Demo (C, C++):

End Effector Gripper Control Demo

1. Project introduction

This project, via the robotic arm C language development package provided by RealMan, simulates object grasping. It allows for object grasping at a fixed position, movement to a specified location, and control of the gripper's continuous force to securely hold the object. After the object is grasped, the robotic arm moves to the designated placement area and releases the object. Finally, the robotic arm returns to its initial pose.

2. Code structure

RMDemo_Gripper/
├── build/                  # Output directory generated by CMake build
├── include/                # Custom header file storage directory
├── Robotic_Arm/               # RealMan robotic arm secondary development package
│   ├── include/
│   │   ├── rm_define.h        # Header file of the robotic arm secondary development package, containing defined data types and structures
│   │   └── rm_interface.h     # Header file of the robotic arm secondary development package, declaring all operation interfaces of the robotic arm
│   └── lib/
│       ├── api_c.dll          # API library for Windows 64bit
│       ├── api_c.lib          # API library for Windows 64bit
│       └── libapi_c.so        # API library for Linux x86
├── src/                     # Source file storage directory
│   └── main.c               # Source file of main functions
├── run.bat                  # Windows quick run script
├── run.sh                   # linux quick run script
├── CMakeLists.txt           # CMake configuration file of the project
└── README.md                # Project description document

3. Project download

Download RM_API2 locally via the link: development package download. Then, navigate to the RM_API2\Demo\RMDemo_C directory, where you will find RMDemo_Gripper.

4. Environment configuration

Required environment and dependencies for running in Windows and Linux environments:

Item	Linux	Windows
System architecture	x86 architecture	-
Compiler	GCC 7.5 or higher	MSVC2015 or higher 64bit
CMake version	3.10 or higher	3.10 or higher
Specific dependency	RMAPI Linux version library (located in the Robotic_Arm/lib directory)	RMAPI Windows version library (located in the Robotic_Arm/libdirectory)

Linux configuration

1. Compiler (GCC) In most Linux distributions, GCC is installed by default, but the version may not be the latest. If a specific version of GCC (such as 7.5 or higher) is required, it can be installed via the package manager. For example, on Ubuntu, you can use the following commands to install or update GCC:

# Check GCC version
gcc --version

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gcc-7 g++-7

Note: If the GCC version installed by default on the system meets or exceeds the required version, no additional installation is necessary.

2. CMake CMake can also be installed through the package manager in most Linux distributions. For example, on Ubuntu:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake

# Check CMake version
cmake --version

Windows configuration

• Compiler (MSVC2015 or higher): The MSVC (Microsoft Visual C++) compiler is typically installed with Visual Studio. You can install it by following these steps:

  1. Visit the Visual Studio official website to download and install Visual Studio.
  2. During installation, select the "Desktop development with C++" workload, which will include the MSVC compiler.
  3. Select additional components as needed, such as CMake (if not already installed).
  4. After installation, open the Visual Studio command prompt (available in the start menu) and enter the cl command to check if the MSVC compiler is installed successfully.

• CMake: If CMake was not included during the Visual Studio installation, you can download and install CMake separately.

  1. Visit the CMake official website to download the installer for Windows.
  2. Run the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
  3. After installation, add the CMake bin directory to the system's PATH environment variable (this is typically asked during installation).
  4. Open the command prompt or PowerShell and enter cmake --version to check if CMake has been installed successfully.

5. User guide

5.1 Quick run

Follow these steps to quickly run the code:

1. Configuration of the IP address of the robotic arm: open the demo_gripper.c file and modify the initialization parameters of the robot_ip_address class in the main function to the current IP address of the robotic arm. The default IP address is "192.168.1.18".

   const char *robot_ip_address = "192.168.1.18";
   int robot_port = 8080;
   rm_robot_handle *robot_handle = rm_create_robot_arm(robot_ip_address, robot_port);

2. Running via linux command line: Navigate to the RMDemo_Gripper directory in the terminal, and enter the following command to run the C program:

   chmod +x run.sh
   ./run.sh

   The running result is as follows:

3. Running on Windows: double-click the run.bat script to run The running result is as follows:

Run...
API Version: 1.0.0.
Robot handle created successfully: 1
Press any key to continue. . .

The running effect is shown in the image below:

5.2 Description of key codes

The following are the main functions of the main.c:

• Connect the robotic arm Connect the robotic arm to the specified IP address and port.

  rm_robot_handle *robot_handle = rm_create_robot_arm(robot_ip_address, robot_port);

• Set the tool-end power output Set the tool-end power output to 24 V

  rm_set_tool_voltage(robot_handle, 3);

• Move to the grasping start position Call the movej function to control the robotic arm to move to the material's location

  float joint_angles_start[6] = {90.0f, 90.0f, 30.0f, 0.0f, 60.0f, 0.0f};
  result = rm_movej(robot_handle, joint_angles_start, 20, 0, 0, 1);

• Control the gripper to grasp the material Employ force control for continuous grasping, with a gripper speed of 500, a force control threshold of 200, a blocking mode during the grasping process, and a timeout of 30 s

  rm_set_gripper_pick_on(robot_handle, 500, 200, true, 30);

• Place the material at the target position

  float joint_angles_end[6] = {0.0f, 90.0f, 30.0f, 0.0f, 60.0f, 0.0f};
  // Perform movej motion End
  rm_movej(robot_handle, joint_angles_end, 20, 0, 1, 0);
  
  rm_set_gripper_release(robot_handle, 500, true, 30);

• Disconnect from the robotic arm

  rm_delete_robot_arm(robot_handle);

6. License information

• This project is subject to the MIT license.