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RapidPlan 2.7 Control Panel Layout

RapidPlan 2.7 Control Panel Layout

Owned by Patrick McGrath (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 04, 2024
7 min read

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.

Control Panel User Interface

 

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 Command/Terminal pane 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 Command/Terminal pane content can be dragged to resize the width of panes horizontally. This also applies to the horizontal line separating the Command/Terminal pane from the Status/History pane, which can be dragged to resize the vertical height of those panes.

Navigation Bar

Navigate through the various parts of the Controller. Choose to display Command, or Terminal pane. Select what the status pane displays: Status, History, Advanced Mode, Settings, and Support information.

The color of the navigation bar changes accordingly:

Blue: Configuration mode

Green: Operation mode

Red: Fault status

Projects/Workcell/Terminal Panes

You can select a project from Projects pane. With Workcell pane, you’ll send commands to robots. When the Terminal pane is open, you can send ASCII commands manually from the Control Panel. The Workcell pane content varies depending on whether the workcell is in Configure or Operation mode.

History Panes

History of ASCII API commands sent and responses received.

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.

General Settings

On the Visualization tab you can change color of the robot voxels, and how the elements of the canvas are displayed.

Visualization Settings

 

Robots:

Robot - Reorder robots by dragging the panel.

Color - Choose a color of a robot’s path voxels. Robot targets are rendered using the same voxel color as the robot.

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.

Dynamic Scene Model:

Show DSM Voxels - Toggle the display of DSM (Dynamic Scene Model) voxels.

Show DSM Boxes - Toggle the display of DSM boxes

Roadmaps:

Show Roadmaps - Show the roadmaps for selected robots in the canvas

Show Hidden Roadmap Edges - Show edges that are occluded by an object in the canvas 3D scene as dotted lines

Connectivity or Paths

  • connectivity: Show straight lines between roadmap nodes.

  • paths: Show the path of the TCP between roadmap nodes.

Canvas:

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.

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.

Widget showing FPS

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.

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.

Downloads – Downloads the logs for troubleshooting with Realtime support.

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. If “show roadmaps” are selected in Visualization settings, routes will be shown on the canvas as well. As with RapidPlan Create, you can pan, rotate, and zoom the view of the cell in or out.

3D View/Canvas

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.

Canvas Controls

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 using the camera icon in the top right corner of the canvas. 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.

Status Bar

View relevant information including camera position and details on selection modes for targets, robots and edges.

Camera Position

Camera position shown in the status bar indicates current position (XYZ) of the camera. The inputs can be edited by double-clicking on the fields. When editing a field, Pressing Tab moves to the next field, and Enter confirm the changes.

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