VibeBot Studio

Live drone and robotics telemetry — inside VS Code. No hardware needed to get started.

VibeBot Studio is an AI-powered IDE layer for drone and robotics engineers. Connect to any MAVLink-compatible drone or robot, and see live telemetry — battery, GPS, attitude, IMU, and motor PWM — without leaving your editor.

Built for teams that write, modify, test, and debug flight software on PX4, ArduPilot, and ROS 2.

✅ Try it right now — no drone required

You can test the full extension with a fake MAVLink script that runs on your laptop. No hardware. No SITL install. Full real-time data pipeline in under 2 minutes.

Step 1 — Install pymavlink (one time):

pip install pymavlink

Step 2 — Save this as fake_drone.py and run it:

import time, math
from pymavlink import mavutil

conn = mavutil.mavlink_connection('udpout:127.0.0.1:14550', source_system=1)
start = time.time()
t = 0

print("Sending MAVLink telemetry to 127.0.0.1:14550 ...")
while True:
    t += 0.1
    ms = int((time.time() - start) * 1000)
    conn.mav.heartbeat_send(mavutil.mavlink.MAV_TYPE_QUADROTOR,
                            mavutil.mavlink.MAV_AUTOPILOT_ARDUPILOTMEGA, 0, 0, 0)
    conn.mav.attitude_send(ms, math.sin(t)*0.26, math.cos(t)*0.17,
                           t*0.5 % (2*math.pi), 0.01, 0.01, 0.01)
    conn.mav.gps_raw_int_send(ms, 3, int(28.6139*1e7), int(77.2090*1e7),
                               50000, 100, 100, 0, 0, 12)
    conn.mav.sys_status_send(0,0,0,500,12600,-1,75,0,0,0,0,0,0)
    time.sleep(0.1)

python fake_drone.py

Step 3 — Click the VibeBot icon in the VS Code activity bar → connect to 127.0.0.1:14550

All panels light up with live moving data immediately.

What you get

Compatible autopilots

• PX4 — all versions, full mode decoding
• ArduPilot — ArduCopter, ArduPlane, ArduRover (all flight modes decoded)
• Any MAVLink 1 or MAVLink 2 compatible flight controller

Real hardware connection

Connect VS Code directly to your drone over UDP:

Drone WiFi / telemetry radio → UDP 14550 → VibeBot Studio

In the sidebar: set host to your drone's IP, port 14550 → Connect.

PX4 SITL (full simulation)

# Docker (easiest, no install)
docker run --rm -it jonasvautherin/px4-gazebo-headless:latest

# Or build from source
make px4_sitl gazebo_iris

ArduPilot SITL

sim_vehicle.py -v ArduCopter --console --map

Both stream MAVLink to 127.0.0.1:14550 by default.

Windows setup

VS Code on Windows needs to know your exact Python path:

1. Open Ctrl+, → search vibebot.pythonPath
2. Set it to your full Python path:

   C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python314\python.exe
   

3. Reload window: Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window

Requirements

Roadmap

This is Month 1 of 4 — the telemetry foundation.

Month 2 — Intelligence layer

• [ ] Flight log importer (ArduPilot .bin / PX4 .ulg)
• [ ] Telemetry timeline — scrollable, zoomable, with event markers
• [ ] ROS 2 connector (rosbridge WebSocket)
• [ ] Anomaly detection — battery drain rate, IMU drift alerts

Month 3 — Developer tools

• [ ] AI code review with MAVLink/ROS context awareness
• [ ] One-click SITL launch from inside VS Code
• [ ] Performance diff — how a code change affects battery drain or motor load

Month 4 — Full studio

• [ ] Security audit layer for flight-critical firmware
• [ ] Team license + organisation dashboard
• [ ] Multi-vehicle support

Data flow

Drone / SITL / fake_drone.py
        │  UDP MAVLink (port 14550)
        ▼
python/mavlink_bridge.py       ← spawned as child process
        │  JSON lines on stdout
        ▼
MAVLinkConnector.ts            ← parses stdout, emits typed events
        │  postMessage()
        ▼
TelemetryViewProvider.ts       ← VS Code WebviewView bridge
        │  window.postMessage()
        ▼
App.tsx useReducer             ← dispatches telemetry actions
        │  React state
        ▼
Sidebar components             ← render the live data

Settings

{
  "vibebot.pythonPath":     "python3",     // full path on Windows
  "vibebot.defaultHost":    "127.0.0.1",
  "vibebot.defaultPort":    14550,
  "vibebot.telemetryRateHz": 10
}

Issues and feedback

Report bugs or feature requests at: github.com/octaboomai/VibeBot-studio/issues

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.