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/
• 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

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