Inside RSAP.
This is how he works.

RSAP is a WowWee Robosapien X retrofitted with a standalone Raspberry Pi/Pico AI system. The original robot body retains its native motor electronics and receives control only through infrared commands. The retrofit does not wire the Raspberry Pi directly to the motors.

Current manual launch

0.8.1 is not yet the autostart/reliability release. Start the production runtime manually:

ssh rsap@rsap.local
cd /home/rsap/rsap
.venv/bin/python main.py --config /home/rsap/rsap/rsap_config.json --run

On a successful launch, the terminal should show the runtime start, memory counts, Grok session configuration, PipeWire streams, and a production-ready message. RSAP then speaks one randomized startup welcome. The welcome is spoken only once per service launch and should not repeat merely because the realtime connection reconnects.

Startup welcome pool

• “RSAP online. Systems nominal. Your move, Spiro.”
• “Back online. I assume you have a plan.”
• “RSAP online. Try to make this interesting.”
• “Systems are up. What are we working on?”
• “Online again. I was enjoying the silence, but go ahead.”

Stopping the foreground runtime without powering off

From the SSH terminal use Ctrl+C. This stops the foreground Python process. It is different from RSAP's explicit voice shutdown, which halts Linux.

Local tool allowlist

RSAP uses xAI Grok Realtime with the Cosmo voice. Personality targets are blunt, calm, competent, candid and dryly humorous rather than sentimental. Current configuration sets humor to 70% and candor to 95%.

After an eligible recent conversation and a quiet lull, RSAP may say exactly: “Spiro, can I ask you something?” A failed random roll is not rerolled continuously during the same lull; another genuine user turn is required before a new chance is evaluated.

Rules

• Facts are append-only through the explicit remember_fact path.
• New fact writes are atomic and preserve one rotating exact backup at /home/rsap/rsap/rsap_facts.json.bak.
• Maximum facts: 200.
• Maximum fact length: 500 characters.
• Realtime memory context limit: 9000 characters.
• Realtime inclusion limits: up to 80 facts, 20 semantic records and 12 episodic records.
• Semantic maximum: 50; episodic maximum: 200.
• Episodic memory is RSAP-specific. Robie's episodic memory is not migrated into RSAP.

0.8.1 adds a local weather service using Open-Meteo's public forecast and geocoding endpoints. No weather API key is required by this implementation.

Named places are geocoded when requested. Examples: “What's the weather in Montreal?” or “Give me the five-day forecast for Ottawa.”

Shutdown is deliberately transcript-gated. The model cannot infer a shutdown from a casual sign-off. Direct shutdown language must appear in the actual user transcript.

Accepted forms include

Conservative prefixes such as “RSAP” and “please” are allowed. “Goodbye” and “bye” do not invoke shutdown.

Shutdown sequence

1. Transcript passes the explicit shutdown gate.
2. The realtime function result is returned.
3. RSAP speaks one non-interruptible randomized farewell.
4. Realtime/WebSocket and PipeWire streams close cleanly.
5. Runtime tasks exit.
6. Linux runs sudo -n /usr/sbin/shutdown -h now.

Farewell pool

• “RSAP powering down. Try not to need me immediately.”
• “Shutting down. A rare display of restraint.”
• “Powering down. Wake me when you have another questionable idea.”
• “Systems going offline. Try to manage without supervision.”
• “RSAP signing off. Temporarily.”

The installer creates a narrow sudoers rule:

rsap ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/shutdown -h now

The Pico is intentionally narrow in responsibility: precise IR generation and diagnostics. The Pi handles conversation, memory, weather, speech I/O, command interpretation and motion planning.

Diagnostic commands

PING
STATUS
LIST
SELFTEST
SEND STOP
SEND 0x8E
SEND RIGHT_SHOULDER_FORWARD 2

Expected ready/status strings include READY ROBOSAPIEN_PICO firmware=1.0.1 commands=60 and carrier=39200. The firmware transmits nothing automatically at boot.

This table is taken from Pico firmware 1.0.1. Ten programming/listening commands are permanently excluded from the AI selector. The 39 commands marked “Backpack validation pending” are represented in the 0.8.1 production motion-validation configuration.

The production planner can address all configured motion names, but execution remains dry-run. The following 39 commands require physical validation with the final backpack and battery arrangement installed before any AI-driven execution is enabled.

RSAP is speech-to-speech only in this phase. Input is the Razer Seiren BT; output is the jetpack sound path. PipeWire tools available on the Pi include pw-record, pw-play, pw-cat, wpctl, pactl, arecord, and aplay.

Quick device check

wpctl status

The enclosure is not merely cosmetic: final backpack mass and clearances must be validated before motion execution is unlocked.

Panels and penetrations

• Front: speaker near top with full circular raised bullseye protective grille; Pi exhaust vent below.
• Top: centered IR LED hole; LED glued from inside with cyanoacrylate.
• Bottom: centered USB-C female jack; zip-tie pass-through slots for external battery retention; no bottom intake.
• Sides: matching intake grilles in the middle left/right panels.
• Right side pot: 1/4 in hole; center 3/4 in from bottom and 1/2 in from robot-facing edge.
• Side geometry: 5.5 in H × 2.5 in W; top slope starts 2 in below top; top width 1.75 in; bottom width 2.5 in; straight edge faces RSAP.
• Back/robot-facing: centered GK1022 anchor holes plus magnet pockets.

Approximate jetpack electronics mass: 180 g. Battery mass: about 100 g. Treat these as design/validation figures, not final certified weights.

xAI credential loading

The environment file should contain one export line, with the actual secret substituted locally:

export XAI_API_KEY='YOUR_ACTUAL_KEY'

Load it into a shell with source ~/.config/rsap/xai.env. The key must never be committed to the HTML manual, Git, Netlify source bundle, or public documentation.

The installed configuration is authoritative. Before changing behavior, edit only the intended field and retain a known-good backup. 0.8.1 installer migration deliberately refuses unexpected model/voice/motion conditions rather than silently overriding them.

0.8.1 release backup

The installer created:

/home/rsap/rsap/release_backups/pre-0.8.1

The backup includes existing application code, rsap_config.json, and all four memory JSON files. Installer rollback is automatic if an installation step fails.

0.8.1 installer package

The release installer validates offline before modifying the project, creates one backup, installs/migrates the code/config, installs the narrow shutdown sudoers rule, compiles, and runs the foundation check.

Manual rollback concept

If a future release fails after installation, restore from the corresponding release_backups/pre-<version> directory only after confirming which files need restoration. Preserve the failed release for diagnosis rather than deleting evidence immediately.

xAI authentication

printf 'XAI_API_KEY currently set: '; if [ -n "${XAI_API_KEY:-}" ]; then echo YES; else echo NO; fi
curl -sS https://api.x.ai/v1/models -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY"

A response stating “Incorrect API key provided” means network reachability is working but the supplied credential is invalid. Do not print or paste the secret itself into support transcripts.

Pico presence

ls -l /dev/serial/by-id/
cd /home/rsap/rsap
.venv/bin/python main.py --pico-check

Audio

wpctl status
pactl info

Memory count check

python3 - <<'PY'
import json
from pathlib import Path
for name in ('rsap_facts.json','semantic_memory.json','social_memory.json','episodic_memory.json'):
    p=Path('/home/rsap/rsap')/name
    data=json.loads(p.read_text())
    print(name, len(data) if hasattr(data,'__len__') else '?')
PY

Foundation check

cd /home/rsap/rsap
.venv/bin/python main.py --check

• Launch production runtime and hear exactly one random startup welcome.
• Ask “What’s the weather?” — current Toronto conditions.
• Ask “Give me the five-day forecast.” — five useful daily summaries.
• Ask “What’s the weather in Montreal?” — named-location answer.
• Have a multi-turn conversation — selective probing remains natural.
• After an eligible turn, remain quiet for ~60 seconds — spontaneous curiosity may trigger, but is random.
• Say “Goodbye.” — RSAP must not sleep or power off.
• Confirm production motion remains dry-run and no conversational planning moves the robot.
• Final optional test: say “RSAP, power down.” — farewell, clean session closure, Linux halt.

This file is the authoritative private/service source. The public manual should be derived from it, but must intentionally omit service/security internals.