distinguish-transient-vs-persistent-robot-failure

name	distinguish-transient-vs-persistent-robot-failure
description	Use when robot commands fail with identical errors across multiple attempts. Recognize when failures are persistent rather than transient network glitches.
category	robotics/execution

Distinguish Transient from Persistent Robot Failures

Not all errors should be retried the same way:

1. Transient indicators: Single occurrence, no pattern, robot responds to /status.
2. Persistent indicators: Identical error repeated 2+ times, robot fails /status check, error message unchanged.

For transient failures:

• Retry once after a brief delay.
• Inform the user: "Temporary connection issue, retrying."

For persistent failures:

• Do NOT keep retrying the same command.
• Perform a full diagnostic check (robot state, service health, WebSocket handshake).
• Report to the user with specifics: "Robot command consistently failing — WebSocket disconnects at handshake."

python

Track failure patterns

if failure_count >= 2 and error_signature == previous_error: # This is persistent — stop retrying, escalate report_user("Persistent failure detected. Manual intervention may be required.")

Anti-pattern: Treating every failure as a temporary glitch and retrying indefinitely, as seen when the assistant keeps calling /goto despite receiving identical 1001 errors.