Welcome to the Scram-Flexiv repository! This repository contains documentation, guides, and resources for using the Flexiv Rizon 4 robot in our lab.
- Introduction
- Getting Started
- Software Setup
- Safety Protocols
- User Guides
- Maintenance Schedule
- Troubleshooting
- Contributing
- License
This repository contains all the necessary documentation to help you operate the Flexiv Rizon 4 robot. Whether you are a new user or an experienced operator, you'll find valuable information here to ensure safe and efficient use of the robot.
Follow these steps to get started with the Flexiv Rizon 4 robot:
- Connect Teach Pendant: Connect the teach pendant to the robot via Wi-Fi or a wired connection.
- Initial Configuration: Follow the instructions in the User Manual to perform the initial configuration and test-run your first program. Step by step guide can be found in this section
- Flexiv Elements: Use Flexiv Elements software to control the robot and execute programs. Refer to the Training Video for a detailed guide on using the software.
Safety is paramount when operating the Flexiv Rizon 4 robot. Please refer to the Safety Section of the User Manual for detailed safety instructions and protocols.
- Emergency Stop: Ensure the emergency stop function is configured and tested.
- Safety Zones: Define and configure safety zones to prevent collisions and ensure operator safety.
- Risk Assessment: Conduct a thorough risk assessment before operating the robot.
Regular maintenance is crucial to keep the robot in optimal working condition. Refer to the Maintenance Schedule for detailed instructions on maintaining the robot.
Again, this section is written based on the User manual. Here in this section is also a step-by-step guide to play with Flexiv Rizon 4 in our lab. I assume you start with a blank system. (Just like what I have now) And I assume you followed the Getting started Section
Meaning you already finished the first three steps, especially went over the safety protocol
Then you are good to proceed
Prepare your teach pendant, the Windows Surface Tablet. Charge it.
Make sure nothing/no one is within the range of robot. Have the control bar in hand, make sure the emergency stop is engaged, and turn on the power switch. Before proceeding, make sure the robot is securely mounted onto a steady base and won’t topple over when moving at a high speed with sudden stops.
Either with cable or not Then enable the robot, click 'on'
Follow this guide Because this is a robot-side setting rather than a user side setting. I set remote mode to Standard RDK mode. It seems like we don't have a licensed 'teleoperation' mode which supports real time.
Power off the robot, do not power on yet
Toggle the Auto/Manual Slide Switch on the motion bar to the upper position(the Auto position)
Power on the Robot.
IF successful, on the Tablet you can see Mode: Auto(Remote)
If Real time is needed, the direct wired connection is required.
The default robot_ip is 192.168.2.100
ping 192.168.2.100
Our robot serial number: [Rizon4s-062445]
Work in Progress, come back later~<<<
Followed the tutorial here, some edits were made.
sudo apt-get install build-essential bc ca-certificates gnupg2 libssl-dev wget gawk flex bison dwarves zstd
uname -r --- 5.15.0-116-generic
Find the suitable version of patch here
Here I used
wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt/5.15/patch-5.15.160-rt77.patch.xz
wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt/5.15/patch-5.15.160-rt77.patch.sign
wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.15.160.tar.xz
wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.15.160.tar.sign
xz -dk patch-5.15.160-rt77.patch.xz
xz -d linux-5.15.160.tar.xz
I skipped the verification step because the patch maintainer key listed in the instruction is no longer valid
Probably you still should do it if you are patient enough. :D
I installed ncurses-dev on the system at this point because some error were thrown
sudo apt-get install libncurses-dev
tar xf linux-5.15.160.tar
cd linux-5.15.160
cp /boot/config-5.15.0-116-generic .config
make menuconfig
At this point a graphic UI should be seen in your terminal
Activate “Fully Preemptible Kernel (Real-Time)” option from “General setup” / “Preemption Model” then SAVE and EXIT.(quote the original tutorial)
Now a fix need to be done to the .config file, according to this thread.
You can use whatever text editor, find the Certificates for signature checking section and change it to be looking like the following
#
# Certificates for signature checking
#
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_KEY="certs/signing_key.pem"
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_KEY_TYPE_RSA=y
CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_KEY_TYPE_ECDSA=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYRING=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS="/usr/local/src/debian/canonical-certs.pem"
CONFIG_SYSTEM_EXTRA_CERTIFICATE=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_EXTRA_CERTIFICATE_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_SECONDARY_TRUSTED_KEYRING=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_BLACKLIST_KEYRING=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_BLACKLIST_HASH_LIST=""
CONFIG_SYSTEM_REVOCATION_LIST=y
CONFIG_SYSTEM_REVOCATION_KEYS="/usr/local/src/debian/canonical-revoked-certs.pem"
# end of Certificates for signature checking
sudo make And wait for a lonnnng time
Fix any error that might pop out
sudo make modules_install
sudo make install
sudo groupadd realtime
sudo usermod -aG realtime $(whoami)
Edit /etc/security/limits.conf to contain... (you might need admin access to edit it sudo vi limits.conf)
@realtime soft rtprio 99
@realtime soft priority 99
@realtime soft memlock 102400
@realtime hard rtprio 99
@realtime hard priority 99
@realtime hard memlock 102400
Edit /etc/default/grub (you might also need admin access to edit it sudo vi grub)
Change it to contain:
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
Update Grub
sudo update-grub
Reboot and apply the changes
sudo reboot
uname -r and look for 'rt' keyword
I'm a big conda user and I encourage you to do the same. :D
Thus, before we install anything, install Anaconda. Follow this guide.
The conda distribution used here is Anaconda3-2024.06-1-Linux-x86_64.sh
conda create -n flexiv python=3.10 (why 3.10? just because, also because in the manual the default python version is 3.10)
conda activate flexiv
This I just use system wide installation
sudo apt install build-essential cmake cmake-qt-gui -y
------Written on 07/24/2024------
Obviously you need to install git if you still don't have it
sudo apt-get install git
Go to the directory that you want to build this RDK
git clone https://github.com/flexivrobotics/flexiv_rdk.git
cd flexiv_rdk
git checkout v1.4
Choose a directory, in my case, /flexiv_rdk_cpp
cd flexiv_rdk/thirdparty
bash build_and_install_dependencies.sh ~/flexiv_rdk_cpp
After all dependencies are installed, open a new terminal and use CMake to confiure the flexiv_rdk project
cd flexiv_rdk
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/flexiv_rdk_cpp
cmake --build . --target install --config Release
If the installation was successful, you can find these following directories in the /flexiv_rdk_cpp folder
include/flexiv/rdk/
lib/cmake/flexiv_rdk/
I copied the following from the manual, not sure what to do here. But I think if this can run successfully, your installation is correct. BRAVO! After C++ RDK is installed, it can be found as a CMake library and linked to by other CMake projects. Use the provided examples project for instance:
cd flexiv_rdk/example
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/flexiv_rdk_cpp
cmake --build . --config Release -j 4
Here according to the manual we want to install numpy and spdlog
pip install numpy spdlog
If you didn't follow the instruction in C++ building, go check on it and see what you need, where to get the rdk repository, don't skip to here. I assume you are following this STEP-BY-STEP
Build in another directory, in this case I choose /flexiv_rdk_python obviously you need to mkdir flexiv_rdk_python
cd flexiv_rdk/build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/flexiv_rdk_python/ -DINSTALL_PYTHON_RDK=ON
If you encounter an issue saying the python version is not 3.10, go check if you activated your conda env. BECAUSE the lines above will install rdk for 3.10 by default Check the original manual for other python versions.
cd flexiv_rdk/build
cmake --build . --target install --config Release
if the installation is successful, you should be able to do this
python3
import flexivrdk
Encountering issues? Check out our Troubleshooting Guide for solutions to common problems.
We welcome contributions from the community! If you would like to contribute to this repository, please fork the repo and create a pull request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
- 2024-07-24 Yicheng finished updating the software setup for cpp and python rdk installation
- 2024-07-24 Yicheng is now updating the software setup.
- 2024-07-24 The RT kernel is patched successfully.
5.15.160-rt77 - 2024-07-24 Yicheng start patching the new ubuntu20.04 native kernel according to the instructions listed in the RT-Kernel-Patching section below
- 2024-07-23 Yicheng installed a new ubuntu20.04 on another partition in the lab computer, name
scram-rt - 2024-07-21 Yicheng discovered that the native RT kernel in ubuntu22.04 requires a paid subscription
- 2024-06-21 Yicheng have a half-finished CAD but I don't think it's necessary to move forward. -- I think it's okay to just get a board cut to be an ellipse which has its major axis as 1830mm, minor axis 1600mm.
- 2024-06-21 Yicheng is planning on purchasing a new usb drive to install ubuntu22.04 which comes with a native RT kernel.
This repository is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.