Status "Stale" in Turtlebot's dashboard

Question

I just want a clearer definition of the status Stale on Turtlebot's dashboard (it's not really available in dashboard's page). Does it mean that (a) the battery of iRobot Create is left unused for long so that it has mostly discharged? Or (b) the battery is dying or (c) else?

Btw, the reason I want to know this is because I often see Stale on my Turtlebot. Sometimes it even happens right after I plug out. In this case I suspect the case (b) applies, but then after some moment dashboard changes status to show the battery of Create is almost fully charged. So this case might be rooted in multiple causes, but first I like to know about Stale.

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Originally posted by 130s on ROS Answers with karma: 10937 on 2011-11-22

Post score: 0

Answer 1

Stale simply means that the status has not be updated because messages are not coming through -- therefore it carries no information about the actual battery state and instead says there is either some issue with A) your networking or B) the turtlebot_node itself.

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Originally posted by fergs with karma: 13902 on 2011-11-22

This answer was ACCEPTED on the original site

Post score: 0

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Original comments

Comment by 130s on 2011-11-28:
@tfoote that makes all sense if you're talking about when Create's battery goes into passive mode. Still I'm not sure why I see stale when I just boot the system. But anyway my question is solved since it seems just a matter of timing, and the stale doesn't mean battery is physically dying.

Comment by tfoote on 2011-11-25:
The turtlebot_node will send a firmware reset to the iRobot Create to get it to start charging, it won't start charging automatically. During this reset the Create based messages will go stale as it causes the turtlebot_node to restart too.

Comment by 130s on 2011-11-22:
@fergs thanks. Well, I remember I've also seen something like "messages are not received yet" when the icons were gray. I assume there's intended difference b/w that one and stale.