Welcome to Franka_timeout_handler 1.2.0!

Here you will find a library for Franka Emika Panda robot, which allows you to send messages to real-time controller from non-real-time application without breaking robot's real-time requirements.

Contents

1. Welcome to Franka_timeout_handler
2. Contents
3. Usage
4. Dependencies
5. Building
6. Installation
7. Documentation
8. Contributors

Usage

In order to understand what this library does, it may be helpful to take a look at an example of robot control with libfranka:

franka::Torques control(const franka::RobotState &robot_state, franka::Duration time)
{
	//Robot called the function, now it has ~300 microseconds to analyze `robot_state` and return torques
	return calculate_torques_from_robot_state(robot_state);
}

int main()
{
	//Create robot and pass control function to it
	franka::Robot robot("192.168.0.1");
	robot.control(control);
}

Straightforward Python translation of this code is possible, but if Python freezes (for example because of the garbage collector), an error will occur. The library's goal is to avoid this situation and transform the code above into this:

int main()
{
	//Create robot and start control loop
	franka_timeout_handler::Robot robot("192.168.0.1");
	robot.start(franka_timeout_handler::ControllerType::cartesian);
	//Wait for call
	robot.receive();
	//The call occured, now `main()` has ~300 microseconds to analyze and change `robot` object
	// ...modifiying `robot`...
	//Send values back
	robot.send();
	//It might have taken longer then ~300 microseconds between receive() and send()
	//But even in this case nothing critical happens, the robot simply applies previous parameter values in background
	printf(robot.get_late() ? "Late" : "Not late");
}

Fields of Robot class can be divided in three groups:

• Input: fields are refreshed with receive() (positions, velocities, etc.)

• Output: fields are applied with send() (targets, parameters, etc.)

• Result: fileds are refreshed with send() (torques and lateness indicator)

Note that setters do not actually set values the controller uses. send() or its variations must be called for that.

The simplest CmakeLists.txt that uses Franka_timeout_handler reads:

project(example)
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14.0)
find_package(Franka_timeout_handler 1.0.0 REQUIRED)
add_executable(example example.cpp)
target_link_libraries(example PRIVATE Franka_timeout_handler)

Dependencies

The library depends on:

• libfranka (set with -DFranka_DIR=/absolute_path_to_libfranka/build or as part of ROS)
• Eigen
• pybind11 (optionally)
• CMake >= 3.14.0
• Fully preemptable Linux kernel
• C++11 compatible compiler

Building

Franka_timeout_handler can be built with CMake using following commands:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .

Installation

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build .
sudo cmake --install .
sudo ldconfig
#Further steps are required only if you plan to use pybind'ded classes from Franka_timeout_handler in your pybind'ded library
cmake .. -DFranka_timeout_handler_omit_include_directories=yes
sudo cmake --build .
cmake --install .

Documentation

Python docstrings are provided. C++ code is documented with comments. Doxygen documentation may be generated with doxygen command.

Contributors

• Kyrylo Sovailo
• Sukhija Bhavi