RapidPlan Control - Configure and Operation Modes
The Control Panel initially opens up in Configure Mode. The current mode is displayed at the top of the panel. Click on the Configure, Command, or Terminal button in the Navigation Bar to change modes.
- 1 Configure/Operation Mode
- 2 Configure Mode
- 2.1 Project
- 2.1.1 Project dropdown menu
- 2.2 Controller & Settings
- 2.2.1 Settings
- 2.2.2 Enable Teach Pendant Control
- 2.2.3 Set the rotation convention
- 2.3 Load button
- 2.4 Unload button
- 2.5 Connect All/Disconnect All button
- 2.6 Robots tab
- 2.6.1 Robot Name
- 2.6.2 Robot Status
- 2.6.3 General
- 2.6.3.1 Robot Type
- 2.6.3.2 Robot IP Address or Hostname
- 2.6.4 Settings
- 2.6.4.1 Enable Servos on Load
- 2.6.5 Initial State
- 2.6.6 Interrupt Behavior
- 2.6.7 Alternate Location
- 2.6.8 Activate/Deactivate
- 2.6.9 Advanced Settings
- 2.7 Objects tab
- 2.8 Targets tab
- 2.8.1 Targets
- 2.8.1.1 Edit Name
- 2.8.1.2 Update Position
- 2.8.1.3 Delete Targets
- 2.8.2 Search Targets
- 2.8.3 Add Target
- 2.8.1 Targets
- 2.9 Connections tab
- 2.9.1 Search Connections
- 2.9.2 Remove Connection
- 2.9.3 Add Connection
- 2.1 Project
- 3 Control Panel Command Pane
- 3.1 Robots tab
- 3.1.1 Robot Preset
- 3.1.2 Target Move
- 3.1.2.1 Target Move Settings
- 3.1.2.2 Target Move Parameters
- 3.1.3 Pose Move
- 3.1.3.1 Pose Move Settings
- 3.1.3.2 Pose Move Parameters
- 3.1.3.3 Pose Preview
- 3.1 Robots tab
Configure/Operation Mode
You can toggle Robot Configure Mode and Robot Operation Mode by pressing the Enter Configure/Operation Mode button at the top of the 3D view.
Configure Mode is for editing robot settings, for example:
Changing robot dynamics parameters and other robot settings from the Control Panel Configure tab.
Creating or updating targets and connections from the Control Panel Configure tab.
Teleporting a robot to a target in Internal Simulated mode from the Control Panel Configure tab.
Operation Mode is for moving the robot to targets from a list and poses using its planned or off-roadmap motions. The settings available on the Control Panel Command tab (move speed, smoothing, etc. described below), are used to define how those motions will take place.
Configure Mode
Configure Mode is where you upload and set up projects, choose a controller and settings for the robots, enter their IP addresses, create or update targets, and set other parameters. In this mode, the Realtime Controller is not actively controlling the joints of the robots.
Project
The name of the current project, plus access to the Project dropdown.
Project dropdown menu
You can install a new project using this dropdown by uploading the project to the Control Panel. Installing a new project is the first operation you perform when you open the Control Panel the first time.
This operation must be performed when no project is installed to Control Panel.
You can have multiple projects installed in the Control Panel. They will be listed here and ready to be loaded for runtime operation. If a project is already loaded for runtime operation, the installed projects will be grayed out.
Manage Projects – The following operations can be performed: make a project the default project to load; download a project from the Control Panel as a zip file; delete a project from the RTR Controller entirely, or replacing an existing project with an updated version.
To mark a project to be the default project to load, access mode must be set to Advanced. The default project will be loaded automatically after a RTR controller power cycle.
To delete or to update a project, the project must be unloaded.
To update a project, press the update button and select the new project. The new project must have the same number of robots, same robot names, and the same robot types as the project to be replaced. The robot settings, i.e., IP addresses, port numbers, etc., are retained for the updated project.
If the settings cannot be applied to the new project due to incorrect number of robots or a wrong project, the existing project is not overwritten and the action is cancelled, with an error message “Error replacing project <project name>. [3031] Project update unsuccessful; selected project not compatible for update: ensure the projects have the same robot ids, robot names, and model types.“
The installation time for the updated project is typically shorter because only the incremental project changes are updated.
+ Install New Project - Upload a new project to the Control Panel.
Controller & Settings
There are three types of controllers:
Internal Simulated: Send commands only to the simulated robot in the 3D view, not to actual robots.
Robot Controller: Send commands from the Realtime Controller to a hardware controller when using physical robots.
Third Party Simulated: Send commands from the control panel in a format external simulators can read.
Controller types can be switched when all robots from a loaded project are disconnected. However, robot settings must be re-adjusted for each controller type before reconnecting robots.
Settings
The Settings cog toggles the display of the controllers and a list of settings available for the project. The settings will vary depending on the specific robots assigned to the project.
Enable Teach Pendant Control
Robot teach pendant control, previously Auto Acquire, is enabled when the box is checked. A RTR controller will automatically acquire control of the robot when a move command is received, and release control of the robot when the move has completed. This allows teach pendant programs to continue and execute additional commands.
When teach pendant control is enabled, a RTR controller will still acquire and release control of the robot, when the robot is already at a target location.
When the option is disabled:
API command BeginOperationMode causes a RTR controller to acquire control of all robots in the cell. An explicit ReleaseControl API command is required if another device(e.g. a PLC) needs to control the robot. An explicit AcquireControl API command is required when the RTR controller needs to take control again.
When the option is enabled:
API command BeginOperationMode does not acquire control of robots.
Explicit Acquire/Release calls are rejected with an error code.
Each Move API command results in RTR controller automatically acquiring control of the robot, performing the move, and then automatically releasing control when the move is finished.
When Enable Teach Pendant Control is enabled, Move commands cannot be queued. Otherwise, an error code will be issued:
If auto-acquiring and an additional move is sent: error code 2012 is issued.
if auto-releasing and an additional move is sent: error code 2011 is issued.
While planning the move or while executing the move and an additional move is sent: error code 4007 is issued.
Set the rotation convention
A user can set a different Euler convention for rotations. The default setting is Rx*Ry*Rz.
Load button
Loads the project currently in the Project dropdown and displays the indicator LOADED at the top of the 3D View, which will then change to CONNECTED when the robot(s) is/are automatically connected. The project is now ready for runtime operations.