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[ARTICLE · art-81504] src=discuss.huggingface.co ↗ pub= topic=robotics verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Is it possible to get USB camera working with SO101 arm through WSL Ubuntu?

A user reports that a Logitech C270 USB webcam fails to work with the SO101 Arm kit through Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Ubuntu, with the `lerobot-find-cameras opencv` command returning errors including 'ioctl(VIDIOC_QBUF): Bad file descriptor' and 'Inappropriate ioctl for device'. The user has enabled WSL passthrough and tried changing the format to V4L2, but the camera still times out waiting for a frame. The issue is likely related to WSL's limited support for USB video devices, as the camera works in native Linux environments.

read1 min views1 publishedJul 31, 2026

Hello, I just got a SO101 Arm kit, finished building it and managed to get teleop working. I wanted to continue with the tutorials that are recommended before trying to do anything on my own, but I’ve come to a issue with trying to get cameras working.

I have a Logitech C270 usb webcam (wsl passthrough has been enabled), and when running the lerobot-find-cameras opencv

command I received this error message. I tried a couple things like changing the format to V4L2, but haven’t gotten this command to work as it does in the example. The only thing I found, but probably isn’t what i’m looking for is OpenCVCameraConfig settings fail under backend=ANY on Linux; the same settings work with backend=V4L2 · Issue #3198 · huggingface/lerobot · GitHub

Thank you

Here is the error listed below:

ioctl(VIDIOC_QBUF): Bad file descriptor

[video4linux2,v4l2 @ 0x5b2d2bd784c0] ioctl(VIDIOC_G_INPUT): Inappropriate ioctl for device

-– Detected Cameras —

Camera #0:

Name: OpenCV Camera @ /dev/video0

Type: OpenCV

Id: /dev/video0

Backend api: FFMPEG

Default stream profile:

Format: 0.0 Fourcc:

Width: 640

Height: 480

Fps: 30.0

WARNING:lerobot.cameras.opencv.camera_opencv:Error reading frame in background thread for OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0): OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0) read failed (status=False).

WARNING:lerobot.cameras.opencv.camera_opencv:Error reading frame in background thread for OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0): OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0) read failed (status=False).

ERROR:lerobot.scripts.lerobot_find_cameras:Failed to connect or configure OpenCV camera /dev/video0: Timed out waiting for frame from camera OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0) after 1000 ms. Read thread alive: True.

WARNING:lerobot.cameras.opencv.camera_opencv:Error reading frame in background thread for OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0): OpenCVCamera(/dev/video0) read failed (status=False).

ioctl(VIDIOC_QBUF): Bad file descriptor

WARNING:lerobot.scripts.lerobot_find_cameras:No cameras could be connected. Aborting image save.

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