Getting started

After setting up the required software for Linux or Windows, it is time to connect to the robot and test the whole setup by using FCI to read the current robot state.

Operating the robot

Before going further though, here are a few safety considerations. Always check the following things before powering on the robot:

Make sure that the Arm has been mounted on a stable base and cannot topple over, even when performing fast motions or abrupt stops.

Caution

Only tabletop mounting is supported, i.e. the Arm must be mounted perpendicular to the ground! Other mountings will void your warranty and might cause damage to the robot!

Ensure that the cable connecting Arm and Control is firmly attached on both sides.
Connect the external activation device to Arm’s base and keep it next to you in order to be able to stop the robot at any time.

Hint

Activating the external activation device will disconnect the Arm from Control. The joint motor controllers will then hold their current position. The external activation device is not an emergency stop!

This list is non-exhaustive! The manual delivered with your robot contains a chapter dedicated to safety. Please read it carefully and follow the instructions. The manual can also be found in our Franka World Hub.

Important

The workstation PC which commands your robot using the FCI must always be connected to the LAN port of Control (shop floor network) and not to the LAN port of the Arm (robot network).

Installing the FCI Feature

In order to be able to operate the robot through the Franka Control Interface, the corresponding Feature needs to be installed on your device. If it is already installed to the controller, it will be listed under Desk –> Settings –> System –> Installed Features. If FCI is not installed yet, you can synchronize it from your Franka World account to your controller. Therefore, you must have an available FCI license in your company/university account and have your controller registered in this account. The software (offline or online) synchronization process is described in more detail in the Franka World user manual.

Setting up the network

Good network performance is crucial when controlling the robot using FCI. Therefore it is strongly recommended to use a direct connection between the workstation PC and Panda’s Control. This section describes how to configure your network for this use case.

_images/control.png — Use Control’s LAN port when controlling the robot through FCI. Do not connect to the port in Arm’s base.

The Control and your workstation must be configured to appear on the same network. Simplest way to achieve that is to use static IP addresses. Any two addresses on the same network would work, but the following values will be used for the purpose of this tutorial:

	Workstation PC	Control
Address	172.16.0.1	172.16.0.2
Netmask	24	24

The Control’s address (172.16.0.2) is called <fci-ip> in the following chapters.

Hint

With this network configuration, Desk can be accessed via https://<fci-ip>, although you will see a certificate warning in your browser.

The configuration process consists of two steps:

Configuring Control’s network settings.

Configuring your workstation’s network settings.

Control network configuration

For this step, the robot needs to be installed and tested. Please read through the documents shipped with your robot and follow the setup instructions before continuing any further!

The Control’s network can be configured in the administrator’s interface. For the duration of this step you can connect to the robot through the port in the robot’s base. For details, consult the Connecting a user interface device section in the manual delivered with your robot.

_images/accessing-admin.png — Accessing the administrator’s interface through Desk.

To set up a static address, enter the following values in the Network section:

_images/control-static-ip.png — Setting a static IP for the Control’s LAN port (Shop Floor network). DHCP Client option is deselected.

Press Apply. After the settings are successfully applied, connect your workstation’s LAN port to the robot’s control unit.

Linux workstation network configuration

This section describes how to set up a static IP address on Ubuntu 16.04 using the GUI. Follow the official Ubuntu guide if you prefer to use the command line.

Caution

The following steps will modify your network settings. If in doubt, contact your network’s administrator.

First, go to Network Connection widget. Select the wired connection you will be using and click edit.

_images/edit-connections.png — Edit the connection in the Ethernet section.

Next, click on the IPv4 settings tab, set the method to Manual, and enter the following values:

_images/static-ip-ubuntu.png — Setting a static IP for the Workstation PC. Method is set to Manual.

Hint

This step will disable DHCP, which means you will no longer obtain an address when connecting to a DHCP server, like the one in Arm’s base. When you no longer use FCI, you can change the Method back to Automatic (DHCP).

Save the changes, and close the Network Connection window. Click on the connection name from the drop down menu. It should now be possible to connect to the robot from your workstation. To verify this, perform the Network bandwidth, delay and jitter test. From now on, you can also access Desk through this address in your browser.

Windows workstation network configuration

Setup a static IP address on the Windows workstation. Therefore, open Control Panel and go to Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings. Right-click the network adapter and open Properties. Use the same example address and netmask as in the Linux workstation network configuration.

Preparing the robot for FCI usage in Desk

In order to verify the connection, the robot’s brakes need to be unlocked in Desk and the activation device needs to be relased so that the robot is ready for execution indicated by blue LED mode.

Enabling the FCI mode

Using a robot with system version >= 4.2.0 requires to enable the FCI mode. To do that open Desk, expand the menu in the sidebar and press ‘Activate FCI’.

_images/activate_fci.png — Enabling the FCI mode in the Desk sidebar menu

FCI mode in Panda

After enabling the FCI mode, a pop-up as shown below is appearing. This pop-up indicates that the FCI mode is currently active and that Desk interactions are not allowed while it is active. This pop-up needs to remain open while working with FCI. Further information about Single Point of Control (SPoC) can be found in the manual shipped with the robot which can also be found in our Franka World Hub.

_images/pop_up_fci.png — Pop-up when the FCI mode is enabled

FCI mode in Franka Research 3

After enabling the FCI mode, the sidebar shows that FCI is on.

_images/fci-on.png — Sidebar when the FCI mode is enabled

Verifying the connection

The previous sections described how to specify the IP address of the Control’s LAN port. In the following sections that address is referred to as <fci-ip>.

In order to verify that everything is correctly set up, be sure the robot is prepared for FCI usage in Desk and run the echo_robot_state example from libfranka. If you decided to install franka_ros and libfranka from the ROS repository, you can instead read the instructions for visualizing the robot in ros .

Change to the build directory of libfranka and execute the example:

Linux:

./examples/echo_robot_state <fci-ip>

Windows:

cd /path/to/libfranka/build/examples/
echo_robot_state.exe <fci-ip>

Hint

Before executing libfranka programms, make sure that the executables are able to find their runtime libraries. On Windows, the easiest way is to copy the needed libraries into the same directory as the executable.

The program will print the current state of the robot to the console and terminate after a few iterations. The fields are explained in the libfranka API documentation.

Example output:

{
  "O_T_EE": [0.998578,0.0328747,-0.0417381,0,0.0335224,-0.999317,0.0149157,0,-0.04122,-0.016294,
             -0.999017,0,0.305468,-0.00814133,0.483198,1],
  "O_T_EE_d": [0.998582,0.0329548,-0.041575,0,0.0336027,-0.999313,0.0149824,0,-0.0410535,
               -0.0163585,-0.999023,0,0.305444,-0.00810967,0.483251,1],
  "F_T_EE": [0.7071,-0.7071,0,0,0.7071,0.7071,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0.1034,1],
  "EE_T_K": [1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,1],
  "m_ee": 0.73, "F_x_Cee": [-0.01,0,0.03], "I_ee": [0.001,0,0,0,0.0025,0,0,0,0.0017],
  "m_load": 0, "F_x_Cload": [0,0,0], "I_load": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "m_total": 0.73, "F_x_Ctotal": [-0.01,0,0.03], "I_total": [0.001,0,0,0,0.0025,0,0,0,0.0017],
  "elbow": [-0.0207622,-1], "elbow_d": [-0.0206678,-1],
  "tau_J": [-0.00359774,-5.08582,0.105732,21.8135,0.63253,2.18121,-0.0481953],
  "tau_J_d": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "dtau_J": [-54.0161,-18.9808,-64.6899,-64.2609,14.1561,28.5654,-11.1858],
  "q": [0.0167305,-0.762614,-0.0207622,-2.34352,-0.0305686,1.53975,0.753872],
  "dq": [0.00785939,0.00189343,0.00932415,0.0135431,-0.00220327,-0.00492024,0.00213604],
  "q_d": [0.0167347,-0.762775,-0.0206678,-2.34352,-0.0305677,1.53975,0.753862],
  "dq_d": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "joint_contact": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0], "cartesian_contact": [0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "joint_collision": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0], "cartesian_collision": [0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "tau_ext_hat_filtered": [0.00187271,-0.700316,0.386035,0.0914781,-0.117258,-0.00667777,
                           -0.0252562],
  "O_F_ext_hat_K": [-2.06065,0.45889,-0.150951,-0.482791,-1.39347,0.109695],
  "K_F_ext_hat_K": [-2.03638,-0.529916,0.228266,-0.275938,0.434583,0.0317351],
  "theta": [0.01673,-0.763341,-0.0207471,-2.34041,-0.0304783,1.54006,0.753865],
  "dtheta": [0,0,0,0,0,0,0],
  "current_errors": [], "last_motion_errors": [],
  "control_command_success_rate": 0, "robot_mode": "Idle", "time": 3781435
}

Hint

If an error occurs at this point, perform the ping test and ensure that the robot’s fail-safe safety locking system is opened. Further information are provided in the manual shipped with the robot.