Connecting to the physical robot

Connecting to the physical robot#

Establishing network connection to the robot#

  1. Take an Ethernet cable and connect it to your computer and to the network port through which you can access the robot you want to control. You will probably need a USB-Ethernet dongle. If there is a connection, you should see blinking lights on the Ethernet port.

  2. After connection your internet access may be lost, if the robot network is not connected to the internet and if your computer tries to route internet packets through the robot network.

    To fix this, you can delete the corresponding route using:

    • System Settings → Network

    • Click three-dot menu at the bottom. It shows up if you have multiple interfaces

    • Click Set service order...

    • Drag Wi-Fi to the top, so that Wi-Fi is used to access the internet instead of the dongle.

    • Confirm settings and exit settings

    start Command Prompt with administrator rights and use:

    route delete 0.0.0.0 mask 0.0.0.0 172.20.254.254

    sudo ip route delete default via 172.20.254.254

    • enp0s13f0u3 is the interface name which you used to connect to the robot network.

    • 172.20.254.254 is the gateway address

    • default or 0.0.0.0 is the network destination for the packets. default stands for all packets which do not fit to the other entries in the routing table, which are typically internet packets.

    alternatively: sudo ip route delete default will delete the last added default route, which should be the robot network route.

Testing connection to the physical robot#

  1. Switch the robot on using the pendant and wait for PolyScope to boot

  2. Test whether you can reach the robot. Open a terminal in MacOS and:

ping IP-ADDRESS

If you get messages as follows, then the robot is accessible:

64 bytes from IP-ADDRESS: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=2.92 ms
64 bytes from IP-ADDRESS: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=2.79 ms
...
Troubleshooting

Methods:

Symptom:

  • Robot is not accessible

Solution:

  • Check your network dongle. Its LEDs should blink. The cables wear off easily and the contacts may not be reliable. Hold it still to test the cable’s reliability.

Now we will test network connection from Rider

  1. Open a terminal in Rider use the same ping command

  2. You should get the same output as above.

Troubleshooting

Symptom:

  • you use MacOS

  • you use Rider

  • you can ping the robot using MacOS terminal

  • you cannot ping the robot using Rider terminal

Solution:

MacOS blocked the network access. Go to System settings → Privacy & Security → Network. Activate local network access for Rider.

Finding a pose that the robot can reach#

  1. On the pendant use the button on its back to move the gripper to the desired pose.

  2. In PolyScope click Move

  3. Click Feature drop-down menu and select Base

  4. Copy the test code in your editor.

  5. Read the pose like we have done previously using the simulator and enter the pose/s in the program.

Running the test program#

  1. On the pendant, look to the upper right of the screen and search for the icon:

    ../_images/polyscope-local-connection-symbol.png

    Switch the robot to Remote control mode, if Local mode is selected.

  2. Set up the IP address. We used localhost (address of your computer) to connect to the simulator. Replace this with the IP address of the robot. You find the address on the robot arm on a sticker.

Troubleshooting

Symptom:

  • MacOS

  • the test program worked for one or two times but then the program errors out with a message like cannot reach address [ffff::172...]

Solution:

  • MacOS blocked network access. Activate it according to the instructions in the above troubleshooting box.

Symptom:

  • The pendant errors out with kinematics solution cannot be found

Solution:

  • pay attention that you read a pose while Feature was Base. If Feature was view, then the pose may be incorrect.

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