Robot behaves differently in a new environment

1. Symptoms

• A robot that works at one site fails or behaves oddly at another.
• Localisation, perception or navigation degrade only there.
• Communication drops in some areas.

2. Possible causes

• Conditions outside the ODD: lighting, floor surface, slope, crowd density.
• A different layout from the map, or a missing map.
• Wireless coverage gaps and interference.
• Reflective or transparent surfaces.
• GNSS or magnetic disturbance.
• Different time zone, clock or locale settings.

3. Measurements to collect

• The site’s conditions measured against the ODD (light level, surface, slopes).
• Wireless signal strength along the route.
• Localisation covariance and perception health along the route.

4. Diagnostic commands

Commands are not executed by the site’s automated tests (they need a ROS 2 Jazzy installation or the robot).

ros2 topic echo /diagnostics
ros2 bag record -a -o site_survey

5. Step-by-step investigation

1. Compare the site with the ODD item by item.
2. Check the map against the real layout.
3. Survey wireless coverage along the route.
4. Check the health signals along the route for the failing zone.
5. Check sensor-specific issues (glass, sun, GNSS) at the failing places.

6. Corrective actions

• Adapt the robot or the site, or narrow the ODD for this site.
• Update or build the map.
• Add access points or change the route.
• Add a second sensing modality for the problem surfaces.

7. Validation after the fix

• The robot meets the acceptance criteria at the new site (see the acceptance guide).

References

• See the ODD guide and the validation guide.