WebGUI

You can interact with the platform using the web interface. You can access it using a web browser of your choice (Firefox and Chrome/Chromium are preferred though) by navigating to <robot_ip>:8888.

Toolbar

Toolbar consists of three parts:

App Menu

Navigate through the app.

Page title

Display information about current page.

Action buttons

On every page you will see at least the login / logout button. Other buttons will be explained in the corresponding section.

Map

Changing Pilot Modes

Navigation

To switch into navigation mode:

Navigation mode allows for autonomous operation.

If needed initialize the localization first via the Pose Estimate Tool, see below.

Mapping

To create a new Grid Map switch to the mapping mode:

Now you can move the platform around using the hardware joystick.

The new Grid Map will be created and updated while driving around. When the mapping process is finished you can upload the new map to the platform by clicking the Save button.

Note

Requires permissions of neo-installer or neo-admin when connecting remotely.

Map Update

To update the current Grid Map switch to the map update mode:

The platform needs to be localized before entering this mode.

Note

Requires permissions of neo-installer or neo-admin when connecting remotely.

Set Goal Pose

Left Click / Tap and move to define a new goal pose. Red dot on the icon will indicate this mode is enabled.

Set Goal Station

Left Click / Tap on a map station to set a new goal station. Red dot on the icon will indicate this mode is enabled.

Cancel Goal

Will abort the current goal and stop immediately.

Pose Estimate Tool

Left Click / Tap and move to define a pose estimate (initialize localization). Red dot on the icon will indicate this mode is enabled.

Set Pose Tool

In simulation mode it is possible to “teleport” the platform via:

Left Click / Tap and move to define a pose. Red dot on the icon will indicate this mode is enabled.

Data Recording

To start a recording:

Note

The resulting file will be in user/data/.

To stop a recording:

Note

This button is only enabled when a recording is active.

Adjust View

This mode activates ovelayed controls for zooming and rotating the view. Also the view can be moved around by Left Click / Tap and move.

Settings

In this context menu you can toggle visibility of various map layers.

Note

The same context menu can be accessed by Right Click / Tap & Hold.

Tip

Displaying Lidar Points and Local Cost Map is CPU intensive. Disable this layers to reduce CPU / GPU usage.

Logs

On this page the last 100 PlatformPilot log messages can be viewed. It is also possible to stop / resume message polling and filter messages by log level using action buttons.

TaskEditor

Introduction

The TaskEditor offers visual way to create and manage tasks for the PlatformPilots TaskHandler module. It allows users to generate Lua programs using graphical blocks by dragging and linking them. It also offers easy access to the PlatformPilots API.

After a little training, the creation of programs is done intuitively. So that even complex sequences of task can be implemented very fast.

The TaskEditor is build on top of the Blockly library. Further information:

• https://developers.google.com/blockly
• https://github.com/google/blockly/wiki
• https://blockly-demo.appspot.com/static/demos/code/index.html
• https://blockly.games/
• https://blockly-demo.appspot.com/static/tests/playground.html

Toolbox

The toolbox is the side menu from whence the user may drag and drop blocks into the workspace.

There are two types of blocks with and without return value. Blocks without return value can be used directly to build a program workflow. Blocks with a return value are used as input for other blocks (i.e. variables or parameters).

PlatformPilot

The following blocks offer direct access to PlatformPilots API. See Lua Script.

Hardware

read_analog_input
Parameters	channel	[number]
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	read_analog_input()

read_digital_input
Parameters	channel	[number]
Returns	[boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	read_digital_input()

set_relay
Parameters	channel	[number]
	state	[boolean]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	set_relay()

set_digital_output
Parameters	channel	[number]
	state	[boolean]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	set_digital_output()

set_display_text
Parameters	text	[string]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	set_display_text()

charge
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	charge()

start_charging
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	start_charging()

stop_charging
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	stop_charging()

reset_motors
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	reset_motors()

Information Requests

get_time_sec
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	get_time_sec()

get_time_millis
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	get_time_millis()

get_time_macros
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	get_time_macros()

get_position
Returns	[Pose2D]
Corresponding Lua function	get_position()

find_closest_station [1]
Parameters	max_distance	[number]
	position	[Pose2D]
Returns	[string]
Corresponding Lua function	find_closest_station_name()

Note

find_closest_station in Blockly returns the name of the station during in Lua it returns the MapStation object.

get_battery_remaining
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	get_battery_remainig()

is_charging
Returns	[boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	is_charging()

Log

log_info
Parameters	message	[string]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	log_info()

log_warn
Parameters	message	[string]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	log_warn()

log_error
Parameters	message	[string]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	log_error()

Modules

require(module_name)

Parameters:module_name (String) – Load module defined by module_name. module_name can be either a file name or a folder name. In the latter case all files in the folder will be included. Returns:void

call(function_name, {args})

Parameters:

• function_name (string) – Call function named function_name.
• args (Array) – args is an array of arguments passed to the function. Use the create list with block to wrap parameters or use a variable containing either a single parameter or a list of parameters.

Returns:

Return value depends on what the function to be called returns.

Movement

move_to_station
Parameters	name	[string]
	options	[pilot.goal_options_t]
Returns	[void] / [boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	move_to_station()

move_to_position
Parameters	position	[Pose2D]
	options	[pilot.goal_options_t]
Returns	[void] / [boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	move_to_position()

move
Parameters	dx	[number]
	dy	[number]
	dr	[number]
	options	[pilot.goal_options_t]
Returns	[void] / [boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	move()

OPC-UA

opc_ua_call
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	object	{[number],[string]}
	method	[string]
	args	[array]
Returns	[variant]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_call()

opc_ua_call_global
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	method	[string]
	args	[array]
Returns	[variant]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_call()

Note

opc_ua_call_global internally calls opc_ua_call and passes nil as the object parameter.

opc_ua_read
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	object	{[number],[string]}
	variable	[string]
Returns	[variant]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_read()

opc_ua_read_global
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	variable	[string]
Returns	[variant]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_read_global()

opc_ua_write
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	object	{[number],[string]}
	variable	[string]
	value	[variant]
Returns	[boolean]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_write()

opc_ua_write_global
Parameters	proxy	[string]
	variable	[string]
	value	[variant]
Returns	[variant]
Corresponding Lua function	opc_ua_write_global()

node_id
Parameters	nsi	[number]
	id	[number]
Returns	{[number],[number]}
Corresponding Lua function

node_id
Parameters	nsi	[number]
	name	[string]
Returns	{[number],[string]}
Corresponding Lua function

User Input

wait_for_joystick
Returns	[number]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_for_joystick()

wait_for_joystick_button
Parameters	button	[number]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_for_joystick_botton()

wait_for_digital_input
Parameters	channel	[number]
	state	[boolean]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_for_digital_input()

wait_ms
Parameters	period	[number]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_ms()

wait_sec
Parameters	period	[number]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_sec()

wait_min
Parameters	period	[number]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_min()

wait_hours
Parameters	period	[number]
Returns	[void]
Corresponding Lua function	wait_hours()

Footnotes

[1]	For this blocks to work, you have to insert require('neobotix') to your program. (See require())

Core

The following blocks offer access to basic code concepts like variables, logical expressions and loops.

If you are not familiar with programming concepts, please consult the official blockly documentation, which you can find at

• https://developers.google.com/blockly
• https://github.com/google/blockly/wiki

However, in the following section you will find a description of some important blocks.

Add-ons

Note

This section contains custom blocks provided by Neobotix GmbH.

return()

The return block ends current function and returns a value.

to_string()

The to_string block converts a value of any type to a string.

Variables

Variables can be created in several different ways:

• Some blocks such as count with and for each use a variable and defines its values. A traditional computer science term for these are loop variables.
• User-defined functions (also known as “procedures”) can define inputs, which creates variables that can be used only within the function. These are traditionally called “parameters” or “arguments”.
• Users may create variables at any time through the “set” block. These are traditionally called “global variables”. Blockly does not support local variables.

Important blocks

set

The set block assigns a value to a variable, creating the variable if it doesn’t already exist.

get

The get block provides the value stored in a variable, without changing it.

Dropdown menu

Clicking on a variable’s dropdown symbol (triangle) gives the following menu:

The menu provides the following options.

• the names of all existing variables defined in the program.
• Rename variable... changes the name of this variable wherever it appears in the program. Selecting this option opens a prompt for the new name.
• Delete the ... variable deletes all blocks that reference this variable wherever it appears in the program.