Engineers at 361.Robotics attempted to distinguish between a powered-off remote control and a user-toggled voice mode on a Walker Tienkung TK2301 humanoid robot. The goal was to provide voice feedback if the remote lost connection or battery power, as opposed to intentional manual input.
The team tested six hypotheses to intercept the signal loss status. They analyzed data streams arriving every 23 milliseconds, checked for specific transition flags, monitored signal timeouts, evaluated transition trajectories, inspected system logs, and attempted to access raw port data. All methods failed because the receiver hides the source of the signal, outputting identical data for both intentional input and fail-safe states.
The team identified three potential non-software solutions: configuring the receiver to output values outside the standard range, reverse-engineering the proprietary telemetry port, or requesting a firmware update from the vendor. Due to risks and lack of guarantees, these were deemed impractical.
The final solution was an organizational UX change. Operators are now required to move the switch through the middle position after toggling the remote, ensuring the system registers a physical state change. This approach bypassed the technical limitation of the closed-source hardware.
