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Contributing

The documentation, the runtime and the firmware are open source. This page says how a change gets in.

The documentation

The source of these pages is a public repository (the card at the top right of every page). Two ways in:

Small fix, from the browser. Every page ends with Edit it on GitHub. GitHub forks the repository for you, opens the page's Markdown, and turns your edit into a pull request.

Larger change, locally.

git clone https://github.com/Source-Robotics/par6.git
cd par6
python3 -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
.venv/bin/mkdocs serve        # http://127.0.0.1:8000/par6/

Edit under docs/, check the page in the browser, open a pull request. The repository's build check must pass.

Some content is not written in the pages, and an edit there would be lost:

  • Version facts such as document numbers, revisions and the runtime version live in versions.yml.
  • The generated reference content comes from the runtime repository's release: the compatibility table, the runtime release notes, the error and event codes, and the telemetry tags. To change it, change the runtime. The repository's README says how a new release reaches the documentation.

By contributing you agree that your text and images are published under CC BY-SA 4.0 and your code examples under the MIT license, the licenses of the rest of the documentation.

House rules, so the manuals read as one voice:

  • Each page belongs to one manual and one chapter; say one thing at one depth, and link the page that says the rest.
  • Highlighted text uses the three kinds defined in every manual's About page: Note, Notice (damage), Danger (injury).
  • Units on every number: degrees and millimetres in the API pages, the gripper's 0 to 255, seconds.
  • Second person for procedures ("Press…"), third person for reference pages.
  • Describe what the robot does; do not compare it with other manufacturers' products.
  • A screenshot or figure carries a caption; a page that moves the arm opens with its preconditions.

The runtime

Issues and pull requests: Source-Robotics/RCB-Runtime. Read the repository's README first (the Pi setup, the Python version, the service) and the Developer reference in the Control Box Manual.

What a runtime change brings with it: a test that fails without it, the full test suite green, and the manual page it affects updated in the same pull request. A change that moves the arm is tested on an arm before it is merged.

The firmware

The joint and gripper drive firmware have their own repositories; releases are flashed from the dashboard or the command line. A firmware change needs a bench test on one drive before it goes on a robot.

Hardware

Mechanical and electronic changes to the arm and the control box are discussed on the forum first; the CAD files are linked from each manual's Supplementary material.

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