Cheatsheet — Vector Quick Reference

A dense quick-reference distilled from Vols 1–8. Every row is sourced in the volume it comes from; nothing new is introduced here. Each hard fact is marked C (confirmed by a reachable primary/authoritative source) or U (unverified — community-reported or single-secondary); items no reachable source pins down are shown as NF (not found, left unclaimed). The full gated fact base with source URLs is 02-inputs/vector_sourcing_notes.md.

9.1 At a glance

Table 1 — At a glance

Attribute	Value	Conf.
What	Palm-sized autonomous desktop companion (“robot pet”); treads, lift arm, IPS face	C
Maker	Anki (2018) → Digital Dream Labs (acq. Dec 2019)	C
Released	October 2018 (Oct 12 vs Oct 13 — sources conflict)	C
Lineage	Successor to Cozmo (2016)	C
Wake phrase	”Hey Vector” (English only)	C
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8009, quad-core ARM Cortex-A7, 1.2 GHz	C (community)
OS	Yocto / embedded Linux	C
RAM / storage	not stated in any reachable source	NF
Camera	2 MP, 120° FOV (Vector 2.0); original HD/720p vs 1080p disputed	C / conflict
Display	high-resolution colour IPS “face”; 184×96 per one teardown	C / U
Mics	four-microphone beamforming array	C
Distance	IR time-of-flight laser scanner (range not stated)	C / range NF
Other sensors	4 cliff/drop, capacitive touch, 6-axis IMU	C
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz single-band; Bluetooth for setup (no Wi-Fi 6)	C
Drive	DC motors, treaded wheels (~45-tooth gears)	C
Battery	Li-poly; ~30–40 min runtime; returns to dock	C; capacity NF/U
Dimensions / weight	~3.9 × 2.4 × 2.7 in / ~159 g commonly cited	U (not in reachable sources)
Accessories	charging dock; companion cube	C

9.2 Sensor suite (Vol 3)

Front-facing 2 MP / 120° camera (in the face display) · 4-mic beamforming array (top) · IR/ToF laser distance scanner (front) · 4 cliff/drop sensors (underside) · capacitive touch (top surface) · 6-axis IMU (accel + gyro). Exact ToF range, RAM, storage, and battery mAh are not in any reachable source — left unclaimed. The 543-page Vector Technical Reference Manual is the likely route to those figures.

9.3 The revival stack (Vols 4–7)

Table 2 — The revival stack (Vols 4–7)

Layer	What	Key facts	Conf.
Original cloud	”Hey Vector” voice/NLP + Alexa, ran in Anki/DDL cloud	dead to community mid-2023; officially shut Jan 2024	C
Open-sourced cloud	`vector-cloud` (vic-cloud + vic-gateway) + `chipper`	chipper = gRPC/TLS, MIT, `ProcessIntent`, no built-in STT	C
OSKR	DDL kit: keys + bootloader → production-to-”Dev” robot	one-time fee, 5 licenses; DDL can’t issue keys since mid-2023; price NF	C
wire-pod	free OSS local server replacing the cloud on retail bots	needs “ep” firmware on production bots; web UI port 8080	C
· STT	swappable	Vosk (default) · Coqui · OpenAI Whisper	C
· LLM/intent	swappable	Houndify · OpenAI (ChatGPT) · Together.ai · Ollama	C
Python SDK	`wirepod-vector-python-sdk`	`pip install wirepod_vector_sdk`; Python 3.6.1–3.12; exposes sensors/vision/nav/animations	C
ROS 2	`vector_ros2` (nilseuropa)	ROS 2 Jazzy; requires OSKR + wire-pod; colcon build	C

Key distinction: wire-pod runs on an unmodified production Vector (it needs only the “ep” firmware variant), while vector_ros2 requires OSKR. wire-pod is for cloud replacement; OSKR is the deeper unlock for developer/ROS-grade access.

9.4 Repositories

Table 3 — Repositories

Repo	Purpose
github.com/kercre123/wire-pod	the local cloud-replacement server (centerpiece)
github.com/kercre123/wirepod-vector-python-sdk	community Python SDK (PyPI `wirepod-vector-sdk`)
github.com/nilseuropa/vector_ros2	ROS 2 Jazzy wrapper (requires OSKR + wire-pod)
github.com/digital-dream-labs	DDL: OSKR, `vector-cloud`, `chipper`, owner’s manual
personalrobots.biz/vector-escape-pod-and-open-source-kit	Escape Pod + OSKR explainer
wiki.thedroidyouarelookingfor.info	community technical wiki

SDK fork chain: Anki → cyb3rdog → MoonDog83 → kercre123. vector_ros2 topics: publishes pose/odom/IMU/battery/camera/proximity/touch/cliff/joint-states/occupancy-grid; subscribes cmd_vel + head/lift; 6 services (explore, fetch cube, dock, animation, TTS; the 6th is unnamed in sources).

9.5 Revival path in brief (Vol 8)

Acquire a used unit → set up wire-pod (free; replaces the dead cloud) → optionally OSKR-unlock → drive it with the Python SDK / ROS 2. wire-pod alone restores voice on an unmodified bot; OSKR + vector_ros2 is the developer/autonomy path.

9.6 SKU & price map (Vol 8)

Table 4 — SKU & price map (Vol 8)

Item	Price	Conf.
Cozmo (predecessor)	~$180 launch	C
Vector (original, per-color SKUs)	Black $199.99 / Pink $219.99 / Blue $249.99 / Red $299	U (single secondary)
Vector 2.0	~$400 commonly cited	C
Used market	~$200–350 typical	C/U
DDL subscription	~$74.99/yr per secondary listings	U
Escape Pod	$99 one-time (wire-pod is the free equivalent)	U
OSKR kit	price not found	NF

9.7 Vendor status (Vols 2, 8)

Anki bankrupt end-April 2019 → DDL acquired Dec 2019 → relaunched 2021 → cloud dead mid-2023/Jan 2024 → Sept 18 2024 PA AG (Michelle Henry) lawsuit over ~14,000 unfilled prepaid orders, $4M+ (vs $2M+ in some headlines), outcome unknown. anki.bot lists Vector 2.0 but reports “sold out”; buy used, not direct. The 2026 “Anki is back” headline is unverified and contradicted — treat as unconfirmed.

9.8 Firmware / version gotchas

Production bots need the “ep” firmware variant for wire-pod.
OSKR is required for vector_ros2 (and full developer firmware), not for basic cloud replacement.
DDL has been unable to issue OSKR keys/firmware since mid-2023 — a real caveat for anyone seeking OSKR today.
Original-camera resolution (HD/720p vs 1080p) is disputed; Vector 2.0 is firmly 2 MP.

9.9 Hub contrast (one row)

Table 5 — Hub contrast (one row)

	HERO Jr (1984)	Vector (2018)
Kept alive by	hardware spares + restoration	an open local server (wire-pod) — software, not hardware

Fuller cross-robot matrix: _shared/comparison.md.

Figure 1 — The Vector community revival stack: the robot reached over its LAN by
wire-pod, which supplies swappable speech-to-text and language-model back ends, with the
Python SDK and the ROS 2 wr… — Figure 1 — The Vector community revival stack: the robot reached over its LAN by wire-pod, which supplies swappable speech-to-text and language-model back ends, with the Python SDK and the ROS 2 wrapper layered above. Interpretive diagram drawn from the confirmed Vector sourcing notes.

Sources

This cheatsheet introduces no new claims; each row traces to its volume (Vols 1–8) and, through them, to the gated fact base 02-inputs/vector_sourcing_notes.md. Primary anchors: github.com/kercre123/wire-pod (and its wiki); github.com/digital-dream-labs (OSKR, vector-cloud, chipper); github.com/kercre123/wirepod-vector-python-sdk; github.com/nilseuropa/vector_ros2; personalrobots.biz; wiki.thedroidyouarelookingfor.info; Wikipedia “Anki (American company)”; The Robot Report; PRNewswire; CBS News Pittsburgh; wevolver; Kinvert; iFixit; anki.bot.