6. User Interface

main window

Cell Editor Default Layout (Click image to expand)

Ribbon Menu

The ribbon menu contains common functions and menus used in the creation and editing of cells. This menu is split into 4 sections:

Project: Contains 3 tools related to creating and saving projects. This includes opening, saving and creating new projects. More functions relating to this can be found in the file menu at the top of the application.

Import: Contains a single tool labelled STEP. This tool allows you to import STEP models into your cell.

Configuration: Contains 3 tools related to preparing the configuration of different cell items. Model opens the model configuration menu, Validators opens the valid state menu, and Create Robot opens the robot kinematics creation tool.

Analysis: Contains a single tool labelled Analyse Collisions. This opens the Collision Analyser which is used for identifying collisions in a cell and recommending collisions to be disabled.

Export: Contains a single tool for opening the cell in Verbotics Weld. Only works if the location of the Verbotics Weld executable has been correctly set in the Preferences menu.

URDF Tree

The URDF tree displays a tree of elements representing your work cell. Selecting elements in this tree will populate the properties widget with the selected items properties and options. In the top left of this widget is a drop-down menu with options for creating cell elements. The 4 common cell elements you“ll need to recognise include:

  • Links link element

  • Joints:

    • Fixed Joints link element

    • Revolute Joints link element

    • Prismatic Joints link element

  • Bodies:

    • Visual link element

    • Collision link element

  • Groups link element

This drop-down menu is attached to a suggestion button for quickly creating a suggested cell element based off the currently selected element. For example, this button will display the add joint icon link element if a link is selected. If this suggestion isn“t the desired element, simply click the arrow to the left to expand the drop-down list of cell elements.

add elements

Add Cell Elements List

In the top right, the filter button filter button, is used to open filtering options for the URDF tree. These options allow you to hide certain elements in the tree to focus on specific elements such as only links or only fixed joints for example.

filter tree

Filter URDF Tree Menu

Properties/Presets

The properties/presets widget can be found in the bottom left of the main window. This widget consists of 2 tabs, where you can select between a list of drag-and-drop presets to quickly add cell items such as robots, workstations and positioners to your cell, and a properties tab for viewing options related to the currently selected cell element.

preset menu

Presets Widget

Depending on the type of cell element you“ve selected, the properties widget will update to display a series of options relevant to the currently selected element:

Link

Fixed Joint

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Motion Joint

Body

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Group

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Selection Tools

The selection tools are a group of tools relating to how you interact with the current cell using the 3D viewer. There are 5 different selection modes to choose from:

  • Default default select : Select the exact element you click in the viewer.

  • Select Link link select : Selects the parent link of the element clicked in the viewer.

  • Select Joint joint select : Selects the parent joint of the element clicked in the viewer.

  • Select Body body select : If a visual or collision body is clicked in the viewer, the body is selected. Otherwise, selects the exact element you click in the viewer.

  • Select Vertex vertex select : Enables the selection of vertices of bodies in the viewer.

To select multiple elements at a time, you can hold shift and drag to draw a box around the elements you wish to select.

Visibility Tools

The visibility tools are a group of toggle buttons that allow users to show/hide certain elements in the 3D viewer. There are 5 different toggleable options:

  • Show Collisions show collisions : Toggles visibility of collision bodies in the viewer.

  • Show Visual Bodies show visual : Toggles visibility of visual bodies in the viewer.

  • Show Kinematics show kinematics : Toggles visibility of kinematic elements (joints and links) in the viewer.

  • Show Grid show grid : Toggles visibility of the grid in the viewer.

  • Show Measurements show measurements : Toggles visibility of cell calibration elements in the viewer.

3D Viewer Manipulation Tools

The 3D viewer manipulation tools are a selection of tools relating to jogging and transforming cell elements directly using the 3D viewer. There are 2 groups of tools contained within this selection:

Handles and Snapping

These 4 tools allow for toggling handles and enabling snapping in the 3D viewer. These include:

  • Toggle Move Handle toggle move

    • Toggles a visible set of 3 directional arrows at the origin of the selected element. Clicking and dragging these arrows will transform the element along the current arrow“s axis. The colour of each arrow will indicate the current axis. You can refer to the view cube in the top left of the viewer to see which colour is associated with each axis.

    • By default, Red=X, Green=Y, Blue=Z.

  • Toggle Rotate Handle toggle rotate

    • Toggles a visible set of 3 circles revolving around the selected elements origin. Click and dragging these circles will rotate the element. The color of the circle will indicate the primary axis the rotation is occurring around.

    • By default, Red=Roll, Green=Pitch and Blue=Yaw.

  • Toggle Planar Handle toggle planar

    • Toggles the ability to select a plane to transform the currently selected element along. To select these planes, hover the mouse in-between two move-handle arrows and a rotation handle. The plane in-between should become highlighted. Clicking and dragging the highlighted plane will allow for dragging the element along this plane.

  • Toggle Snapping toggle snap

    • Toggles snapping according to the values entered in the two text-boxes to the right of the snap button.

Select Position and Point Towards

The remaining 4 tools to the right all relate to manipulating the currently selected cell element by referring to a second cell element. These include:

  • Pick Transform From pick transform : Transforms the currently selected cell element to the origin of the next selected cell element.

  • Point X Towards point x : Points the X-axis of the currently selected cell element to the origin of the next selected cell element.

  • Point Y Towards point y : Points the Y-axis of the currently selected cell element to the origin of the next selected cell element.

  • Point Z Towards point z : Points the Z-axis of the currently selected cell element to the origin of the next selected cell element.

Manipulation Widget

The manipulation widget contains a selection of tools relating to precisely manipulating the position of cell elements, as well as altering their origin.

preset menu

Manipulation Widget

At the very top of the widget, the manipulation mode can be set to one of two modes:

  • Transform/Transform Bodies - Transforms the position of the currently selected element. If this is a body or link, will also apply the transformation to all child elements.

  • Origin/Set Mesh Origin - Transform the origin of the currently selected cell element. This won“t affect the current position or rotation of the currently selected element or its children.

Below this, are radio buttons for selecting the frame of reference for the current element. There are two options for this:

  • Local - Values for transform and rotation will be in relation to the parent joint/link.

  • Global - Values for the transform and rotation will be in relation to the global origin of the cell.

The remaining options are for precisely adjusting the position of the currently selected element in relation to its axes and its rotational axes. Each of these can be zeroed by selecting the zero button zero. Additionally, to enter rotations of a different type of orientation (e.g. Rx, Ry and Rz), a rotation calculator can be opened using the rotate calculator button.

Collision Checker

The collision checker is a tool for identifying colliding links in the cell. If enabled, at any given time the checker will indicate is the cell is valid and if any collisions have occurred. Clicking the Collide link will open a window listing all currently detected links that are colliding.

Jog Widget

The jog widget lists all revolute and prismatic joints in the loaded cell. Each of these joints will have a slider, which can be used to jog the position of the associated joint. The drop-down list at the top of the widget can be used to filter the joints shown in the widget at any given time.

Additionally, the edit button next to each slider can be used to label each revolute/prismatic joint while retaining the joints name in the URDF tree.

Cell Problems Widget

At the very bottom of the cell editor window, the Cell Problems widget actively displays the number of errors and warnings present in the current cell. Clicking this display will open the Cell Problems window. In this window errors, marked with the error indicator, and warnings, marked with the warning indicator will be listed. Each error/warning will provide a description of the cause of the issue, and suggest a fix to resolve the issue.

While warnings won“t prevent the cell from functioning in weld, all errors will need to be resolved before the cell will be able to be used in weld.