Hi Dave - Athena here. Short answer first: yes, you can add and run multiple Personality Generator skills simultaneously in ARC. Below I’ll explain the options, show safe ways to prevent overlapping actions, list pros/cons, and give concrete, practical ways to get the behavior you want (including doing it with a single Personality Generator).

Useful docs

• Personality Generator: https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/Scripting/Personality-Generator?id=16084
• On Variable Changed: https://synthiam.com/Support/Skills/Scripting/On-Variable-Changed?id=19359
• Add Robot Skill: https://synthiam.com/Support/ARC-Overview/robot-skills/add-robot-skill-to-project
• Robot Skills overview: https://synthiam.com/Support/ARC-Overview/robot-skills/Skills-Intro

1. Can you install/run multiple Personality Generator skills?

• Yes. ARC allows multiple instances of the same robot skill. From Project Add Skill Scripting Personality Generator, click the skill multiple times to add as many instances as you want. (You already received that confirmation from support.)

2. Recommended approaches (3 main ways)

1. Single Personality Generator, categorized rows (recommended for simplicity)

• The Personality Generator supports a High/Low timeframe for each script row. Use that to categorize behavior:
  • Movement/eye blinks/lights: short windows (e.g., 20-120 seconds).
  • Random chit-chat: medium windows (e.g., 120-600 seconds).
  • Weather/time/announcements: long windows (e.g., 600-1200+ seconds).
• Advantages: everything stays in one place, easier to manage randomness, fewer race conditions.
• Use: edit each row’s High/Low values in the Personality Generator config to control frequency.

2. Multiple Personality Generator instances (split by category)

• Add a "Motion & Lights" PG, a "Speech & Chit-chat" PG, a "Status/Internet" PG, etc.
• Rename each instance for clarity (open kebab menu / three-lines in top-right of the skill window change the Title).
• Advantages: separation of concerns, independent timing per category, easier to enable/disable whole categories.
• Disadvantages: possible simultaneous conflicting actions (e.g., motion + speech triggering other motion), slightly more threads/complexity.

3. Replace heavy scripts with Script controls + orchestration (best for guaranteed coordination)

• Use Personality Generator(s) only to send simple triggers (set a variable or send ControlCommand) - do NOT run long action sequences inside the PG rows.
• Put long sequences in Script controls (one script per action group: e.g., Weather Report, Greet, Wave Motion, Light Show).
• Use On Variable Changed skill or ControlCommand to start the Script controls. The On Variable Changed skill or your script can check/handle locks to avoid overlap.
• This pattern is robust and scalable.

3. How to prevent multiple PGs from triggering at the same time There are several ways. Pick what fits your style:

A - Lock variable pattern (simple)

• Each Personality script should:
  1. Check a global lock variable (e.g., $PG_Lock).
  2. If lock is set, exit (or set a retry).
  3. If not set, set the lock, run actions, then clear the lock.

Example of the pattern (ARC script-style for use in a Personality Generator row):

# Check if lock is set
if getVar("$PG_Lock","false") == "true" then
  # exit or skip this action
  exit
end

# acquire lock
setVar("$PG_Lock","true")

# actions (example: start a Script control named "Weather Report")
ControlCommand(ScriptStart, Weather Report)

# optional: small wait to let the script begin
sleep(1000)

# release lock when finished (the Script control itself can clear the lock when it completes)
setVar("$PG_Lock","false")

Notes:

• The Script control that does the heavy work can be set to clear $PG_Lock at the end of its execution (recommended) so the lock covers the full action duration.

B - Use On Variable Changed as the sequencer

• Personality Generators only set variables (e.g., setVar("$DoWeather","1")).
• One or more On Variable Changed skills watch those variables and execute the full action scripts.
• The On Variable Changed script can check/clear locks and queue or ignore triggers while busy.
• This provides a centralized point to control serialization, retries, or queuing.

C - Use Script controls + ControlCommand for well-defined start/stop

• Have PG rows use ControlCommand(ScriptStart, ScriptName) to start named Script controls.
• Script controls can be written so they are re-entrant-safe (e.g., they check a $ScriptName_Running var at start) and return quickly if already running.

4. Advantages / Disadvantages of multiple Personality Generators Advantages

• Clear separation of behaviors (e.g., motion vs. announcements).
• Independent frequency control per behavior category.
• Easy to enable/disable or tune one category without affecting others.

Disadvantages

• Potential for conflicting or simultaneous actions (lights, servos, audio) unless coordinated.
• Slightly more complex project architecture and more skills to manage.
• If actions are embedded directly in PG rows, harder to ensure a long action finishes before another starts.

5. Can you achieve your goals with a single Personality Generator?

• Yes - in most cases you can. Use the per-row High/Low timers aggressively:
  • Create rows grouped by category and give them appropriate High/Low ranges.
  • For deterministic tasks (time, weather), set very long min intervals so they won’t repeat often.
  • For motion/animations, give short ranges.
• If you also want mutual exclusion (e.g., don’t talk while doing a specific motion), combine the single PG with script controls that use locks.

6. Can you avoid using Personality Generator entirely?

• Yes. Alternatives:
  • Use scheduled Script controls with timers (Script Start with timing).
  • Use On Variable Changed driven by other control inputs or timers.
  • Build a custom robot skill (if you need very complex behavior, see: https://synthiam.com/Support/Create-Robot-Skill/Overview)
• For most hobby projects, PG + Script controls + On Variable Changed gives maximum flexibility with minimal coding.

7. Practical step-by-step examples (quick) A - Add a second Personality Generator

1. Project Add Skill Scripting Personality Generator (click the skill again).
2. Click the skill’s kebab menu (three lines) change the Title to "Personality - Motion" / "Personality - Info".
3. Populate rows and set the High/Low ranges per row.

B - Use PG to trigger Script controls (recommended)

1. Create Script controls (Project Add Skill Scripting Script) and name them: "Weather Report", "Wave Motion", "Eyes Blink".
2. Put the full sequence for each action in its Script control. Have each Script control setVar("$ScriptName_Running","true") at the start and setVar("$ScriptName_Running","false") at the end.
3. In the Personality Generator rows, simply add: ControlCommand(ScriptStart, Weather Report) or setVar("$DoWeather","1") if using On Variable Changed.
4. Optionally implement a global $PG_Lock to avoid overlap across different scripts.

C - Use On Variable Changed to queue/serialize

1. Add On Variable Changed skill(s).
2. Configure it to watch variables like $DoWeather and $DoWave.
3. In the On Variable Changed script, check $PG_Lock before running; if locked, you can either ignore the trigger or retry after a delay.

8. Which approach do I recommend for your use case?

• Given you have many mixed scripts (motion, speech, web calls), I recommend:
  1. Move heavy/long scripts out of the Personality Generator and into named Script controls.
  2. Keep one or two Personality Generators that only trigger those scripts (via ControlCommand or setVar).
  3. Use On Variable Changed or a simple lock variable to prevent simultaneous heavy actions (e.g., speaking while doing a multi-second animation).
• This gives the best mix of randomness, reliability, and control.

Would you like:

• A step-by-step walk-through of converting one of your big Personality scripts into a Script control and wiring a Personality Generator to start it?
• Or a ready-to-paste example of the lock variable pattern (I can format that for a Personality Generator row or a Script control)?

Tell me which script(s) you want handled first (e.g., "Weather Report" and "Speak Time"), and I’ll give you an exact configuration and sample script lines to paste into ARC.