YAM Cell

✓ Python SDK✓ Bimanual✓ Data Generation

YAM Cell is a complete bimanual teleoperation workstation built around two YAM leader arms and two YAM follower arms. It is designed for collecting high-quality manipulation demonstrations for training embodied AI models.

Mobile Variant

System Overview

The YAM Cell pairs leader arms (with teaching handles) and follower arms in a bilateral teleoperation loop. An operator moves the leader arms naturally; the follower arms mirror the motion in real time with configurable force feedback.

Operator ──► Leader (YAM + teaching handle)
               │  bilateral link (CAN bus)
             Follower (YAM + task gripper)  ──► Task workspace

Hardware Requirements

Component	Qty	Notes
YAM Follower arms	2	Any YAM tier
YAM Leader arms	2	Must use `yam_teaching_handle` gripper
CANable USB-CAN adapters	4	One per arm
Workstation PC	1	Ubuntu 22.04 recommended

CAN Bus Layout

Each arm requires a dedicated CAN channel. Assign persistent names using udev rules (see the SW Setup → Persistent CAN names section):

Arm	CAN name
Left follower	`can_follower_l`
Right follower	`can_follower_r`
Left leader	`can_leader_l`
Right leader	`can_leader_r`

Videos

🎬

Video — Coming Soon

Operator sitting in front of two YAM leader arms, controlling two follower arms picking objects. Side-by-side view of leader and follower workspace. 1–2 min demo.

Hardware Setup

Set up a 4-arm bimanual teleoperation cell: 2 leader arms + 2 follower arms, each on its own CAN channel.

Prerequisites

Finish SW Setup first
Two YAM follower arms (any gripper) + two YAM leader arms (yam_teaching_handle gripper)
Four CANable USB-CAN adapters

1. Mount the 4 arms

[ ] Mount both followers to the front workbench
[ ] Mount both leaders to the operator-side workbench (within arm's reach of the operator)
[ ] Maintain mirror symmetry — left leader ↔ left follower, right leader ↔ right follower

2. Wire CAN + power

[ ] Connect a separate CANable adapter to each arm (4 total)
[ ] Plug all 4 CANable adapters into the host PC's USB ports
[ ] Power each arm independently from its 24 V supply

3. Assign persistent CAN names

Without persistent names you can't tell which can0…can3 belongs to which arm. Follow the persistent CAN names section in SW Setup to set up the layout from the CAN Bus Layout section above.

4. Verify all 4 arms

bash

ip link show | grep can_

All 4 named interfaces should be UP.

5. Quick floating test (one arm at a time)

bash

python i2rt/robots/get_robot.py --channel can_follower_l --gripper linear_4310

Repeat for each arm to confirm each CAN channel maps to the expected arm.

Quick Start Demo

Drive 2 follower arms with 2 leader arms — full bimanual leader-follower teleop with bilateral force feedback.

Launch — one terminal per arm

Terminal 1 — left follower:

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
  --gripper linear_4310 --mode follower \
  --can-channel can_follower_l --bilateral-kp 0.2

Terminal 2 — right follower:

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
  --gripper linear_4310 --mode follower \
  --can-channel can_follower_r --bilateral-kp 0.2

Terminal 3 — left leader:

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
  --gripper yam_teaching_handle --mode leader \
  --can-channel can_leader_l --bilateral-kp 0.2

Terminal 4 — right leader:

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
  --gripper yam_teaching_handle --mode leader \
  --can-channel can_leader_r --bilateral-kp 0.2

Engage

Press the top button on each teaching handle to enable leader-follower sync. The followers track the leaders in real time.

What `--bilateral-kp` does

Value	Behavior
`0.0`	Open-loop — leader feels nothing
`0.1`	Soft force feedback
`0.2`	Recommended — leader feels follower load
`0.3+`	Stiff — risk of oscillation

For deep teleop details (architecture, troubleshooting), see Bimanual Teleoperation below.

Bimanual Teleoperation

Location: examples/bimanual_lead_follower/

Run coordinated dual-arm teleoperation with two leader and two follower YAM arms. This is the primary example for the YAM Cell.

Setup

📷

Photo — Coming Soon

Bimanual YAM Cell setup on a table: leader arms on the left (operator side), follower arms on the right (task side). All four arms visible, cables routed neatly.

1. Verify all four interfaces

bash

ip a | grep can
# Expected:
# can_follower_r  UP
# can_follower_l  UP
# can_leader_r    UP
# can_leader_l    UP

2. Activate the virtual environment

bash

source .venv/bin/activate

3. Launch

bash

python examples/bimanual_lead_follower/bimanual_lead_follower.py

Operation

Action	Result
Move either leader arm	Corresponding follower mirrors motion
Squeeze trigger on teaching handle	Follower gripper closes
Top button (press once)	Enable synchronization
Top button (press again)	Disable synchronization

Start position

Before enabling sync, move the leader arms to roughly match the follower arm positions. Large position errors on first sync can cause abrupt motion.

Video

🎬

Video — Coming Soon

Bimanual teleoperation demo: operator moves two leader arms to pick up objects with two follower arms simultaneously. Tasks shown: pick-and-place, handoff, assembly. 2–3 minutes.

🎬

Video — Coming Soon

Close-up: leader arm teaching handle trigger being used to operate the follower gripper while picking a small object.

Architecture

The example launches two minimum_gello.py instances internally — one per arm pair — sharing the same enable/disable logic through the top button.

python

# Conceptually equivalent to:
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --gripper linear_4310 --mode follower --can-channel can_follower_l --bilateral-kp 0.2
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --gripper yam_teaching_handle --mode leader --can-channel can_leader_l --bilateral-kp 0.2
# (mirrored for right pair)

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Fix
Missing CAN interface	Check `ip a`, replug adapters one at a time
Arm not following	Ensure sync is enabled (top button)
Jittery motion	Lower `--bilateral-kp` to `0.1`
Motor timeout errors	Reduce loop latency; check USB-CAN adapter

Minimum Gello (Single-Pair Teleoperation)

Location: examples/minimum_gello/

The minimal leader–follower teleoperation script. Supports any YAM-family arm + gripper assembly, simulation mode, and local or remote visualization. This is the foundation that the Bimanual Teleoperation example builds on.

Modes

Mode	What it does
`follower` (default)	Drives the local robot from commands received over a portal server. Used as the receiving side in a leader→follower pair.
`leader`	Reads a local teaching handle and sends commands to a remote follower. Requires real hardware — `--sim` is not supported in leader mode.
`visualizer_local`	MuJoCo viewer mirrors the local robot's live state. No motion is commanded.
`visualizer_remote`	MuJoCo viewer mirrors a remote robot's state via the portal server.

Quick Start

bash

# Follower (default) on real hardware
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --can-channel can0

# Follower in simulation — no hardware required
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --sim

# Live MuJoCo viewer for the local robot
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --mode visualizer_local

# Try a different arm + gripper combination in sim
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --arm big_yam --gripper linear_4310 --sim
python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --arm yam_pro --gripper flexible_4310 --sim

Leader → Follower Setup

Run the follower on one terminal (or machine):

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
    --gripper linear_4310 --mode follower --can-channel can0

Run the leader on another (separate CAN bus, real hardware only):

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py \
    --gripper yam_teaching_handle --mode leader --can-channel can1 --bilateral-kp 0.2

Press button 0 on the teaching handle to sync the leader to the follower. Press again to desync.

Bilateral force feedback

--bilateral-kp (default 0.0) controls how much the follower's load is reflected back to the leader. Try 0.1–0.3 to feel object weight; values >0.3 can feel sluggish.

Arguments

Flag	Default	Description
`--arm`	`yam`	Arm type: `yam`, `yam_pro`, `yam_ultra`, `big_yam`, `no_arm`
`--gripper`	`yam_teaching_handle`	Gripper: `crank_4310`, `linear_3507`, `linear_4310`, `flexible_4310`, `yam_teaching_handle`, `no_gripper`
`--mode`	`follower`	Operation mode (see table above)
`--sim`	off	Use `SimRobot` instead of real hardware (follower / visualizer only)
`--can-channel`	`can0`	CAN interface name
`--server-host`	`localhost`	Portal server host (used by leader / remote visualizer)
`--server-port`	`11333`	Portal server port
`--bilateral-kp`	`0.0`	Bilateral force feedback gain (leader mode)
`--ee-mass`	model default	Override end-effector mass (kg) for gravity comp

Overriding Handle Weight

3-D-printed teaching handles vary in mass. The default model assumes 0.258 kg. If your handle is heavier or lighter, pass --ee-mass so gravity compensation matches the real hardware:

bash

python examples/minimum_gello/minimum_gello.py --ee-mass 0.350 --can-channel can0

Data Logging

For dataset collection, see the Record & Replay Trajectory section on the YAM product page — the same recording pipeline applies to any YAM arm used in a Cell.

YAM Arm Series

YAM Cell

Mobile Variant

System Overview

Hardware Requirements

CAN Bus Layout

Videos

Hardware Setup

1. Mount the 4 arms

2. Wire CAN + power

3. Assign persistent CAN names

4. Verify all 4 arms

5. Quick floating test (one arm at a time)

Quick Start Demo

Launch — one terminal per arm

Engage

What `--bilateral-kp` does

Bimanual Teleoperation

Setup

1. Verify all four interfaces

2. Activate the virtual environment

3. Launch

Operation

Video

Architecture

Troubleshooting

Minimum Gello (Single-Pair Teleoperation)

Modes

Quick Start

Leader → Follower Setup

Arguments

Overriding Handle Weight

Data Logging

See Also

YAM Cell ​

Mobile Variant ​

System Overview ​

Hardware Requirements ​

CAN Bus Layout ​

Videos ​

Hardware Setup ​

1. Mount the 4 arms ​

2. Wire CAN + power ​

3. Assign persistent CAN names ​

4. Verify all 4 arms ​

5. Quick floating test (one arm at a time) ​

Quick Start Demo ​

Launch — one terminal per arm ​

Engage ​

What --bilateral-kp does ​

Bimanual Teleoperation ​

Setup ​

1. Verify all four interfaces ​

2. Activate the virtual environment ​

3. Launch ​

Operation ​

Video ​

Architecture ​

Troubleshooting ​

Minimum Gello (Single-Pair Teleoperation) ​

Modes ​

Quick Start ​

Leader → Follower Setup ​

Arguments ​

Overriding Handle Weight ​

Data Logging ​

See Also ​

YAM Cell

Mobile Variant

System Overview

Hardware Requirements

CAN Bus Layout

Videos

Hardware Setup

1. Mount the 4 arms

2. Wire CAN + power

3. Assign persistent CAN names

4. Verify all 4 arms

5. Quick floating test (one arm at a time)

Quick Start Demo

Launch — one terminal per arm

Engage

What `--bilateral-kp` does

Bimanual Teleoperation

Setup

1. Verify all four interfaces

2. Activate the virtual environment

3. Launch

Operation

Video

Architecture

Troubleshooting

Minimum Gello (Single-Pair Teleoperation)

Modes

Quick Start

Leader → Follower Setup

Arguments

Overriding Handle Weight

Data Logging

See Also