Summary

OpenClaw crashes on launch when no microphone/audio input device is available. The app attempts to initialize VoiceWakeRuntime which requires
audio input, but crashes instead of gracefully handling the missing device.

Steps to reproduce

1. Use a Mac without built-in microphone (e.g., Mac mini) with no external microphone connected
2. Launch OpenClaw.app
3. App crashes immediately

Expected behavior

The app should launch successfully and either:

• Disable voice wake feature gracefully when no microphone is available
• Show a user-friendly message asking to connect a microphone

Actual behavior

App crashes with SIGABRT (Abort trap: 6) during startup. The crash occurs in VoiceWakeRuntime.start(with:) when calling AVAudioNode
installTapOnBus:bufferSize:format:block:.

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.1.30 (build 8469)
• OS: macOS 26.2 (25C56)
• Device: Mac mini (Mac16,10)
• Install method: Direct download (.app)

Logs or screenshots

Crash stack trace:
Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Termination: Abort trap: 6

AVAudioEngineImpl::InstallTapOnNode(...)
-[AVAudioNode installTapOnBus:bufferSize:format:block:]
VoiceWakeRuntime.start(with:)
VoiceWakeRuntime.refresh(state:)
closure #2 in AppState.init(preview:)