Embodiment

A Familiar body is one physical form admitted for bounded real-world work. The form determines what the body can sense, how it moves or presents, where it may go, and what must stop it.

Body admission

familiar.admit_body@2 pins one exact body identity from an admitted controller or device attachment, closes the capability snapshot, and seals the safety contract. Admission is distinct from attachment enrollment: Legion may own a remote node credential and reservation; a mobile client/device enrollment owner may supply its exact binding while Ward proves current authority; another bounded local adapter may own its exact controller binding. Familiar owns only the application judgment that this physical body is fit for the declared work. Companion is downstream: it may open its mobile device record and session only after Familiar returns the exact admitted body revision.

Missing a required capability refuses admission. Missing an optional capability becomes an explicit downgrade recorded on the body. A later hardware change creates a new body revision; it never silently widens a running mission.

No attachment kind is universal Familiar law. Remote robots commonly need a Legionnaire so the body can retain node-local safety and refusal across network loss. A phone represented through an authenticated client can instead use its exact enrolled mobile attachment plus Ward's current authority decision; Companion then consumes the resulting body record. Both paths must expose the capabilities, fencing, recovery, and independently reachable stop behavior required by the selected body profile.

Example forms

These are orientation profiles, not compatibility, purchasing, regulatory, or safety guidance. Each admitted body still needs an exact hardware/controller revision, measured envelope, local-law closure, and an independently reachable stop path.

Drone

A quadcopter or hexacopter. Airborne, fast, overhead perspective. Best for outdoor following, aerial observation, and property survey.

Rover

A wheeled or tracked ground vehicle. Stable, quiet, longer endurance. Best for indoor/outdoor following, close-range observation, and terrain the Lich walks.

Legged

A quadruped or hexapod robot. Can handle stairs, uneven terrain, and indoor spaces a rover cannot. Best for indoor following, multi-floor environments, and close physical presence.

Manipulator, phone, card, and display

A Familiar need not locomote. A robotic hand, phone, tactile device, card, or display can be admitted as a physical presentation or effect body when its controller or client exposes an exact capability snapshot, local safety envelope, bounded effect vocabulary, and physical stop path. A phone may carry a Companion session while Familiar retains its body and hardware facts. Such a body does not inherit drone, vehicle, or locomotion authority merely because it shares the Familiar identity.

Car and other vehicles

A car or other vehicle is admitted as a vehicle body with its own controller, occupants, motion envelope, route boundary, local override, and emergency policy. Familiar receives semantic vehicle tasks and attributed receipts; it does not receive raw steering, throttle, brake, or actuator authority.

Capability admission is honest

A capability declared "required" refuses body admission when the hardware or controller cannot supply it. A capability declared "optional" becomes an explicit downgrade recorded on FamiliarBody@2. Familiar never infers capabilities from a form-factor label alone.

One body, many missions

A FamiliarBody@2 may admit many FamiliarMission@2 records. Changing the hardware, controller firmware, or safety envelope creates a new body revision. A mission always references an exact immutable body revision; it never wakes to find its body silently upgraded underneath it.

A body that loses a capability between revisions — a broken camera, a downgraded controller — records that loss. Missions that required the lost capability refuse admission. Missions that declared it optional may proceed with the downgrade explicit.

The body decides what fits

Familiar receives no raw motor authority. The controller — Pixhawk, ESP32, ROS2 node — remains the sole authority over motor PWMs, PID loops, and obstacle avoidance interrupts. Familiar sends semantic waypoints and receives attributed receipts; it never sends motor_pwm=1400.

The emergency stop is hardware-level and autonomous. Familiar declares the stop policy (kill-switch behaviour, autonomous triggers) at body admission. The controller enforces it without waiting for a LychD round-trip. A lost admitted control link—Intercom on a Legion-backed route—triggers the signal-loss policy, not an unbounded hover.

Continue with Follow for how the body locks onto a subject, traces a path, avoids obstacles, handles signal loss, and transitions into speaking presence. Return to Familiar.