2.3 RapidPlan Control Panel Layout
- Aayush Damani (Unlicensed)
The Control Panel is the web-based runtime application that you use to upload projects and send commands to your robots. The Control Panel is designed to be used for simulation testing and proofs of concepts as well as real time visualization while actual, connected robots are running.
The Control Panel User Interface (UI) is divided into these sections, which are described below.
Screen Control Widgets
The 4-arrow widget at the top of the Navigation Bar toggles the application between default display and full-screen.
The double-chevron collapses/expands the width of the Navigation Bar.
The double-chevron at the top right of the Configure/Command/Terminal panel toggles the expansion of the 3D View to the entire Control Panel window, called Visualization Mode.
The vertical line separating the 3D View from the Configure/Command/Configure tab content can be dragged to resize the width panels horizontally. This also applies to the horizontal line separating the Configure/Command/Terminal tab from the Status/History/Log tab, which can be dragged to resize the vertical height of those tabs.
Navigation Bar
Navigate through the various parts of the Controller. Choose to display Configuration, Command, or Terminal modes. Select what the status panel displays: Status, History, Log, Advanced Mode, Settings, and Support information.
Control Panel Configure Mode/Command Mode/Terminal Tabs
In Control Panel Configure mode, you’ll load Roadmap projects and set robot parameters. In Control Panel Command mode, you’ll send commands to robots. When the Terminal tab is open, you can send ASCII commands manually from the Control Panel.
Status/History/Log Tabs
Depending on your selection in the navigation bar, this tab can display: the status of the robots in the current project; a history of ASCII API commands sent and responses received; and log output from the system.
The Status pane displays the Robot IP address and External IP address information. The status of the Realtime Controller is displayed (Configuration Mode, Operation Mode, or Fault). The loaded project’s information is displayed: a list of robots in the project, their status, and current presets.
You can copy robot TCP and joint configuration data by clicking on the associated clipboard icon.
The History pane displays ASCII API command and response information. The time stamp and execution time for each API command is displayed. Click on a command to display more details about the command and to access an Actions drop-down menu, which allows you to resend the command, copy the command request, or copy the command request and the response data (Copy All) to your clipboard.
ASCII response information can be presented in YAML format by default or in CSV if the CSV Responses toggle is turned on.
The History pane automatically scrolls and displays the latest command and response information. However, if you scroll up to see previous history entries, RapidPlan Control will add new entries at the bottom of the History pane, but will not automatically scroll to them. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the pane again, the auto-scroll behavior resumes.
Faulty commands are highlighted. Click on the command to display more information about the error.
The Log pane displays Realtime Controller logs, which you can download for debugging purposes. Note that you must be in Configure Mode, where a Download Logs button is available, to download the logs.
Advance/Standard/Read-only Modes
Different access modes are available to control features and editable fields. To change access modes, click on the Advanced Mode icon in the navigation bar to display the Access Mode dialog then select an access mode. The options are Read-only, Standard, and Advanced.
Advanced mode
Advanced Mode allows access to all features and all editable fields. The access code for Advanced mode is 3746. Entering Advanced mode requires the access code when switching to this mode from Standard or Read-only.
Standard mode
Standard mode is the default access mode when you first load the Control Panel. Standard mode does not require an access code and allows access to features and editable fields, except:
Object State combo boxes
Robot Preset combo boxes
‘Ignore all Collisions’ checkbox in the Pose Move tab
‘Move from off roadmap to a target’ checkbox in the Target Move tab
Move near obstacles
Path Quality
‘Default Project’ radio button
Behavior Settings dialog
Interrupt Behavior tab
Alternate Location tab
Targets tab
Connections tab
Read-only mode
Read-only mode does not require an access code. By default it allows read-only access to all fields.
Settings
Click on the Settings icon in the navigation bar to access General, Visualization and Network settings.
General settings control the browser warning (which allows you to dismiss a warning about unsupported browsers) and global measurement units.
On the Visualization tab you can change color of the robot voxels, and how the elements of the canvas are displayed.
Voxel Colors - Choose a color of a robot’s path voxels. Robot targets are rendered using the same voxel color as the robot.
Show Path Voxels - Path voxels show the space the robot will take up when it moves. When a robot is not moving, the path voxels show the dilation distance for the robot. Toggle the visibility of path voxels individually or globally for all the robots in the project.
Show DSM Voxels - Toggle the display of DSM (Dynamic Scene Model) voxels.
Show DSM Boxes - Toggle the display of DSM boxes
Show Grid - Toggle the display of the floor grid.
Show Canvas Controls - The Canvas Controls widget is designed for touch-based inputs. When this setting is on, the widget appears in the right upper corner of the 3D view (aka canvas). Click on the widget to display or hide the controls selected in the Visualization Settings dialog. See 3D View below for an example.
On the Network tab you can enable or disable Profinet communication and download project-associated Lookup Table.
Profinet Enabled - Toggle to enable or disable Profinet communication. The RTR controller needs to be rebooted for the changes to take effect.
Download Lookup Table - To communication with a RTR controller using Profinet protocol, all objects in a RapidPlan project are referenced by integers specified in a lookup table. This lookup table can be downloaded here.
Advanced Settings
Show Performance Stats - Displays in the upper right corner of the 3D View a series widgets showing performance statistics. Click on the widget to cycle through each. This widgets display the current FPS (frames per second) video rate, MB, and the rate over time.
Support
Access information relating to support issues:
About – Displays current version number of the software, patent statement, and information about the RTR controller.
Documentation – Provides links to the online, interactive versions of the Realtime Robotics REST API user manual.
Legal – Displays the end user license agreement (EULA).
Result Codes – You can search by number for explanations of result codes the system generates (for example, error codes) in this window.
License – A RapidPlan license can be installed. A RapidPlan license(.lic file) is uploaded to the RTR controller using the Install License File button. This license is node-locked to the network interface’s MAC address displayed here. Without an installed license, RapidPlan Controller will stay in CONFIG mode only.
3D View/Canvas
The 3D View, also known as the canvas, is an interactive view of the robots, their configurations, targets, and environment. You can customize what is displayed in the 3D View, including the robots' path voxels, based on your selections in the Visualization Settings tab described above. As with RapidPlan Create, you can pan, rotate, and zoom the view of the cell in or out.
Controlling the View
To pan the view of the cell, press and hold the scroll wheel and right mouse button and drag the mouse.
To rotate the view, press and hold the right mouse button and drag the mouse.
Zoom the view in and out with the scroll wheel.
When the “Show Canvas Controls“ toggle is on from the Visualization tab under Settings, a canvas control widget will appear in the right upper corner of the 3D view. The current view of the workcell can be saved and loaded under the Select View drop down menu. Pan/Orbit control of the canvas is available by pressing Up/Down, Left/Right buttons without using scroll/drag mouse functions. This widget is designed for touch-based inputs.
Connected/Loaded status
Connected status means the project is loaded and ready to go to operation mode. Loaded status means the project is loaded and the Realtime Controller is ready to connect with the robots.
Enter Configure/Operation Mode Button
Enter Operation Mode in order to send commands to the robots. Enter Configure Mode in order to change settings.
Pause All Button
Press this button will cancel all moves in the work cell.