Skip to content

3. Booting Up

Jump to bottom
Rachel Holladay edited this page Sep 10, 2023 · 7 revisions

Given the hardware set up (Step 1) and software installation (Step 2), we can power on our robot and test our installation. The FCI website provides a useful guide: these instructions.

Below we add a bit of our own commentary with respect to the workflow that we have set-up in MCube. Note that LIS has a companion document for its set-up which is very similar. It is only accessible to approved users.

MCube Booting Workflow

There are two modes, (1) connecting the ethernet directly to the robot and interfacing with the Franka Desk (2) connecting the ethernet directly to the controller box and using FCI, ROS, etc. Within MCube, we have one ethernet cable for each of these purposes (labeled "robot" and "controller"). The workflow is then:

  1. Turn on the robot (switch on the back of the controller box) and the computer (be sure to boot the computer into the realtime kernel)
  2. When first turned on the robot will flash yellow for about a minute. One it's fully setup, the light will become a solid yellow.
  3. Have the robot ethernet cable connecting the computer and set the ethernet connection to be "Automatic" under IPv4 Settings. WiFi should be disabled.
  4. Navigate to the Franka desk. If this is signed out, the username and password are on the MCube Wiki).
  5. Unlock the robots joints. When the robot is unlocked, each of its joints move slightly. If the robot is in a configuration where it cannot move slightly, the unlocking will fail. In this case, power the robot down and use the small red "sticks" provided with the robot and insert them into the "Emergency Unlock" holes on the robot. This will enable you to manually move the robot around into a configuration where the unlocking is feasible. Once the robot has been unlocked, the lights will switch to white. The Franka desk can also be used to initialize hands and change IP settings.
  6. If this is your first time using the desk, to proceed using the Franka Control Interface (FCI), you need to load its "feature file". To do this, under the franka desk, go to settings. Under settings go to "System". Here you can install features. For us, the feature was a file provided by the seller over email.
  7. Unplug the robot ethernet cable and plug in the controller ethernet cable. Under IPv4 Setting, switch the "Method" from "Automatic" to "Manual". Set the address to 172.16.0.1 and the netmask to 24. After this WiFi can be enabled.
  8. Press the external activation device, which will switch the lights to blue.
  9. Assuming everything is properly configured, you are ready to interact with the robot, which usually means roslaunch-ing the start-up files and running your scripts (this is detailed in the next section).
  10. Once you are finished using the robot, switch back to the robot ethernet cable and change the IP settings to Automatic. Disable WiFi and re-locate to the desk. From here, lock the joints, which will turn the lights yellow. From here, you can flip the switch on the back of the controller box, powering off the robot.

Robot Color Code

Color Mode Description
Blinking Yellow Booting The robot is booting up
Solid Yellow Locked Panda is locked mechanically or cannot be used
While Interactive Safe Interaction with Panda is possible
Blue Activated Panda is enabled for motion
Green Automatic Execution Panda is carrying out an automatic program (from Panda Desk)
Pink Conflict Panda is receiving conflicting enable signals
Red Error An Error has occurred

In the case of "Error" I have found this can be remedied by locking and unlocking the joints to act as a kind of reset.

Clone this wiki locally