Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
146 lines (112 loc) · 5.23 KB

UserGuide.md

File metadata and controls

146 lines (112 loc) · 5.23 KB
Raw

User Guide

This guide provides a short descriptions of the available functionalities and how to use them. Instructions on how to build and run the software can be found in the README.

Feature Overview

Plate Type Manager

Properties Commands
Plate Type Delete Plate Type
Get Plate Type
Set Plate Type

The Plate Type Manager is used to simplify the handling of various objects for the robot gripper. Since the usage is focused on handling microplates, the term Plate is used for every quadratic object the gripper is able to hold.

With the Set Plate Type-command a alphanumerical ID, as well as the dimensions of an object can be defined. The defined object is then stored in .sila/panda_controller/plate_types directory and remain persistent even after an SiLA server reboot. The data is therefore stored in an simple JSON format like shown below, where the dimension values are given in meters:

{
  "type": "conring_96_wellplate",
  "dimX": 0.12776,
  "dimY": 0.08547,
  "dimZ": 0.01422
}

The command Get Plate Type retrieves the dimensions of a given ID.

Delete Plate Type removes plate type with the given ID.

The Plate Type-property lists all defined plate types by their ID.

Site Manager

Properties Commands
Finger Length Get Site
Sites Set Site
Remove Plate From Site
Set Finger Length
Delete Site
Is Site Occupied
Put Plate On Site

The Site Manager is to abstract the handling of various locations inside the operational range of the robot arm. Therefore, a specific Site can be defined with the Set Site command. A Site consists of an alphanumerical ID used as handle, a location, a orientation and a move direction to approach the target point as well as a optional move direction to retrieve from the target point.

The Property Sites lists all defined site-IDs.

Get Site returns the given site and its values.

Delete Site removes the given site permanently.

All defined sites are stored in JSON files at the .sila/panda_controller/sites directory.

Plates defined by the Plate Type Manager can be placed on a specific site. Therefore the command Put Plate On Site requires a plate-ID and the site-ID. The same applies for Remove Plate From Site. With Is Site Occupied the vacancy status can be checked.

With Set Finger Lenght, the length of the gripper fingers can be defined. This is necessary on modified or custom gripper extensions to allow the accurate pick up of objects which are placed on a site.

Robot Controller

Commands
Set Gripper Effort
Move To Pose
Pick Plate
Get Current Pose
Follow Path
Set To Frame
Get Arm Effort
Move To Site
Place Plate
Follow Frames
Set Arm Effort
Close Gripper
Get Current Frame
Transport Plate
Move Relative
Get Gripper Effort
Set Gripper

Commands in the Robot Controller feature are generally in charge of the actual movements. These can be distinguished in high and low level operations. High level operations such as Pick Plate, Move To Site, Place Plate, Transport Plate only require site-IDs and/or plate-IDs. In contrast to this, the low level operations allow direct and fine-grained usage of the robot and the gripper. The according parameters must therefore be set to full extent with all their tedious details.

Collision Avoidance

The path planning of a movement is based on inverse kinematics (IK). The integrated IK-Solver relies on the accurate definition of collision objects within a 3D scene to avoid crashes with other objects in the range of the robot arm. These objects are not manageable within the SiLA features. However, a collision object (like a wall or a barrier) can be defined externally within JSON files. Therefore, a JSON file must be placed in the .sila/panda_controller/collision_objects directory. After defining such a file, the server must be restarted to recognize the change.

The file itself consist of the following fields:

Field Description
id The ID of the collision object.
posX The x position of the object in m.
posY The y position of the object in m.
posZ The z (height) position of the object in m.
rotP The pitch rotation in rad.
rotR The roll rotation in rad.
rotY The yaw rotation in rad.
dimX The x dimension of the object in m.
dimY The y dimension of the object in m.
dimZ The z (height) dimension of the object in m.

Example:

{
	"id": "wall",
	"posX": 0.79,
	"posY": -0.715,
	"posZ": 0.55,
	"rotP": 0.0,
	"rotR": 0.0,
	"rotY": 0.0,
	"dimX": 1.0,
	"dimY": 0.39,
	"dimZ": 2.5
}