/
Process Simulate 2307 + RapidPlan 2.4 - Documentation

Process Simulate 2307 + RapidPlan 2.4 - Documentation

 

FAQ - RTR Plug-in in Siemens Process Simulate

Introduction

This guide contains relevant information for users of Process Simulate interested in using the RapidPlan plug-in offered by Realtime Robotics with Siemens Process Simulate.

Realtime Robotics (RTR)'s RapidPlan is a software that uses motion planning algorithm to produce collision free and minimal cost paths for robots to move precisely through a known environment, based on user-specified target locations. This hardware-independent technology eliminates the complexity of dealing with multiple OEMs and can easily be integrated into existing processes, reducing time-consuming task of programming up to 70%.

Pairing Tecnomatix Process Simulate provided by Siemens with RTR’s RapidPlan will provide users the ability to generate collision-free paths generated by RapidPlan that can be simulated and recorded in Process Simulate and later deployed to the robots on the shop floor. This further eases customers' pain points when deploying industrial robots by enhancing productivity and maximizing the benefits of robotics with the click of a button.

Deploying Realtime Robotics for Tecnomatix Process Simulate 2307

Installation guidelines for customers + Hardware specifications

Windows 11 Installation

RTR’s RapidPlan software is built for a Linux operating system environment, and specifically Ubuntu version 20.04LTS. Running on a Windows system requires Windows 11 with Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) running a distribution of Ubuntu 20.04LTS.

To WSL2 with Windows 11, you can run the following command with administrator privileges from your Windows terminal:

Make sure to have WSL2 updated and an internet connection for this step

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-22.04

To install RapidPlan software, execute RTR WSL Install.bat file provided with your installation. To verify RapidPlan is running, execute the RTR WSL Launch.bat script. The script will automatically launch your internet browser to open the RapidPlan local web server. Google Chrome is the recommended browser.

In addition to browser and OS requirements, RTR recommends following hardware requirements to run the RapidPlan plugin with Process Simulate 2307:

  • Intel CPU with 8 cores / 16 logical processors, or more

  • Workstation-class Nvidia RTX or newer GPU with 4GB graphics memory, or more

  • 64GB RAM for a work cell project with 4 robots or less. 128GB RAM is recommended for large work cells(with up to 16 robots)

  • Enough space in the disk. RapidPlan projects require several GB of space in disk, up to 20GB in big cells. We recommend 1TB of space in disk.

RAM memory is shared between the Windows system and the Linux subsystem. The initial partition is 50/50, although this can be modified.

For more details on installation, please refer to the README.txt provided with the Realtime Robotics plugin for Tecnomatix Process Simulate 2307.

Ubuntu 22.04 Installation

To install RTR’s RapidPlan software in your Linux environment, you can cd into the directory containing the downloaded RapidPlan package and run the following command from the terminal:

tar xf ./rapidplan...tar

sudo ./install.sh

NOTE: Installation requires sudo privileges.

Following installation and after each reboot, RapidPlan automatically runs in the background. To verify RapidPlan is running, opening your internet browser and navigating to url: localhost should open the RapidPlan local web server. Google Chrome is the recommended browser.

RapidPlan installation is not recommended on machines heavily used for other purposes. In addition, RTR recommend following hardware requirements to run the RapidPlan plugin with Process Simulate 2304 in your Ubuntu environment:

  • Intel CPU with 8 cores / 16 logical processors, or more

  • Workstation-class Nvidia RTX or newer GPU with 4GB graphics memory, or more

  • 64GB RAM is recommended.

  • Enough space in the disk. RapidPlan projects require several GB of space in disk, up to 20GB in big cells. We recommend 1TB of space in disk.

For more details on installation, please refer to the README.txt provided with the Realtime Robotics plugin for Tecnomatix Process Simulate 2307.

Best practices

This section contains recommendations, tips, and best practices when using the Realtime Robotics integration in Tecnomatix Process Simulate provided by Siemens

Exporting the data to Realtime Robotics

Preparing the data before sending to Realtime Robotics

3D data

  • Hide unnecessary objects for motion planning.

    • RTR’s RapidPlan will perform motion planning using the objects that are currently visible. To speed up the process, hide any object that is either out of reach of the robots or that is not relevant for the motion planning. After RapidPlan starts the calculations, the objects can be displayed again

  • Set objects in the proper pose (jig, turntable, part,…).

    • When performing motion planning, RTR’s RapidPlan will consider the objects in the positions that they are when the calculation is triggered. Therefore, make sure that objects are in the right pose and in the right spot.

Optional: We recommend setting a working frame close to the cell that is sent to RTR’s RapidPlan. This will allow users to troubleshoot the cell operation in the Realtime Robotics tools, if necessary. Not setting the working frame has no impact in the motion planning results.

Paths

  • Each path must contain a start & finish pose (i.e., Home or Pounce) and all relative process points within the process. IMPORTANT – RapidPlan simulation will only work with the actual path selected during the conversion stage, not a copy. Therefore, creating a sequence you can run to view results reduces the need to move paths around per scenario and is easier to select at the export and simulation stages.

    • Teach a valid configuration for all locations. TIP: use Auto teach

      • It is expected that process points have a taught configuration. RTR’s RapidPlan will find optimal paths between the process points but will not try to optimize the configuration at each process point. If you are interested in optimization capabilities (robot positioning, process point configuration, process point allocation, process point sequencing,…) contact Realtime Robotics for additional information about RapidPlan Optimize at support.rtr.ai.

      • Teach the approach opening for the weld guns to a reasonable value. This is the value that RTR’s RapidPlan will use, closing/opening the gun on the way to reach the desired opening at the location. Note: selecting a value where the gun is almost closed may cause motion planning to fail. We recommend to select a value so that the robot can move out of the location without having to change the gun opening significantly.

    • Set the following collision sets.

      • If no collision sets are created in Siemens PS, RTR’s RapidPlan will consider collisions between all objects with a near miss of 0.1mm, which is usually not desired by users. Process Simulate will analyze all process points before exporting to ensure they are collision-free (and near-miss free) with the configured collision sets. We recommend the following collision-sets

        • Robot to robot collision sets -> at least 50mm

        • Robots to objects relevant for collision checking -> at least 0.1mm

        • Any other collision sets desired by the user (optional)

    • If a location is defined with a linear motion type (also commonly referred to as MovL, LIN), RapidPlan will not do any motion planning from the previous location to the one specified but try to execute the motion exactly as specified. If you want RapidPlan to find a path between all locations, then ensure each point is defined with a joint motion type (also commonly referred to as MovJ, PTP)

      • During the export process, RapidPlan will validate the linear motions, and if any are invalid an error will be prompted to the user. An invalid linear motion is one that results in a collision based on the collision sets, or passes through a singularity.

Robot on Rail

The RTR plugin with Siemens Process Simulate now supports applications with robots mounted on a rail. The rail must be defined as an external joint to the robot and should not have any joint dependency.

Sending the data to Realtime Robotics for motion planning.

  • Open the Export to Realtime Robotics tool and select the paths that require collision checking.

  • After adding the paths to the tool, Process Simulate will analyze the data and provide a message to the user prior to exporting. Typical messages are

    • Some locations are not taught.

      • Solution: teach these locations

    • The welding guns have an unsupported kinematic.

      • RTR’s RapidPlan will consider these guns as static, not opening/closing them. If this is your case, make sure that you are exporting the guns in a state where all process points can be reached.

    • Some locations are in collision

      • Check the locations that are marked as in collision. Siemens Process Simulate uses the configured collision sets for the check. Notice that the Realtime Robotics plugin needs all targets to be collision-free with the part and with the home location of other robots.

 

  • Once all targets are valid, the study is ready to be sent to RTR’s RapidPlan. We recommend the following strategy to reduce the time spent in motion planning:

    • Start with a segmentation time of 100s. This should provide a solution in a reasonable time, although path quality might be medium.

    • If no result could be found, check the targets that are provided in the error message.

      • Are these targets in a tight location? Add via locations

      • Being all robots in home position, is the robot at the problematic target location (Robot A) very close to one of the other robots (Robot B)? This might be preventing the motion planner to generate valid solutions. In this case, add an additional location at the beginning in a position where the Robot B leaves more room for Robot A. We can delete the via location after starting the motion planning process.

      • If the previous tips do not help, try running one more time with 1000s segmentation time. If Realtime still cannot find valid paths, please contact Realtime Robotics for further assistance at support.rtr.ai.

    • Once valid paths are found, re-run the motion planning process with a higher segmentation time for more optimized results

After pressing “Export”, the data will be sent via the RTR RapidPlan plugin to RapidPlan Control to initiate planning. The progress bar dialog will be displayed, which will provide information progress of the overall process.

The progress bar dialog will have the project name within brackets (project name is the PS study name) in the header with the progress bar below. The progress messages will be displayed below the progress bar.

The first half of the exporting process is 3D data extraction. This will parse each entity in the Siemens Process Simulate study.

After the 3D data has been processed, RTR’s RapidPlan will begin “voxelization” (see glossary for definition). This process consists of discretizing the swept volume of the robot motion and creating a collision free path with respect to the 3D mesh data.

After voxelization has been completed, the project will begin installation on the RapidPlan Control interface. This will take some time. When completed, the dialog will display the message below.

Preview the results

Once the results are available, they can be previewed in Process Simulate. The steps to do so are:

  • Open the Realtime Robotics Settings window

  • Connect to the project that was generated

  • Play the path that was exported to visualize results

While simulating, the following changes can be made without re-exporting the paths to Realtime Robotics

  • Change the order of the process points in the path.

    • Realtime Robotics has solutions for paths between all the points, therefore changing the order does not require additional computation.

  • Remove process points (same reason as above)

Recording the paths from Realtime Robotics

The preview allows the user to visualize the results, b