what's new with intera 3.3 & release notes

what’s new with interaTM 3.3 & release notes

What’s New with Intera 3.3 & Release Notes page 2

Latching Signal

When creating a signal, you can now select a checkbox called "Latching."

Setting a signal to Latching allows output signals to maintain a high or low state until another signal tells it otherwise. Use polarity to define when it should stay high or low.

This feature is helpful when using third party grippers because it allows you to keep the grippers open or closed using signals.

For example, you have attached and configured a 3rd party gripper that requires a constant signal state to grasp, and the inverse signal state to release. Follow these steps:

1. Create a Hold that will act as your pick.

2. Configure an Active signal for this Hold on Device 1, Line 2 and check the “Latching” box (see the image above).

3. In the Association Panel set the Polarity to High. That tells the gripper to grasp; the signal stays

high until you specify it to go low.

4. Create another Hold (which could be the next Hold or any other Hold) where you want to place the part.

5. Associate the Active signal to this Hold on Device 1, Line 2. Toggle the Polarity to Low to

release the part.

Display State of Input Signals; Test Output Signals

In the Association panel a light next to each signal now indicates the state of the signals once the signal has been associated with an action.

INPUTS

• Green = signal is received.

• Gray = signal is not being received.

• Red = robot is not communicating with the external device.


OUTPUTS

To test outputs, press the Rethink Button while you are in the Association Panel.

• Gray light = signal is on a false state.

• Green light = signal is on a true state.

The light will flash for the correct duration of the signal.

If the signal is latching, the light will switch to the correct state and remain.

Assign Part Weight to Holds for 3rd Party End Of Arm Tooling

You can now assign a weight to a hold so the arm will account for the weight during its motions. Since Rethink Robotics end effectors inherit the assigned weight from the previous pick, this feature is applicable for 3rd party end effectors only.

How to Assign Part Weights to Holds When a 3rd Party End Effector Is Installed

1. Create a hold using the action button.

2. Select the hold.

3. Select the + button.

4. Select the weight icon.


5. Scroll to the desired weight in the scroll box and press OK.

6. Select Done.

Real-time Joint Limit Indicators on Task Map

The Task Map now features a series of seven indicators running along the left side of the display that represent the current state of each joint in relation to its limit. This is helpful as a visualization aid since you can’t train an action at the joint limit. The indicator on the bottom represents the joint closest to the robot's base. As you move up the screen, the indicators progress up the arm's joints until you reach the indicator at the top of the screen, which represents the training cuff.

As a joint moves closer to its limit, the indicator lines for that joint turn from gray to red. When the indicator is completely red, you have reached that joint's limit, meaning you will not be able to create an action.

Joints are all within limits


This feature helps you manipulate the best poses for the arm when training a task. And it will make you aware you are approaching a joint limit as you create a series of actions.

Joint (training cuff) has exceeded limit

New Nudge User Interface

The Nudge screen now has a comprehensive, unified diagram that depicts all the directions in which the arm can be nudged.

Nudge (in relation to end effector)

As with previous releases, you can nudge the arm in relation to the end effector (end effector frame). New in this release, you can nudge in relation to the robot itself (robot base frame). Nudging in relation to the position of the robot is useful when the orientation to the robot or workspace is important.


Toggle between the end effector and robot by highlighting the robot/end effector icon (top left on screen) and pressing OK.

Nudge in relation to robot. (The robot icon is highlighted.)

The diagram has three panes depicting the X,Y and Z axis of a particular frame There are also corresponding arrows that represent the potential movement along an axis as well as rotating around an axis.

Scroll through the different axes and click OK to select the direction in which you would like to nudge.

Nudge in small or large increments

You can now nudge in any direction until you hit a joint limit. You are no longer limited to 50mm increments but can nudge in large (2mm or degrees) or small (.5mm or degree) increments.

Press the Rethink button to toggle between nudging in large and small increments.

Nudge in small (.5mm or degree) increments


Nudge in large (2mm or degree) increments

The size of the dots in the upper right of the display change depending on your selection. The length or degree of nudge are displayed as numbers in the lower right.

Action Practice Respects Weight

If you have assigned a weight to a specific action, the robot will now account for the weight while practicing. No additional steps are needed; practice the action as you normally would. After you practice a pick, the arm respects the part weight while the part is in the gripper. Follow this routine if you want to make fine adjustments in Zero-G when working with heavier parts.

Action Practice Can Send Signals

Before practicing an action, you will be prompted to chose if you would like to practice with or without signals. This applies to output signals only.

Making this selection will send the signals as it would when running the task.


Sort Tasks in the Task Gallery

You can now sort the tasks in the Task Gallery in three ways, by selecting one of these options in the scroll box at the top of the screen:

• name - alphabetically, by name of task

• modif ied - when the task was last modified

• created - by most recently created task

New Motion Preset – Slow

The new Motion Preset Slow allows you to run the whole task at a very slow speed to ensure the robot is behaving the way you expect before running the task at its desired final speed.

How to Run a Task in Slow Mode

1. From the Task Map, press the Rethink button.

2. Select the Order icon from the Task Map button bar.

3. On the Task Order screen, highlight the task bar and press OK to display the task bar buttons.

4. Select the Motion Presets icon.

5. Select Slow.


This will make sure all actions that have an "Inherited" motion preset will run at a slow speed.

You can also configure individual actions to run with the "Slow" presets: just go to the advanced settings screen for the action and select Slow.

Improved Motion Quality and Elbow Management

Robot path planning has been optimized to improve how well the robot returns to a trained location as well as how well the elbow is managed during path transitions.

This improvement will reduce the amount of nudging or retraining users will have to perform. It will also get applications to run more quickly.


Updated New and Modify Icons

There are two updated icons on the main menu. The New and Modify icons have been redesigned to distinguish Baxter from the newly introduced robot, Sawyer. The Baxter icons feature two arms and its corresponding work area. (Because it is a one-arm robot, the Sawyer icons feature a single arm and circular work area.)

Display Hours (and Minutes) of Operation

Intera 3.3 displays more granularity when it comes to how long Baxter has been operating: it includes minutes as well as hours.


Release Notes

• The Done signal is now a pulse and will not fire just from getting a skip signal.

• In the previous release, the Active signal was only available for holds. The Active signal is now available for picks, places, holds, subtask, and task levels.

• Previously there was an issue in which the UI would sometimes appear to scroll randomly through paths, and not in order, when in path mode. When in path mode in this release, the UI scrolls through the actions in order.

• Previously some large tasks caused the UI to exhibit latency or sluggishness when modifying parameters. That performance has been improved.

• When importing tasks that use external modbus devices, you must set the signal definitions to use an existing, valid device. Unless you do, you will be unable to run the tasks, and certain task editing (for example, setting counts) are not possible.

• Without coordinating the arms or using signals it is possible, though rare, that Baxter's arms may collide with each other when simply running tasks through a shared workspace. It is best to train the arms not to intersect paths at the same time. To do this, use custom paths, assign internal or external signals, or use the coordinate feature.

• If you delete an external MODBUS device from the robot, any tasks in the gallery that have signals associated with that device will automatically be set to the “Internal” device. If you reconfigure that external MODBUS device, you need to edit each of the signals in the task to match the new device.

what's new with intera 3.3 & release notes

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