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Learn how to control MARS with your phone and the controller arm, make it navigate and talk, and trigger autonomous agents & skills made by others This page describes the experience of receiving your MARS robot for the first time and running it. If you want a more technical introduction to our SDK and the underlying ROS2 system, please go to:

MARS Quick Development

Go deeper on SDK usage, ROS2, and building your first custom agent.

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Prerequisites

  • A MARS robot from Innate, configured with your service key.
  • The Innate Controller app, downloaded from one of the stores: Android or iOS.

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A quick overview

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Powering up and connecting to MARS

1

Place and power

Put MARS on the floor and plug in the battery. The robot powers on automatically.
2

Install/open the app

Use the Innate Controller App on your phone.
3

Connect to your robot

Follow the app onboarding flow and connect to your MARS.

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Create your first map

Innate robots have spatial memory, and mapping starts automatically after you connect if no map exists yet. If you want to create a new map later, use the Mapping screen:
1

Open Mapping tab

In the app, go to Configuration -> Mapping.
2

Create a new map

Press Create New Map (or the add button) to begin mapping.
3

Drive and scan

Drive around your space and watch the map build in real time.

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Experience the phone control

Once connected, you can verify that MARS is properly running by controling the robot straight through the app.
1

Open Manual Control

Go to the Manual Control screen in the app.
2

Drive and move head

Use the joystick for base motion and the slider for head movement.
3

Test leader arm

Plug in the controller arm and toggle arm control to verify MARS mirrors your motion.

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Talk to MARS for the first time

MARS can run BASIC, our embodied agent that allows the robot to act in real-time and decide what to do based on what it sees and hears. Put MARS on a table, in front of you, go to “Agentic” on the app, and ask it what it sees. You should start seeing its thoughts and answers appear in the chat.

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Make MARS navigate

When running BASIC, MARS can navigate. On the agentic screen, ask him things such as “move forward 1m”, or “go to the fridge” if the fridge is in sight. You can also try more complex requests such as “explore until you see a human”.

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Use an autonomous arm AI skill

Innate robots can use “skills” to perform actions in the physical world or the digital world.

You can observe which ones are installed by going in the app to Skills (in the tab bar, middle icon) and looking at the list of physical and digital skills installed.

To run an arm skill, go to Home -> Manual Control, and select a skill in the dropdown.

You can also run an parametric skill (needs input parameters from you) by going in the Skills tab, selecting “Digital”, picking up a skill, input parameters then press “Execute”.

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Use an existing agent

BASIC allows to run programs we call “agents” that determine the robot’s purpose and abilities. On the app, you can see which ones are already installed. Examples that come pre-installed:
  • Demo Agent: An agent that is proactively talking with you, and following your gaze
  • Chess Agent: An agent to play chess with its arm with you if you put MARS in front of a chess board
  • Security Guard: An agent that moves around and warns you if it sees someone
  • More coming soon…
You can also create your own agent:

Anatomy of an Agent

Learn how an agent is structured and how to define prompts and attached skills.

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Congrats, you can control your robot!

Now you know how to run basic controls of the robot from the app. Next up: Create your first agent and train your first manipulation model, to run them autonomously!

MARS Quick Development

Continue with SDK setup, code-defined skills, and your first custom agent.