After you have modeled your work cell in Model Mode, you can create a set of pre-planned robotic motions, specifically the robot’s configurations and the paths connecting them, in Roadmap Mode. The robotic motions are checked for possible collisions during runtime.
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Roadmap Toolbar
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Target
Used to add a target, which is a node in a roadmap with a position and orientation that a robot end-effector should be able to reach.
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A target is a fixed point in space, not a robot joint configuration.
Targets should stay away from the axis limits of the robot by a minimum 2 degrees.
Update a Target
You can move the location of an existing target to that of the current TCP.
With a robot’s Jog Dialog open and the TCP in the desired new location, select the target to be moved, then click the Update button (which changes from Add when you select the target to be moved).
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Sequence
A sequence, or a target sequence, is a list of targets, listed in an order that the robot can follow. Target sequences are specific to a particular robot and its preset.
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You can double-click on the target sequence name in the Property Tree to display its Target Sequence dialog to add or delete targets, change the order or, in general, make edits to the target sequence.
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Yellow text - Target Sequence text that displays in yellow alerts you to potential issues. Hover your cursor over the text to display more information.
Inspecting a Target Sequence
You can inspect and play the robot motions of the end-to-end path created by a target sequence in the same way you inspect and play robot motions for edges. See the Roadmap Inspector section below.
Auto-Connect for a Target Sequence
The Auto-Connect feature, described in the Connect section below, creates connections for all selected targets indiscriminately, meaning that each target in a group is connected to all the other targets in the group. This is not the desired behavior when creating a target sequence where, for example, target1 should only be connected to target2, target2 should only be connected to target3, and so on.
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NOTE: Only target pairs with no prior connections will get auto-connect generated between them |
Assign
Displays the Target Assignment dialog, where you can identify which robot and which preset to assign the target to, and then choose among the Inverse Kinematic solutions to use to reach that target.
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The assigned IK solution for the first target from the target assignment list, is also the seeded IK solution for the target assignments after the first assigned target.
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Connect
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You can choose to make connections manually, with the Connections Editor, or have RapidPlan Create make them automatically, with Auto-Connect.
Connections Editor
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The Connections Editor displays the Edit Connections dialog, where you can manually configure connections between targets. You can specify whether connections should be Joint or Cartesian for each target.
After the connections have been created, Joint connections display as green lines. Cartesian connections display as purple lines.
Joint Connections and Cartesian Connections
When a robot moves between points in space it uses one of two kinds of interpolation: Joint or Cartesian. In the picture below, the green areas represent the joint space and the TCP represents the cartesian space.
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OK button - After the Apply button is pressed to create a roadmap, click the OK button to confirm and close the dialog.
Auto-Connect
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Auto-connect is a feature that automatically generates collision-free paths around obstacles without the need to set up a lot of specific targets.
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If “All states” is selected for a mate, Auto-connect will try to find a motion path that would avoid obstacles in all object states for the mate.
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Advanced Settings
Total optimization time - Determines how long to allow for the roadmap to be generated.
Required clearance - Determines how close the roadmap can get to an object.
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NOTE: The clearance value entered in auto-connect is not recommended to be below the robot-world clearance value set under project settings. |
Fast or Optimal mode - Optimization algorithms used to generate the roadmap.
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Maximum planner iterations - One iteration is a single execution step of the Auto-Connect path planner. A larger number of iterations gives the planner more opportunity to find a solution.
Fast or Optimal mode - Optimization algorithms used to generate the roadmap.
Fast mode - Auto-Connect will return the first feasible solution it finds. Fast mode will fail if no solution has been found in the total optimization timegiven number of planner iterations.
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Optimal mode - Auto-Connect tries to optimize the solution as best it can in the total optimization time givengiven the maximum planner iterations. Optimal mode will fail if no solution has been found in the total optimization timegiven number of planner iterations.
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Cost terms importance:
Used to weigh parameters against each other when auto-generating the roadmap. The sliders are used to allocate weights to shorter path, fewer via points, and lesser external axis motion (example: robot on rail) for motion planning.
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OK - Close the dialog with the settings saved.
Measure Tool
You can measure the distance between any two items in the 3D View by clicking on them. The Measure dialog box can display minimum (straight-line) distance and dimension-wise (Dx, DYDy, and DZDz) distance between the two items. The Measure tool displays other measurement information such as distance between parallel surfaces, relative plane angles, and total area.
Preset
The Robot preset dialog exposes the same dialog box for Preset as it is in Model mode. In Roadmap mode, the dialog will allow users to perform only operations restricted to:
renaming preset
modifying robot dynamics
To learn more robot dynamics under the preset dialog, please refer to the Robot Dynamics section in the Model Mode documentation of RapidPlan Create.
Inspect
For QA and debugging purposes it is necessary to have some way to validate generated edges. You should be able to see if a robot collides with obstacles while moving through a given edge.
The Roadmap Inspector tool will allow you to:
Visualize robots in collision
Visualize robot voxelization
Visualize connections by validity state (invalid, in progress/unknown, valid) and by connection type (Cartesian or Joint)
Display edge paths as connections or according to the motion of the TCP
Play and pause robots motion with adjustable speeds along edges
Visualize intersecting voxels between multiple robots
Play complete target sequence motions
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Roadmap Inspector - Typical sequence of operation
Click on the Inspect button in the toolbar to display the Roadmap Inspector.
Click on a robot in the list or on the canvas. (If you click directly on an edge in the canvas, the robot will be automatically selected for you.)
Select a path to inspect using one of these methods:
Click directly on an edge in the canvas.
Select a target sequence in the Property Tree.
Select a pair of targets in the Property Tree (using the Shift key to select the second target).
You can select the edges of multiple robots to play their motions at the same time.
If the Auto-play motions check box is checked (default setting), the robot will move along the edge back and forth.
For a target sequence, the robot will move along the targets in the defined order end to end, forward and backward.
Visualizing Robot Paths
There are a number of ways in which you can display the edges, paths, voxels, robot motion speed, etc. based on your settings in the Roadmap Inspector dialog. Below are descriptions of the dialog elements and examples of setting options.
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Path selection window - The selected motion paths to be visualized are displayed for each robot.
Reset button - Teleport the robot to its starting position.
Play/Pause buttons - Plays/pauses the robot motion.
Manual control slider - Click and drag the white square slider along the timeline to In addition, the Measure dialog box can display the Rotational Offset (Rx, Ry, and Rz), if applicable. The user can select between different modes for measuring said distance:
Face/Edge/Vertex - Allows selection of any face or edge or vertex for any objects or links in the project
Subassembly - Allows selection of a sub-assembly (part of an assembly or a complex object with multiple parts)
Object - Allows selection of an entire assembly (or an object)
The Measure tool can display other measurement information such as distance between parallel surfaces, relative plane angles, and total area.
Jog
You can open https://realtimerobotics.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/POUG/pages/2708343870/RapidPlan+Create+2.5+Layout#Robot-Jog-Dialog.
Preset
The Robot preset dialog exposes the same dialog box for Preset as it is in Model mode. In Roadmap mode, the dialog will allow users to perform only operations restricted to:
renaming preset
modifying robot dynamics
To learn more robot dynamics under the preset dialog, please refer to the Robot Dynamics section in the Model Mode documentation of RapidPlan Create.
Inspect
For QA and debugging purposes it is necessary to have some way to validate generated edges. You should be able to see if a robot collides with obstacles while moving through a given edge.
The Roadmap Inspector tool will allow you to:
Visualize robots in collision
Visualize robot voxelization
Visualize connections by validity state (invalid, in progress/unknown, valid) and by connection type (Cartesian or Joint)
Display edge paths as connections or according to the motion of the TCP
Play and pause robots motion with adjustable speeds along edges
Visualize intersecting voxels between multiple robots
Play complete target sequence motions
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Roadmap Inspector - Typical sequence of operation
Click on the Inspect button in the toolbar to display the Roadmap Inspector.
Click on a robot in the list or on the canvas. (If you click directly on an edge in the canvas, the robot will be automatically selected for you.)
Select a path to inspect using one of these methods:
Click directly on an edge in the canvas.
Select a target sequence in the Property Tree.
Select a pair of targets in the Property Tree (using the Shift key to select the second target).
You can select the edges of multiple robots to play their motions at the same time.
If the Auto-play motions check box is checked (default setting), the robot will move along the edge back and forth.
For a target sequence, the robot will move along the targets in the defined order end to end, forward and backward.
Visualizing Robot Paths
There are a number of ways in which you can display the edges, paths, voxels, robot motion speed, etc. based on your settings in the Roadmap Inspector dialog. Below are descriptions of the dialog elements and examples of setting options.
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Path selection window - The selected motion paths to be visualized are displayed for each robot.
Reset button - Teleport the robot to its starting position.
Play/Pause buttons - Plays/pauses the robot motion.
Manual control slider - Click and drag the white square slider along the timeline to move the robot along its path manually, (similar to “scrubbing” through an online video timeline).
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Edge Color - Validity State - Display edges according to the validity of their connections:
Legend - Invalid: Red connections.
Legend - In progress/Unknown: Yellow connections.
Legend - Valid: Green connections.
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Edge Color - Connection Type - Display edges colored by their type: purple for Cartesian; green for Joint.
Edge Path - Display paths solely by their connected state (straight lines) or by the actual motion the TCP will follow. Examples:
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Visibility - The visibility options determine which elements in the canvas are seen or hidden. This feature can be useful for decluttering the canvas. You can, for example, zoom in to inspect an area of invalid edges while filtering out the other valid and in-progress edges. Check or uncheck boxes to display/hide these voxel and edge types:
Motion Voxels - Gray voxels showing the swept volume and robot dilation along the motion path.
Intersecting Voxels - Red voxels indicate where the motions of two or more robots would collide following the planned paths.
Edges - Color coordinated: Invalid, In progress/Unknown, Valid
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Auto-play motions - Check to start playing motions immediately after edges, targets, or target sequences are selected for each robot.
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Speed Factor - Drag the slider to adjust the speed of robots. This affects all the robots in the list. Use the numeric spin box for more granular control.
Collision
The Collision drop-down menu allows user to:
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Disable Collision Checking for link/object pair - Analyze the entire project for pairs of objects/links which (a) never collide, (b) are always equidistant, and (c) almost always collide. The analysis produces a list of all pairs, accessible from the Collision Analysis menu or from the property tree, that fit the condition aforementioned. As a result, the Collision Analysis dialog provides an option to disable collision checking for all or part of the detected link/object pair.
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Analyze - Provides method to perform a full analysis of the project to identify the link/object pairs
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Both the options above can be accessed from the property tree in roadmap mode.
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Rule - Also known as Collision Rules in the Property Tree, disable collision checking option allows to specify what parts of a robot/preset’s roadmap should be ignored for collision checking. These sets of rules, which are user-defined, are taken into consideration during path planning.
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Name: Provide rule name
The rule is applied between Selection (A) and Selection (B) for Roadmap (C).
Selection (A): Select whether to apply the rule to the entire robot (except robot base) or apply the rule to specific links of the robot (except robot base). The additional joints for the external axis can also be selected here.
Selection (B): Select whether to apply the rule to the entire environment, or to specify the static objects and/or robot links (excluding robot base and including external axis) to apply this rule to.
Roadmap (C): Select whether to apply the rule for the entire roadmap of the selected robot/preset or select specific connections and/or auto-connects, which are part of the roadmap
As the selections are made, you can view the rule description at the bottom of the dialog. To view full text, you can copy and paste in a text editor.
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Disable Collision Checking for link/object pair - Analyze the entire project for pairs of objects/links which (a) never collide, (b) are always equidistant, and (c) almost always collide. The analysis produces a list of all pairs, accessible from the Collision Analysis menu or from the property tree, that fit the condition aforementioned. As a result, the Collision Analysis dialog provides an option to disable collision checking for all or part of the detected link/object pair.
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Analyze - Provides method to perform a full analysis of the project to identify the link/object pairs
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Both the options above can be accessed from the property tree in roadmap mode.
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Clearance
Also known as Clearance Rules in the Property Tree, Clearance option in the tool bar allows to specify a minimum clearance rule when path planning. The rule applies to a robot/preset’s roadmap (or part of the roadmap). These sets of rules, which are user-defined, are taken into consideration during path planning.
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Name: Provide rule name
The rule is applied between Selection (A) and Selection (B) for Roadmap (C).
Selection (A): Select whether to apply the rule to the entire robot (except robot base) or apply the rule to specific links of the robot (except robot base). The additional joints for the external axis can also be selected here.
Selection (B): Select whether to apply the rule to the entire environment, or to specify the static objects and/or robot links (excluding robot base and including external axis) to apply this rule to.
Roadmap (C): Select whether to apply the rule for the entire roadmap of the selected robot/preset or select specific connections and/or auto-connects, which are part of the roadmap
As the selections are made, you can view the rule description at the bottom of the dialog. To view full text, you can copy and paste in a text editor.
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Validate
Validate checks the roadmap’s targets, configurations, and connections are valid, in preparation for exporting the project file. It is a two-step process.
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Revalidate All - Validates all edges.
Export
The Export button generates the different CAD files needed for the current project. The project is compressed to a .zip file and saved under the same project folder.
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