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Safety
The Safety page configures Amidala's built-in safety features — things that protect your droid (and bystanders) when something goes wrong.
The e-stop immediately cuts drive and dome motors. It can be triggered by:
- Pressing the configured e-stop button combination on a controller
- Via the Droid Control web page
- Automatically, when a controller disconnects (see Controller Timeout)
- Automatically, when a firmware update starts (see below)
When an e-stop is triggered, Amidala can broadcast a serial command to connected devices (WCB, etc.) telling them to also stop.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Drive E-Stop Command | Serial string sent on drive e-stop |
| Dome E-Stop Command | Serial string sent on dome e-stop |
These are useful for stopping any downstream device that might still be running (e.g. a sound effect, a servo, an animated panel) when the droid stops.
Flashing new firmware over Wi-Fi blocks the board's main loop for the entire upload — nothing re-reads joystick or throttle input until it finishes. Without an e-stop, the droid would just keep executing whatever it was last commanded to do for the whole flash.
To prevent that, Amidala automatically:
- E-stops the moment a firmware upload begins — including broadcasting to other boards on the WCB mesh, if configured, so they stop too
- Resumes once the flash completes successfully, just before the board restarts into the new firmware
- Resumes if the flash fails for any reason, so a bad upload doesn't leave the droid stuck e-stopped with no way to recover automatically
If something goes wrong and the droid is ever stuck e-stopped with no clear cause (e.g. a dropped Wi-Fi connection mid-upload), use the manual e-stop toggle on the home page to resume.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Controller Timeout | How long (ms) without a signal before a controller is considered disconnected. When the drive controller times out, the drive is stopped automatically. |
This protects against the droid driving away if the remote loses signal. Set it low enough to react quickly but high enough to tolerate brief RF gaps.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Inactivity Timeout | How long (ms) at zero throttle before drive motor outputs are disabled. Prevents motor controllers from staying powered and heating up when the droid is parked. |
The dome motor is cut automatically when the dome stops moving during a commanded move (indicating it hit something). See Dome Drive — RoboClaw for the stall timeout setting.