Changes between Version 2 and Version 3 of WAM/DetailedSystemOperation


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Timestamp:
Jan 20, 2012, 4:54:40 PM (12 years ago)
Author:
dc
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  • WAM/DetailedSystemOperation

    v2 v3  
    77    There are several different models of the BarrettHand, the most recent of which is the BH8-280 model. The base of the BH8-280 is blue, while older models are gold or black. Before plugging a BH8-280 into a WAM, make sure that the WAM's wiring is 280-compatible. (Contact support@barrett.com for information about upgrading an older WAM to be 280-compatible.)
    88
    9 Both the Hand and the WAM make use of Barrett's proprietary brushless DC motor controllers, known as Pucks. Each Puck is mounted to the back of the motor it controls and contains:
     9'''Both the Hand and the WAM make use of Barrett's proprietary brushless DC motor controllers, known as Pucks.''' Each Puck is mounted to the back of the motor it controls and contains:
    1010 * A magnetic encoder for sensing the angle of the motor shaft
    1111 * Power electronics for regulating motor current
    1212 * A 32-bit DSP for communications and control
    13 The Puck is very good at performing high-precision current control. Since the current flowing through a motor's windings is proportional to the torque that is applied to the motor shaft, the Pucks allow a user to apply any desired motor torque.
     13'''The Puck is very good at performing high-precision current control.''' Since the current flowing through a motor's windings is proportional to the torque that is applied to the motor shaft, the Pucks allow a user to apply any desired motor torque.
    1414
    15 When paired with the WAM's unique cable transmissions, the Pucks make the robot inherently torque controlled. Traditional transmissions made with gears have either high friction or significant backlash; it is a fundamental design trade-off. Both friction and backlash interfere with the clean transmission of torques between a joint and its motor. The WAM has very low friction and no backlash; as a result, a motor torque is (to a good approximation) proportional to a joint torque. This property is often referred to as “backdrivability”.
     15'''When paired with the WAM's unique cable transmissions, the Pucks make the robot inherently torque controlled.''' Traditional transmissions made with gears have either high friction or significant backlash; it is a fundamental design trade-off. Both friction and backlash interfere with the clean transmission of torques between a joint and its motor. The WAM has very low friction and no backlash; as a result, a motor torque is (to a good approximation) proportional to a joint torque. This property is often referred to as “backdrivability”.
    1616
    17 All of the Pucks in a WAM (one on each motor) communicate with a Control PC over CANbus in order to receive torque commands and report motor angles. When running the WAM, customers typically use the PC/104 computer inside the base of the robot as the Control PC. However, if a more powerful computer is needed, it's also possible to use an external computer equipped with a CAN card.
     17All of the Pucks in a WAM (one on each motor) communicate with a Control PC over CANbus in order to receive torque commands and report motor angles. '''When running the WAM, customers typically use the PC/104 computer inside the base of the robot as the Control PC.''' However, if a more powerful computer is needed, it's also possible to use an external computer equipped with a CAN card.
    1818
    1919
    2020== Safety Architecture ==
    2121
    22 Since the WAM is intended to interact with humans, safety has always been a key driver in the design. While the WAM is in operation, its behavior is continuously monitored by the Safety Module, a dedicated embedded system housed inside the base of the robot.
     22'''Since the WAM is intended to interact with humans, safety has always been a key driver in the design.''' While the WAM is in operation, its behavior is continuously monitored by the Safety Module, a dedicated embedded system housed inside the base of the robot.
    2323
    2424The Safety Module monitors:
    … …  
    3030 * The state of the E-stop buttons (Other fault)
    3131
    32 If a fault condition is detected, the Safety Module will shut the robot down. The particular fault that occurred will be indicated by a red LED on the WAM's Control and Display Pendants. Specific information about the fault will be shown on the Pendants' 7-segment numeric displays.
     32'''If a fault condition is detected, the Safety Module will shut the robot down.''' The particular fault that occurred will be indicated by a red LED on the WAM's Control and Display Pendants. Specific information about the fault will be shown on the Pendants' 7-segment numeric displays.
    3333
    34 The Safety Module has three states: Active, Idle, and E-stopped. When the WAM is Active, the illuminated green button on the Control Pendant labeled “Activate” will be lit. When the WAM is Idle, the illuminated yellow button on the Control Pendant labeled “Reset/Idle” will be lit. When the WAM is E-stopped, both the “Activate” and “Reset/Idle” button lights will be off.
     34'''The Safety Module has three states: Active, Idle, and E-stopped.''' When the WAM is Active, the illuminated green button on the Control Pendant labeled “Activate” will be lit. When the WAM is Idle, the illuminated yellow button on the Control Pendant labeled “Reset/Idle” will be lit. When the WAM is E-stopped, both the “Activate” and “Reset/Idle” button lights will be off.
    3535
    36 In the Active state, the Pucks are allowed to push current through the motors, thus applying system torques. In both of the other states, the WAM is held in a “resistive braking” mode. This mode uses the motors to passively oppose all motion without completely locking the joints in place. The resistive braking mode is designed to promptly stop the robot without damaging the system and without trapping a person who may be pinned by the arm.
     36'''In the Active state, the Pucks are allowed to push current through the motors, thus applying system torques. In both of the other states, the WAM is held in a “resistive braking” mode.''' This mode uses the motors to passively oppose all motion without completely locking the joints in place. The resistive braking mode is designed to promptly stop the robot without damaging the system and without trapping a person who may be pinned by the arm.
    3737
    3838In the Idle state, the Pucks ignore all torque commands and instead perform the resistive breaking function. In the E-stopped state, all power to the Pucks is turned off and the resistive breaking mode is enforced by the Safety Module itself.
    … …  
    4444== Software Architecture ==
    4545
    46 In addition to having a CAN card, it is necessary for the Control PC to use a real time operating system. A normal computer operating system does not make any guarantees about when a particular program will be allowed to execute. If the operating system decided, for example, to write a large chunk of data out to the hard disk, it could be 10s or 100s of milliseconds before the program controlling the WAM regained control of the processor. During that entire period, the Pucks would continue to apply the last commanded torque. A person interacting with the robot would feel the arm jerk slightly when the WAM program issued large correctional torques to compensate for the drift that had occurred during the uncontrolled time. Under certain conditions, the robot might even become unstable (though the Safety Module is designed to detect instability through velocity faults and torque faults). For proper operation of the WAM, it's very important for the Pucks to receive their torque commands on time.
     46In addition to having a CAN card, '''it is necessary for the Control PC to use a real time operating system.''' A normal computer operating system does not make any guarantees about when a particular program will be allowed to execute. If the operating system decided, for example, to write a large chunk of data out to the hard disk, it could be 10s or 100s of milliseconds before the program controlling the WAM regained control of the processor. During that entire period, the Pucks would continue to apply the last commanded torque. A person interacting with the robot would feel the arm jerk slightly when the WAM program issued large correctional torques to compensate for the drift that had occurred during the uncontrolled time. Under certain conditions, the robot might even become unstable (though the Safety Module is designed to detect instability through velocity faults and torque faults). For proper operation of the WAM, it's very important for the Pucks to receive their torque commands on time.
    4747
    4848Barrett uses the Xenomai real time co-kernel in conjunction with the Ubuntu Linux distribution to form a real time operating system. Essentially, Xenomai allows the programmer to create a thread of execution that has a higher priority than all of Linux. Xenomai is also very careful about how it handles CPU interrupt requests.
    … …  
    5151    Xenomai integrates very closely with a computer's specific hardware. It is sensitive to implementation details that are irrelevant to normal operating systems. It is often the case that information about these details is not published by computer equipment manufacturers. The implementation may even change across different revisions of the “same” product! It is not always possible to use a given computer to run the WAM. Because of this, Barrett strongly recommends using either the WAM's internal PC/104 or a pre-configured computer supplied by Barrett.
    5252
    53 Unfortunately, this real time functionality comes at a cost: there are many common operations that are not allowed in a real time thread. Forbidden operations include:
     53Unfortunately, this real time functionality comes at a cost: '''there are many common operations that are not allowed in a real time thread.''' Forbidden operations include:
    5454 * Printing text to the screen
    5555 * Writing to a file
    … …  
    5858 * Using the `new` operator in C++
    5959
    60 The requested action will still be performed if one of these features is used in a real time thread, but the thread will automatically drop from “primary mode” into “secondary mode”. A Xenomai thread running in primary mode is a real time thread. A Xenomai thread running in secondary mode behaves like a normal Linux thread; it does not make a real time guarantee. It is important to structure a WAM control program such that the real time sections do not use these forbidden operations.
     60The requested action will still be performed if one of these features is used in a real time thread, but the thread will automatically drop from “primary mode” into “secondary mode”. A Xenomai thread running in primary mode is a real time thread. A Xenomai thread running in secondary mode behaves like a normal Linux thread; it does not make a real time guarantee. '''It is important to structure a WAM control program such that the real time sections do not use these forbidden operations.'''
    6161
    6262Almost all programs that run the WAM share the following structure:
    … …  
    64641.      Initialize the products
    65651.      Start a real time control thread that does the following tasks once every 2 milliseconds:
    66  a.     Ask the WAM Pucks to report their motor angles
    67  a.     Use the measured motor angles to calculate joint angles
    68  a.     Perform some calculations that result in a set of desired joint torques
    69  a.     Use the desired joint torques to calculate motor torques
    70  a.     Command the WAM Pucks to apply the desired motor torques
    71  a.     Sleep for the remainder of the loop period
     66  a.    Ask the WAM Pucks to report their motor angles
     67  a.    Use the measured motor angles to calculate joint angles
     68  a.    Perform some calculations that result in a set of desired joint torques
     69  a.    Use the desired joint torques to calculate motor torques
     70  a.    Command the WAM Pucks to apply the desired motor torques
     71  a.    Sleep for the remainder of the loop period
    72721.      In the original (non-real time) thread, produce different WAM behaviors as desired by instructing the control thread to perform different joint torque calculations
    7373
    74 Any number of joint torque calculations are possible, and any behavior that the WAM is capable of can be defined in terms of a joint torque calculation. This is true because, fundamentally, the WAM is only capable of sensing motor angles and applying motor torques.
     74Any number of joint torque calculations are possible, and any behavior that the WAM is capable of can be defined in terms of a joint torque calculation. This is true because, '''fundamentally, the WAM is only capable of sensing motor angles and applying motor torques.'''
    7575
    76 The calculation can make use of any information available to the control program, such as joint angles, user input, or data received over the network. However, there is an important caveat to the previous statement: Since the calculation must be done in real time, the data that the calculation relies on must be available in real time. Programmers must be very careful to mediate the exchange of data between the control thread and other non-real time threads in a way that avoids making the control thread wait for data from a non-real time source.
     76The calculation can make use of any information available to the control program, such as joint angles, user input, or data received over the network. However, there is an important caveat to the previous statement: Since the calculation must be done in real time, the data that the calculation relies on must be available in real time. '''Programmers must be very careful to mediate the exchange of data between the control thread and other non-real time threads in a way that avoids making the control thread wait for data from a non-real time source.'''