Robot Viewer

This is a simulator and control interface for 6 axis robotic arms.

Layout

# Directory for all the react static site content
src/client/
# Directory for all the node/express server content ( BFF )
src/server/

Getting Started

# Install any deps
$ npm i

# Start up the node server and webpack dev server
$ npm run start:dev

Now go to localhost:3000 and you will see the app!

Notes

$ npm run start:dev

The above command will run two commands

$ npm run client:local

$ npm run server:local

The first will run a webpack-dev-server ( development server with hot reloading ).

The second will start up the bff ( express-app/node-server ) with the env variable NODE_ENV=development

Build / Deploy

This project contains a Dockerfile that can be built with:

npm run build:docker

To run it locally simply run

npm run run:docker

Kinematics

---

Mock Javascript Robot ( /example )

We have included a mock robot that simulates the robot protocol. You can run it with the following command.

cd example
DEBUG='mock:.*' node index.js -p 3000 --host localhost

Also you can even have this connect to the deployed instance :)

cd example
DEBUG='mock:.*' node index.js --url https://robot-viewer.com

Mock Python Robot ( /example_py )

Python Installation

Its reccomended that you set up a viruall python envirnment. Note, you must use version 3.8 or 3.10 of python.

Run the following in the root of the project

cd example_py
python3.10 -m venv venv

The above will set up a virtual envirnment directory. Next you simply activate it.

source venv/bin/activate

This will activate the virtual envirnment. Now all thats left is to install the dependencies

python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

You can run tests like the following from the example_py directory

DEBUG=mock:.* python test_debug.py

Here is how you can run the example robot!

DEBUG='mock:.*' python main.py --port 3000 --host localhost

---

Connecting to Robots

In order to connect to the robots you will need to be connected to the same network as the robots. All communication occurs via socket.io. You will need to have implimented the robot protocol. Every socket event is described below, and in addition there are specific events from the robot you need to subscibe to.

Architecture

This application makes up Robot Viewer and Controller

In addition you can have multiple clients sending commands to the controler and listening to robot updates.

+------------------+                 +------------------+               +------------------------+
|                  |                 |                  |               | igus-motor-controller  |
|    RobotViewer   | <-- /client --> |    Controller    | <-- /robot -->| rizon-robot-controller |
|     (Client)     |   (socket.io)   |     (server)     |               | or ...                 |
+------------------+                 +------------------+               +------------------------+
                                               ^
                                               |
+------------------+                           |
|      Custom      |                           |
|   Control/Viewer | <-- /client ---------------
|     (Client)     |   (socket.io)
+------------------+

Socket Control Events

The following are all socket events that can be recieved on the robot side and can be sent via robot-controller.

Generic Events

Event	Description	Parameters
connect	Connects to the socket	None
hello	Receives a hello message	msg
disconnect	Disconnects from the socket	None
home	Homes the robot (generic)	None

Robot Events

Event	Description	Parameters
robotHome	Homes the robot	None
robotSplitHome	Homes the robot in split mode	None
robotStop	Stops the robot	None
robotMode	Puts the robot into the passed mode ex "IDLE"	None
robotFreeze	Freezes the robot	None
robotEnable	Enables the robot	None
robotCenter	Centers the robot	None
robotSetAngles	Sets the robot's angles	angles, speed
robotMoveL	Tels the robot to move linear	liearParameters
robotMoveContact	Tels the robot to move until contact force	contactParameters
robotUpdateConfig	Updates the robot's configuration	key, value
robotWriteConfig	Writes the robot's configuration	None
robotAccelEnabled	Enables robot acceleration	value
robotResetErrors	Resets the robot's errors	None
robotReference	References the robot	None
robotZero	Zeros the robot	None
robotZeroFT	Zeros the robots force tourque sensors	None
robotFreedriveEnable	Enables Freedrive On the Robot	frame, cartFloatingAxis, nullspace
robotFreedriveDisable	Disables Freedrive On the Robot	None
robotJointFreedriveEnable	Enables freedrive on specific joints	joints

Note: Here ar. examples of cartFloatingAxis and joint parameters for the freedrive functions

cartFloatingAxis

{
  "x": true,
  "y": true,
  "z": true,
  "rx": false,
  "ry": false,
  "rz": false
}

joints

{
  "j0": true,
  "j1": true,
  "j2": true,
  "j3": false,
  "j4": false,
  "j5": false
}

Motor Events

Event	Description	Parameters
motorSetPos	Sets the motor position	id, pos, speed
motorResetErrors	Resets the motor's errors	id
motorEnable	Enables the motor	id
motorDisable	Disables the motor	id
motorCalibrate	Calibrates the motor	id
motorReference	References the motor	id
queryMotorPosition	Queries the motor's position	id
queryMotorParameter	Queries the motor's parameter	id, index, subindex
motorHome	Homes the motor	id
motorZero	Zeros the motor	id

Gripper Events

Event	Description	Parameters
gripperSetPos	Sets the gripper position	pos, speed, force, wait

---

Robot State Events

The following are events that are emitted from the robot side and can be listened to on the robot-controller side.

Event	Description	Parameters
state	Emits the robot's state	robot.state
encoder	Emits encoder data	robot.state
ready	Emits when the robot is ready	robot.meta, robot.state
meta	Emits metadata	robot.meta
moved	Emits when the robot moves	robot.meta
pulse	Emits pulse data	id, pos

NOTE These events are not a one to one mapping from robot event --- to ---> client side subscription. There is an internal controller in robot-viewer that handles the emitting of the events and passes them up to the client.

For example the meta event is emitted from the robot, that gets emitted to the robot-controller as a "register" event which is then consumed by the controller.js file and emitted to the client as a "robots" event.

robot.emit("meta") -----> server.emit("register") -----> client.emit("robots")

To make this more clear I created the following table

Robot Event	Emitted From Robot Server As	Emitted to Client As
	connect	robots, robotConnected
	disconnect	robots,robotDisconnected
state	state	robot
encoder	encoder	robot
meta	register	robots
ready	register, state	robots, robot
moved	moved	robotMoved
pulse	pulse	pulse

Now we can take a look at the events that are emitted to the client side.

Client Event	Description	Parameters
robotConnected	Emitted when a robot connects to the controller	robot.id
robotDisconnected	Emitted when a robot disconnects from the controller	robot.id
robot	Emitted when the robot state changes	robot.id, robot.state
robots	Emitted when a robot registeres, deregisters, or sends updated meta	[robot.meta]
robotMoved	Emitted when the robot moves	robot.id, robot.meta
pulse	Emitted when the robot's motor's pulse data changes ( not used atm )	motor.id, motor.pos

Robot Meta

Meta is specific information about the robot that is not constantly updated, see example object below.

const meta = {
  socketId: socketId, // Socket id of the connected robot ( comes from socket io connection in robot-viewers controller )
  id: this.id, // UUID for the connected robot
  stopped: this.stopped, // boolean if robot is currently stopped
  ready: this.ready, // boolean if robot is currently ready
  home: this.home, // boolean if robot is currently home
  homing: this.homing, // boolean if robot is currently homing
  moving: this.moving, // boolean if robot is currently moving
  freedrive: this.freedrive, // boolean if the robot is currently in freedrive
  config: this.config, // Current robot configuration
  motors: this.motorsMeta, // Metadata about motors ( example [{id: 'j0', id: 'j1'}] )
  errors: this.errors, // any current errors on the robot
};

Robot State

State is specific information about the robot that IS constantly updated, see example object below:

const state = {
  id: 1, // Robot unique id
  motors: {
    // ... motor state depends on the robot type see examples below
  },
};

Required state attributes

Attribute	Description
id	Unique identifier for the motor e.g "j0", "j1" ...
homing	Indicates if the motor is in the homing process
home	Indicates if the motor is in the home position
ready	Indicates if the motor is ready for operation
enabled	Indicates if the motor is enabled
moving	Indicates if the motor is currently moving
error	Error message

Attributes Specific to AR4 Robot

Attribute	Description
homed	Indicates if the motor has completed homing
stepPosition	Current step position of the motor
encoderPosition	Current encoder position of the motor

Attributes Specific to IGUS Robot

Attribute	Description
canId	CAN bus identifier for the motor
currentPosition	Current position in degrees
currentTics	Current position in tics
encoderPulsePosition	Current encoder pulse position in degrees
encoderPulseTics	Current encoder pulse position in tics
jointPositionSetPoint	Set point for joint position in degrees
jointPositionSetTics	Set point for joint position in tics
goalPosition	Goal position in degrees
motorCurrent	Current motor current
errorCode	Error code
errorCodeString	String representation of the error code
voltage	Current voltage
tempMotor	Motor temperature
tempBoard	Board temperature
direction	Direction of motor movement
motorError	Specific motor error
adcError	ADC error
rebelError	Rebel error
controlError	Control error
sendInterval	Interval at which data is sent
calculatedVelocity	Calculated velocity
currentVelocity	Current velocity
positionHistory	History of positions with timestamps

---

Known implimentations

Implimentation	Language	Repo
Igus	JS	igus-motor-controller
AR4	JS	servo

Robot Events

Event	Igus	AR4
state	X	X
encoder	X	X
ready	X	X
meta	X	X
moved	X	X
pulse	X

Socket Events

Event	Igus	AR4
connect	X	X
hello	X	X
motorSetPos	X	X
motorResetErrors	X	X
motorEnable	X	X
motorDisable	X	X
motorCalibrate	X
motorReference	X
queryMotorPosition	X
queryMotorParameter	X
motorHome	X	X
motorZero	X	X
gripperSetPos	X	X
robotHome	X	X
robotSplitHome		X
robotStop	X	X
robotFreeze	X	X
robotEnable	X	X
robotCenter	X	X
robotSetAngles	X	X
robotUpdateConfig	X	X
robotWriteConfig	X	X
robotAccelEnabled	X
robotResetErrors	X
robotReference	X
robotZero	X
robotZeroFT
home		X
disconnect	X	X