Franka documentation and operating the Pandas¶

Franka Documentation¶

• The Panda User Handbook attachment:pandaUserHandbook.pdf (safety rules, setting/starting up, basic use through the web interface)
• The Franka Control Interface & ROS packages: https://frankaemika.github.io/ https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/franka_ros.html
• The dedicated LAAS robots wiki page (basic

Misc things¶

• The PC must have a Linux kernel with the PREEMT_RT option
• To have access to this option, you must belong to the unix group "realtime"

Using your own laptop¶

First you will need a real-time kernel to be able to communicate with the pandas (PREEMPT_RT).

The procedure is described here: https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/installation_linux.html
More informations in french can be found here: https://bidouilledebian.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/compiler-son-noyau/
The second link might actually be better.

Note: avoid the use of the fakeroot command if you have errors.

You will also need to configure the network (ethernet).

- In the ipv4 tab, choose manual configuration.
- Adress = 172.17.1.1
- Mask = 255.255.255.0

You can ping the robot's IP to see if you are able to communicate with it.
- Panda1 = 172.17.1.2
- Panda2 = 172.17.1.3

Start the pandas:¶

https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/getting_started.html

1. before turning on check on the black button and red button.
- red button must be unpressed.
- black button must be pressed.
- turn on the robot cpu. It's on the back. Panda 1 is the lower one.
- yellow light will blink until its on.
- when it's on, light remains constant.

2. Access the robot server interface: https://172.17.1.2/desk/ for panda_1 and https://172.17.1.3/desk/ for panda_2
- accept the risks
- robot information on IP and credentials are in: https://wiki.laas.fr/robots/Panda
- when accessing the server, joints are locked (the panda has yellow lights). unlock them. take care it can move a bit.
- it changes the color of the light to white - unlocked but not accept command motion.

3. To move the robot, release the black safety button. The light will turn blue - accepting command motion.

4. turning off
- push black button
- move to a safe position manually (pushing the two buttons in the end-effector and guiding)
- lock the joint in Desk interface
- shutdown in the interface- wait until it says you can turn off the cpu
- press red button

5. Recap of colors meaning on the panda:
- Yellow: joints are locked
- White: joints are unlocked and the arm can be operated by hand by pressing the 2 buttons on the end effector
- Blue: joints are unlocked and the arm can be operated by commands (libfranka)
- Purple: errors

6. Before running any programs like CM2P and CM2C you should initialize the grippers via the web interface. This is done by going into Settings->End Effector->Homing button.
If you don't do that the gripper will not act as you expect (closing instead of opening etc).

Troubleshooting¶

If you have this error:

linux libfranka: UDP receive: Timeout

This means a firewall is blocking some UDP packets (see https://frankaemika.github.io/docs/troubleshooting.html).
You can disable the firewall (should be definitive) by using this command:

sudo ufw disable

Check if it is disabled:

sudo ufw status

If it says the end effector (panda hand) is not connected, it is not a problem. You can add or remove end effector tools via the desk interface. The panda hand for example is already calibrated and can be added easily. However it might says after adding it that the end effector is not connected/not initialized. You can ignore this warning most of the time.