From 8d7969e7cb8b5c433872a7a9a85d132100cced8a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steven Palma <imstevenpmwork@ieee.org>
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2025 14:23:07 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(record): no teleop arg in reset environment (#1294)

---
 docs/source/il_robots.mdx |  4 ++++
 docs/source/smolvla.mdx   |  4 ++++
 lerobot/record.py         | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 3 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/docs/source/il_robots.mdx b/docs/source/il_robots.mdx
index d13e431c..ddfcd98d 100644
--- a/docs/source/il_robots.mdx
+++ b/docs/source/il_robots.mdx
@@ -303,6 +303,10 @@ python -m lerobot.record  \
   --display_data=false \
   --dataset.repo_id=$HF_USER/eval_so100 \
   --dataset.single_task="Put lego brick into the transparent box" \
+  # <- Teleop optional if you want to teleoperate in between episodes \
+  # --teleop.type=so100_leader \
+  # --teleop.port=/dev/ttyACM0 \
+  # --teleop.id=my_awesome_leader_arm \
   --policy.path=${HF_USER}/my_policy
 ```
 
diff --git a/docs/source/smolvla.mdx b/docs/source/smolvla.mdx
index 58340baa..1d6596f6 100644
--- a/docs/source/smolvla.mdx
+++ b/docs/source/smolvla.mdx
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ python -m lerobot.record \
   --dataset.repo_id=${HF_USER}/eval_DATASET_NAME_test \  # <- This will be the dataset name on HF Hub
   --dataset.episode_time_s=50 \
   --dataset.num_episodes=10 \
+  # <- Teleop optional if you want to teleoperate in between episodes \
+  # --teleop.type=so100_leader \
+  # --teleop.port=/dev/ttyACM0 \
+  # --teleop.id=my_red_leader_arm \
   --policy.path=HF_USER/FINETUNE_MODEL_NAME # <- Use your fine-tuned model
 ```
 
diff --git a/lerobot/record.py b/lerobot/record.py
index 884a3fcd..acc844ff 100644
--- a/lerobot/record.py
+++ b/lerobot/record.py
@@ -23,12 +23,15 @@ python -m lerobot.record \
     --robot.port=/dev/tty.usbmodem58760431541 \
     --robot.cameras="{laptop: {type: opencv, camera_index: 0, width: 640, height: 480}}" \
     --robot.id=black \
-    --teleop.type=so100_leader \
-    --teleop.port=/dev/tty.usbmodem58760431551 \
-    --teleop.id=blue \
     --dataset.repo_id=aliberts/record-test \
     --dataset.num_episodes=2 \
-    --dataset.single_task="Grab the cube"
+    --dataset.single_task="Grab the cube" \
+    # <- Teleop optional if you want to teleoperate to record or in between episodes with a policy \
+    # --teleop.type=so100_leader \
+    # --teleop.port=/dev/tty.usbmodem58760431551 \
+    # --teleop.id=blue \
+    # <- Policy optional if you want to record with a policy \
+    # --policy.path=${HF_USER}/my_policy \
 ```
 """
 
@@ -139,9 +142,6 @@ class RecordConfig:
     resume: bool = False
 
     def __post_init__(self):
-        if self.teleop is not None and self.policy is not None:
-            raise ValueError("Choose either a policy or a teleoperator to control the robot")
-
         # HACK: We parse again the cli args here to get the pretrained path if there was one.
         policy_path = parser.get_path_arg("policy")
         if policy_path:
@@ -149,6 +149,9 @@ class RecordConfig:
             self.policy = PreTrainedConfig.from_pretrained(policy_path, cli_overrides=cli_overrides)
             self.policy.pretrained_path = policy_path
 
+        if self.teleop is None and self.policy is None:
+            raise ValueError("Choose a policy, a teleoperator or both to control the robot")
+
     @classmethod
     def __get_path_fields__(cls) -> list[str]:
         """This enables the parser to load config from the policy using `--policy.path=local/dir`"""
@@ -179,6 +182,10 @@ def record_loop(
     while timestamp < control_time_s:
         start_loop_t = time.perf_counter()
 
+        if events["exit_early"]:
+            events["exit_early"] = False
+            break
+
         observation = robot.get_observation()
 
         if policy is not None or dataset is not None:
@@ -194,8 +201,15 @@ def record_loop(
                 robot_type=robot.robot_type,
             )
             action = {key: action_values[i].item() for i, key in enumerate(robot.action_features)}
-        else:
+        elif policy is None and teleop is not None:
             action = teleop.get_action()
+        else:
+            logging.info(
+                "No policy or teleoperator provided, skipping action generation."
+                "This is likely to happen when resetting the environment without a teleop device."
+                "The robot won't be at its rest position at the start of the next episode."
+            )
+            continue
 
         # Action can eventually be clipped using `max_relative_target`,
         # so action actually sent is saved in the dataset.
@@ -220,9 +234,6 @@ def record_loop(
         busy_wait(1 / fps - dt_s)
 
         timestamp = time.perf_counter() - start_episode_t
-        if events["exit_early"]:
-            events["exit_early"] = False
-            break
 
 
 @parser.wrap()