cubituskinematics 0.1.0

Controller library for C.U.B.I.T.U.S. Robotic Arm

Cubitus Kinematics Package

This is the custom made package for Cubitus Robotic Arm. This package includes matplotlib plotting as well as realtime data sending to the robotic arm itself.

Installation

Run the following to install the package :

$ pip install cubituskinematics

Usage

First of all, you need to import cubituskinematics package/library into your project's python file.

import cubituskinematics as ck
# or you could also use (but not recommended):
from cubituskinematics import *

Next you can test this package using simple commands as shown below :

Point

# moves to one certain point in 3D space
ck.move_to_point(210, 0, 170)

NOTE: if you want to know more about a function, hover on its name to reveal more information

Line

# declare two points (each as a list)
A = [200, 0, 120]
B = [200, 0, 260]

# performs a line movement
ck.perform_line(A, B, sampling=10, repeat=1)
# use 'sampling' and 'repeat' arguments to determine sampling and number of repetitions

Circle

# declare three points (each as a list)
A = [150, 0, 200]
B = [185, -80, 190]
C = [210, 30, 150]

# performs a circle movement
ck.perform_circle(A, B, C, sampling=10, repeat=1)
# use 'sampling' and 'repeat' arguments to determine sampling and number of repetitions

Parabola

# define vertex point (defined as XZ relation, so it's a 2D point)
V = [160, 170]

# performs a parabolic movement
ck.perform_parabola(0.06, 40, V, sampling=10, repeat=1)
# use 'sampling' and 'repeat' arguments to determine sampling and number of repetitions

Bezier curve

# declare three points (each as a list)
A = [230, 0, 140]
B = [280, 20, 280]
C = [240, 50, 150]

# performs a bezier curve movement
ck.perform_bezier(A, B, C, sampling=10, repeat=1)
# use 'sampling' and 'repeat' arguments to determine sampling and number of repetitions

Custom XML file

To use a custom-made .xml file you'll need to load it into the system like so :

Note that your .xml file MUST be in the same folder as your .py script, otherwise fails to proceed !

# declare a name of your .xml file
xml_name = "manipulator.xml" # or you can use just "manipulator"

# it is very important to have __file__ as a first argument as it indicates relative file path to your .xml file
ck.load_xml(__file__, xml_name)

Simple User Interface Terminal

If you want to use user interface use one simple command as shown below :

# opens user interface which acts like a simple command line terminal
ck.run_ui()

Usage

After the command (shown above) is executed, the terminal should look like this.

+------------- CUBITUS ROBOTIC ARM -------------+
|                 TUKE FEI KKUI                 |
+------------- USER INTERFACE v1.4 -------------+

    Enter 'help' to show list of all comands.

When you type 'help' as show below

>> help

the list of all possible commands appears on the screen. Each of these commands can be used to interface with the robotic arm itself via command line terminal :

>> help         Shows all commands.
>> loadxml      Loads user defined XML into system. (needs external command)
>> fold         Folds the arm to its initial position.
>> default      Sets the arm to its default (kinematic) pose.
>> grip         Sets gripper state to *hold* position. (default)
>> ungrip       Sets gripper state to *open* position.
>> eefangle     Sets end effector angle (X Y Z angles).
>> perform      Perform a specific movement based on input.
>> equation     Perform a custom curve based on input.
>> about        Show application info.
>> reset        Reset application.
>> clear        Clear terminal.
>> exit         Exit interface.

CHANGELOG

All notable changes to this project will be documented here.

[0.1.0] - 04/07/2021

Description

• More minor improvements in code
• Fixed default pose plotting ( a bug in ForwardKinematics.Plot() function )
• In file cubitus.xml kinematic part label 'joint' was renamed to 'part'

[0.0.9] - 03/26/2021

Description

• Some minor improvements in code
• Fixed command 'clear' in run_ui() function ( bad lambda function syntax )
• Fixed raising UnreachablePositionError under certain conditions ( fixing bug in version 0.0.8 )

[0.0.8] - 03/19/2021

Description

• Fixed cubitus.xml file ( has incorrect translation values or in wrong order )
• Fixed 'point' shape ( has incorrectly set end effector angles for IK to calculate )
• Fixed 'grip' and 'ungrip' commands in run_ui() function
• Added new 'default' option in run_ui() user interface
• Some minor improvements in Kinematics.py ( less number of iterations in InverseKinematics.Calculate() function )

[0.0.7] - 02/14/2021

Description

• Added fold_arm() function to fold the arm to its initial (starting) position
• In run_ui() mode if 'reset' is typed into terminal it also executes new fold_arm() function mentioned above
• Fixed some bugs in run_ui() function ( eg. not properly functional 'point' argument in 'perform' )
• Fixed raising UnreachablePositionError when performing 'circle' ( end effector angles are now computed correctly )

[0.0.6] - 02/06/2021

Description

• Removed special character which contained all 'bezier' strings because of markdown text encoding problem
• Improved set_end_effector() function
• Added CHANGELOG at the end of MARKDOWN.md
• Fixed non-functional parabola example
• Fixed non-functional bezier example
• Fixed PerformParabola() function in Core.py

[0.0.5] - 02/05/2021

Description

• More of major code changes for better functionality
• Better UI ( more options, better user-asking algorithm, prettier 'about' strings )
• Added examples for each 'shape' ( the user now sees this examples in terminal )
• Major changes in README.md ( enriched by more examples )
• Modified load_xml() function ( fixed .xml file loading problem )

[0.0.4] - 02/02/2021

Description

• Bugfix release of this package ( added 'pyserial' into 'install_requires' args in setup.py )
• Some minor code changes for better functionality

[0.0.3] - 02/02/2021

Description

• Bugfix of previous release (0.0.2) of this package ( fixed module dependencies ) - now fully functional

[0.0.2] - 02/01/2021

Description

• Bugfix release of this package ( fixed module dependencies )

[0.0.1] - 02/01/2021

Description

• First release of this package ( no minor/major changes made yet )