Autocrawler relies on WebRTC and websockets technology to make video connections between the robot and remote control client, and uses standard http/https for the text/data channel.
Ports 5080, 5443, 8443 and 3478 should be forwarded to access the robot from outside the LAN — see explanation for each below.
SSL vs Plain Text
To connect with a SSL encryption instead of plain text (always a good idea) replace the “http” in the browser URL with “https”, and use the port 5443 instead of 5080 (defaults) – eg.:
https://192.168.0.111:5443/autocrawler/
This will encrypt all the text traffic between the robot and remote client (including login info!)
With the default setup you’ll have to click through security risk warnings (if you want to get rid of those warnings you’ll need a qualified domain name and SSL certificate).
WebRTC Server
When you login to the robot, your web browser will register with the webrtc signalling server. This server is unused until the video stream is started, at which point it facilitates the secure handshake between client/server and sets up the video stream. Once set up, the video connection streams peer to peer.
By default the webrtc server is xaxxon.com at port 8443, as defined by the webrtcserver and webrtcport settings. It communicates via the encrypted websockets protocol.
There is another external server (as an optional alternate to xaxxon.com) at webrtc.gstreamer.net also port 8443
There is also an identical local signalling server running on the robot which you can optionally use (eg., if behind a strict firewall) — to switch to it:
go to ‘menu > advanced menu > telnet text command’ (or press ‘C’) and enter the command:
writesetting webrtcserver localhost
Note that to use this local server remotely you’ll have to forward port 8443 through your router.
TURN Server
The robot also has a TURN server running on board, which is required in some situations for the video feed to work (eg., some remote connections on mobile networks, or behind NAT firewalls). By default this is running on port 3478, as defined by the turnserverport setting.
If you’re accessing the robot over the internet you should forward port 3478 to ensure a stable video connection.
