Skip to content
New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Added a section for usage hints and updated sketches #37

Merged
merged 6 commits into from
Feb 14, 2019
+36 −331
Merged

Added a section for usage hints and updated sketches #37

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from 1 commit
Commits
Show all changes
6 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
0832488
Added a section for usage hints and updated sketches
jontje Jan 8, 2019
a529dc8
Added additional way to access Add-In user manual
jontje Feb 14, 2019
08244d0
Update README.md
gavanderhoorn Feb 14, 2019
a515ac9
Update README.md
gavanderhoorn Feb 14, 2019
2327aa5
Update README.md
gavanderhoorn Feb 14, 2019
b9922d4
Update README.md
gavanderhoorn Feb 14, 2019
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
40 changes: 36 additions & 4 deletions README.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -8,13 +8,14 @@

A C++ library for interfacing with ABB robot controllers supporting *Robot Web Services* (RWS). See the online [documentation](http://developercenter.robotstudio.com/webservice/api_reference) for a detailed description of what RWS is and how to use it.

See [abb_libegm](https://github.com/ros-industrial/abb_libegm) for a companion library that interfaces with *Externally Guided Motion* (EGM).
* See [abb_libegm](https://github.com/ros-industrial/abb_libegm) for a companion library that interfaces with *Externally Guided Motion* (EGM).
* See [StateMachine Add-In](https://robotapps.robotstudio.com/#/viewApp/7fa7065f-457f-47ce-98d7-c04882e703ee) for an optional *RobotWare Add-In* that can be useful when configuring an ABB robot controller for use with this library.

### Sketch

The following is a conceptual sketch of how this RWS library can be viewed, in relation to an ABB robot controller as well as the EGM companion library mentioned above.
The following is a conceptual sketch of how this RWS library can be viewed, in relation to an ABB robot controller as well as the EGM companion library mentioned above. The optional *StateMachine Add-In* is related to the robot controller's RAPID program and system configuration.

![RWS sketch](docs/images/rws_sketch.svg)
![RWS sketch](docs/images/rws_sketch.png)

### Requirements

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -42,11 +43,42 @@ RWS provides access to several services and resources in the robot controller, a

### Recommendations

* This library has been verified to work with RobotWare `6.06.01`. Other version are expected to work, but this cannot be guaranteed at the moment.
* This library has been verified to work with RobotWare `6.06.01`. Other versions are expected to work, but this cannot be guaranteed at the moment.
* It is a good idea to perform RobotStudio simulations before working with a real robot.
* It is prudent to familiarize oneself with general safety regulations (e.g. described in ABB manuals).
* Consider cyber security aspects, before connecting robot controllers to networks.

## Usage Hints

This is a generic library, which and can be used together with any RAPID program and system configurations. The library's primary classes are:

* [POCOClient](include/abb_librws/rws_poco_client.h): Sets up and manages HTTP and WebSocket communication and is unaware of the RWS protocol.
* [RWSClient](include/abb_librws/rws_client.h): Inherits from `POCOClient` and provides interaction methods for using the RWS services and resources.
* [RWSInterface](include/abb_librws/rws_interface.h): Encapsulates a `RWSClient` instance and provides more user-friendly methods for using the RWS services and resources.
* [RWSStateMachineInterface](include/abb_librws/rws_state_machine_interface.h): Inherits from `RWSInterface` and has been designed to interact with the aforementioned *StateMachine Add-In*. The interface knows about the custom RAPID variables and routines, as well as system configurations, loaded by the RobotWare Add-In.

The optional *StateMachine Add-In* for RobotWare can be used in combination with any of the classes above, but it works especially well with the `RWSStateMachineInterface` class.

### StateMachine Add-In [Optional]

The purpose of the RobotWare Add-In is to *ease the setup* of ABB robot controllers. It is made for both *real physical controllers* and *virtual controllers* simulated in RobotStudio. If the Add-In is selected during a RobotWare system installation, then the Add-In will load several RAPID modules and system configurations based on the system specifications (e.g. number of robots and present options).

The RAPID modules and configurations constitutes a customizable, ready to run, RAPID program, which contains a state machine implementation. Each motion task in the robot system receives its own state machine instance, and the intention is to use this in combination with external systems that require interaction with the robot(s). The following is a conceptual sketch of the RAPID program's execution flow.

<p align="center">
<img src="docs/images/statemachine_addin_sketch.png" width="500">
</p>

To install the Add-In:

1. Go to the *Add-Ins* tab in RobotStudio.
2. Search for *StateMachine Add-In* in the *RobotApps* window.
3. Select the Add-In and retrieve the Add-In by pressing the *Add* button.
4. Verify that the Add-In was added to the list *Installed Packages*.
5. The Add-In should appear as an option during the installation of a RobotWare system.

See the Add-In's [user manual](https://robotapps.blob.core.windows.net/appreferences/docs/2093c0e8-d469-4188-bdd2-ca42e27cba5cUserManual.pdf) for more details, as well as for install instructions for RobotWare systems.
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Would it make sense to list some sort of document identifier here (ie: a document nr or version specifier)?

Links can go stale, but a document identifier could then still be used to search in other places for the document.

Copy link
Contributor Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Right now there are no such documentation identifier that would be useful for searching for it. I will add an explanation of how to find the documentation in RobotStudio, and this should work as long as the Add-In is available in RobotApps.

Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Right now there are no such documentation identifier

that's unfortunate, as especially GUID based URLs have a tendency to break fairly easily.

I can't count the nr of times I've tried a link to an ABB support document only to see the link having gone stale and the document unfindable.

But that's not something we're going to solve here.


## Acknowledgements

The **core development** has been supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 project [SYMBIO-TIC](http://www.symbio-tic.eu/).
Expand Down
Binary file added docs/images/rws_sketch.png
View file
Open in desktop
Loading
Sorry, something went wrong. Reload?
Sorry, we cannot display this file.
Sorry, this file is invalid so it cannot be displayed.
Loading