RapidPlan Control 2.1
- Alex Soler
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 or Command modes. Select what the status panel displays: Status, History, Log, and Support information.
Control Panel Configure Mode/Command Mode/Terminal Panes
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 pane is open, ASCII commands can be sent manually from the Control Panel.
Status/History/Log Panes
Depending on your selection in the navigation bar, this tab can display: the status of the robots in the current deconfliction group; a history of ASCII API commands sent and responses received; and log output from the system.
In Status pane, Robot IP address and External IP address information is displayed. Realtime Controller status is displayed(robot Configuration Mode, robot Operation Mode, Fault). Loaded project information is displayed.
Robot TCP and joint configuration data can be copied by clicking on the corresponding clipboard icon.
In History pane, ASCII API command and response information is available. Each API command’s time stamp and execution time is displayed.
ASCII response information can be presented in YAML format by default or in CSV if CSV Responses toggle is turned on.
Turn on Auto-scroll History toggle to ensure the History pane automatically refreshes and always displays the latest command and response information.
Realtime controller logs are available in Log pane and can be downloaded for debug purposes.
Advance/Standard/Read-only Modes
Different access modes are available, to control features and editable fields. To change access modes, trigger the Access Mode dialog by clicking on the Advanced/Standard/Read-only mode icon in the main navigation bar.
Advanced mode
Advanced mode is the default access mode when user first loads Control Panel. It allows all features and all editable fields. The default access code for Advanced mode is 3746. Entering Advanced mode Requires access code when switching to this mode from Standard or Read-only.
Standard mode
Standard mode does not require access code and allows features and editable fields, except:
Object State combo boxes
Robot Preset combo boxes
‘Ignore all Collisions’ checkbox in Pose Move tab
‘Move from off roadmap to a target’ checkbox in Target Move tab
Move near obstacles
Path Quality
‘Default Project’ radio button
Behavior Settings dialog
Interrupt Behavior tab
Alternate Location tab
Read-only mode
Read-only mode does not require access code allows read-only access to all fields by default.
Settings
From General tab, there are general settings that control browser warning and global units.
From Visualization tab, display setting can be adjusted for 3D View.
You can choose to display or hide or change colors of the voxel regions. You can toggle the visibility of path voxels individually or globally for all the robots.
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.
Support
Access information relating to support issues:
About – Displays current version number of the software and information about the workstation.
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.
3D View
An interactive view of the robots, their configurations, targets, and environment. You can choose to display the Deconfliction Zone as well as the path voxels for each robot. 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. The view will rotate around the small yellow marker that is displayed when you right-click the mouse
Zoom the view in and out with the scroll wheel.
Making Selections in 3D View
You can select a robot or a target (displayed in the 3D View as a pyramid) by clicking on them.
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.