. Use the existing pad troubleshooting guide to resolve source selection or timeout problems. Updating laptop duckctl alone does not update robot-side netpadd. CLI options · Published laptop package.

0.17.7 fixes retries of board provisioning

The earlier 0.17.7 release carries the provisioning changes that were only on main in our previous review. The launcher now asks how its own run ended instead of replaying a failed earlier attempt's log. Phase two fetches setup-rkaiq again, and the persisted ISP helper can build from the shim source it kept. These are initialization and installer changes, not evidence of a new policy, a repaired camera cable or a successful physical camera test. Launcher · Phases · ISP helper.

sudo cat /var/lib/robot/provision.outcome

The outcome is tied to a run ID: the launcher recognizes that run's done or ended <exit code> result. Keep the current run's console output with it. An old or missing outcome file does not prove the current attempt succeeded. Separate a failed board-initialization attempt from routine daemon updates; do not reflash or rerun provisioning merely because a release mentions it.

Inspect an upgrade deliberately and keep a recovery target

robotctl version
robotctl update status
robotctl update check daemon
robotctl update log
robotctl update show

For a compatible official board below 0.17.8, deliberately targeting this dated release, first inspect the installed update help and available space. The preview below downloads, verifies and extracts into staging; it writes disk and stops before activation. It is not a robot acceptance test. If the robot is already newer, do not copy an exact-version command that could downgrade it.

sudo robotctl update apply daemon --version 0.17.8 --dry-run

If the preview passes and you choose this release, the fixed official update guide describes activation and verification. Preserve the transcript and previous installed version for recovery; a manual daemon rollback requires an installed predecessor and does not roll back the separate policy set. Our 0.17.6 source-lookup article remains the historical explanation of metadata-size failures, not a reason to install its older version.

robotctl version
robotctl health
robotctl update log
robotctl update show

The official RL revision, policy set v8, four reference models, simulator and Vetbook Space were unchanged in this review. The new behavior is software routing and provisioning, not a newly validated gait. Fixed update and health instructions.

Where to go next.