Custom gripper functions on UR robots

[filipejsbrandao]

Hello @visose

I'm trying to send programs to a UR robot over TCP/IP with the Remote connection component. All is working except when the program contains custom commands for an OnRobot gripper. In that case, the code gets sent but the robot does nothing and nothing is written in the log. Yet, if I take the same code and put it in a USB stick, it runs on the robot without any issue.

After some digging it seams that gripper specific functions in UR robots are loaded on the fly and must be defined before def program(). I have isolated the specific boilerplate code that must be sent with the program, but I don't know exactly how to achieve this with robots plugin as it is.

One of my ideas was to modify your Remote Connection component to add a new input for tool specific code, but I wasn't able to find the Remote connection component C# code in the source of your repository.

The other was to use the Custom Program component and add the boilerplate code there. But that didn't work...

[filipejsbrandao]

With a bit more time I was able to come up with something...
`public class Script_Instance : GH_ScriptInstance
{
// Input parameters: Program, IP, Boilerplate
private void RunScript(
IProgram program,
string ip,
List boilerplate,
bool upload,
bool play,
bool pause,
ref object A)
{
if(program is null) return;

    var remote = program.RobotSystem.Remote;

    if (remote is null){
        AddRuntimeMessage(GH_RuntimeMessageLevel.Error, $" No remote functionality for this robot.");
        return;
    }
    remote.IP = ip;
    if (upload){
        var customCode = AddBoilerplateToCode(program.Code, boilerplate);
        var newProgram = new CustomProgram(program.Name, program.RobotSystem, program.MultiFileIndices, customCode);
        remote.Upload(newProgram);
    } 
    if (play) remote.Play();
    if (pause) remote.Pause();

    A = "Program uploaded successfully with boilerplate.";

}

// Helper method to add boilerplate code
private List<List<List<string>>> AddBoilerplateToCode(List<List<List<string>>> code, List<string> boilerplate)
{
    if (code.Count == 0 || code[0].Count == 0)
    {
        throw new Exception("Invalid program code structure.");
    }

    code[0].Insert(0, boilerplate);
    return code;
}

}`

but still having issues: 1. Parameter "program" type conversion failed from GH_Program to IProgram

[visose]

Regarding the error you are getting, the data type found in a Program parameter in Grasshopper is a GH_Program which is a wrapper around an IProgram (which can be either the Program or CustomProgram classes). To access the IProgram of a GH_Program instance, use program.Value.

[visose]

Hi @filipejsbrandao, the Custom Program component should have worked for this. You can use standard grasshopper components for modifying text and lists to prepend the required lines of code into the program. Can you give more details on why it didn't work for you?
The code you have pasted seems to attempt to do something similar in code while also recreating the Remote component.

[filipejsbrandao]

Hello @visose
The CustomProgram component has two inputs. A program input and a code input. I assumed I could just connect the program I already have (generated by the Create Program component) and connect the boilerplate code to the code input.
From your explanation it seems that I have to join the code generated by the Create Program component and join it to the boilerplate code and feed it to the code input. In that case, what is the Program input for?

[visose]

The code input expects the full code. If you connect the code output of the Create Program component to this without any changes, it will behave as nothing changed. You can use components in-between to prepend the additional code.

The Program input is to include other data like the RobotSystem you are using. This is need to create an IProgram that you can pass to other components like the Save component or the Remote component (in your case) that have a Program parameter input.

[filipejsbrandao]

Thanks for your help. I managed to use the CustomProgram component to send the program to the robot with the VG10 gripper.

The tool boilerplate code must be inserted in line 1 of the code from the CreateProgram component. I had issues with the RTDE watchdog which is in the boilerplate code that runs on the robot. I had to remove that line to be able to run the code that is sent over TCP/IP.