chimera-robobs

Robotic observation scheduler (robobs) for the chimera observatory control system.

robobs sits on top of chimera's own scheduler: it keeps its own database of projects, targets, observing blocks and per-block observing constraints (airmass, moon distance/brightness, seeing) plus a queue of programs built by pluggable scheduling algorithms (higher-in-the-sky, extinction monitor, timed, recurrent, time-sequence). The RobObs chimera controller watches the chimera scheduler; whenever the scheduler goes idle it re-schedules, picks the best program for the current conditions, converts it into a chimera scheduler program (with its point/expose/autofocus actions) and wakes the scheduler up again.

This package was extracted from chimera-supervisor 2.0 and ported from Python 2 / old chimera to Python 3.13 / chimera 0.2 (see docs/robobs-port-notes.md for every deliberate change and fixed bug, and docs/plans/deep-refactor.md for the subsequent cleanup). It needs on-sky validation before production use.

Installation

pip install -U git+https://github.com/astroufsc/chimera-robobs.git

Configuration Example

Add to your chimera configuration:

controllers:
  - type: RobObs
    name: robobs
    site: /Site/0
    schedulers: /Scheduler/0
    telescope: /Telescope/0        # tracking stopped after each program
    # database: ~/.chimera/robobs.db       (default)
    # clean_scheduler_on_start: true       (wipe stale scheduler queue)

Safety behavior: programs are only considered while it is astronomically night (daytime evaluation is rejected outright), the telescope tracking is stopped after every finished program so the mount never tracks into a limit, and switching robobs on wipes stale programs left in the chimera scheduler queue by a previous run.

Command line

Offline (operate directly on the robobs database, default ~/.chimera/robobs.db, override with --database):

chimera-robobs add-project -f project.yaml
chimera-robobs add-targets -f targets.csv
chimera-robobs add-observing-block -f blocks.txt
chimera-robobs make-queue --pid PID [--pid-config config.yaml]
chimera-robobs process-queue            # offline simulation of a night
chimera-robobs observing-log [--start 2026/07/06-18:00:00]
chimera-robobs clean-queue --pid PID
chimera-robobs delete-project --pid PID
chimera-robobs plot-log [-f obsplan.png] [--simulation]

Controller control (needs a running chimera server):

chimera-robobs [--host H --port P --robobs /RobObs/0] start | stop | wake | monitor

Input files

The canonical YAML dialect is snake_case with readable algorithm names (mirroring the chimera-supervisor 2.0 configuration style). Project files:

project:
  pid: ETACAR
  pi: A. Investigator
  abstract: Eta-carinae long term observations
  url: www.lna.br
  priority: 20
observing_blocks:
  block 1:
    id: 0
    max_airmass: 3.0
    min_moon_distance: 40.0
    max_seeing: 1.5
    scheduling_algorithm: recurrent   # higher | extinction_monitor | timed
                                      # | recurrent | time_sequence

scheduling:            # parameters of the scheduling algorithm, stored
  slot_len: 900.0      # with the project and used by make-queue
  recurrence: 3

Block files use pre_actions: (before the slew to the target) and post_actions: (after it) with snake_case action keys (image_type, object_name, ...). The scheduling: keys are slot_len, n_stars, n_airmass, pool_size, recurrence, times, past_meridian_only (restrict the Higher-family selection to targets that already crossed the meridian — pier-flip avoidance on German equatorial mounts), expire_overdue (timed: an occurrence executed late absorbs the following occurrences whose slots fall within one cadence interval of the actual run — no back-to-back runs after a blockage); the same keys in a separate YAML passed as make-queue --pid-config override the stored section per key (per-night knobs, e.g. changing the focus times). Files with unknown keys are rejected whole (never half-loaded).

Legacy-dialect files (schedalgorith: 3, maxairmass, imageType, pos-actions, slotLen, ...) are not accepted by the CLI; convert them once with the standalone script:

python scripts/migrate_legacy_config.py legacy.yaml [...] [-o outdir]

The legacy EPOC CSV header is still accepted (targets CSVs are numerous and harmless).

Development

uv sync
uv run pre-commit install --install-hooks
uv run pytest -q
uv run ruff check src tests

License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Contact

• chimera discussion list: https://groups.google.com/g/chimera-discuss
• https://github.com/astroufsc/chimera-robobs