v0.9

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv software package v2.11.3

ADD

• Add notification service to receive and print info/warning/error messages that would also be prompted in the Elements UI (#29).
• Add new input parameters maxLinearVel and maxAngularVel input parameters to Robot::sendCartesianMotionForce() to specify maximum Cartesian linear and angular velocity when moving to the target pose.
• Add Robot::setMaxContactWrench() to specify the maximum contact wrench for the motion control part of the Cartesian motion-force control modes. Also add Robot::resetMaxContactWrench() to disable max contact wrench regulation.
• Add more generic Cartesian motion-force control modes RT/NRT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE to replace the old ones which are RT/NRT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_TCP and RT/NRT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_BASE.
• Add functions to configure force control parameters for the new Cartesian motion-force control modes: Robot::setForceControlAxis(), Robot::setForceControlFrame(), and Robot::setPassiveForceControl().
• Add behavior description to the function doc of Robot::sendJointPosition().
• Add input parameter continueExec to Robot::executePlan() to specify whether to continue executing the plan when the RDK program is closed or the connection is lost. Set this parameter to true in the plan execution examples.
• Add optional verbose warning print to Robot::isOperational() to indicate why the robot is not operational when this function returns false.
• Add Robot::isEnablingButtonPressed() to check if the enabling button on the robot motion bar is pressed.
• Add Model::reload() to sync the latest robot model and tool model data from the connected robot.
• Add Scheduler::minPriority() to get the OS' minimum available priority for user tasks.
• Add check on user-specified task priority against the OS' minimum available priority to Scheduler::addTask().
• Add [Blocking] or [Non-blocking] tag to function doc.
• Add Log::critical() to print critical error message.
• Add utility::arr2Str().

CHANGE

• Change Robot::streamCartesianMotionForce() and Robot::sendCartesianMotionForce() to use the same controller as MoveHybrid primitive. Update Cartesian motion-force control examples accordingly (#35).
• Divide Robot::setCartesianStiffness() to setCartesianStiffness() and resetCartesianStiffness().
• Divide Robot::setNullSpacePosture() to setNullSpacePosture() and resetNullSpacePosture().
• Change Robot::readDigitalInput() to read all digital input ports at once. Also change it from a non-real-time blocking function to a real-time non-blocking function (#27).
• Change Robot::writeDigitalOutput() to support writing to one or multiple digital output ports at once.
• Change Robot::enable() to print warning instead of throwing exception if E-Stop is not released.
• Change Gripper::getGripperStates() from a non-real-time blocking function to a real-time non-blocking function (#25).
• Change the term "operation mode" to "control mode" to avoid confusion with the robot's Auto/Manual operational mode.
• Replace Robot::startAutoRecovery() with Robot::runAutoRecovery(), which blocks until the automatic recovery process is finished. Update examples accordingly.
• Remove input parameter gravityEarth from the constructor of flexiv::Model. The value will now be auto-synced from the connected robot.
• Remove input parameter isBlocking from Scheduler::start(), the user should implement their own blocking from the calling thread if needed. Update examples accordingly.
• Rename Model::updateModel() to Model::update(). Update examples accordingly.
• Remove check on elapsed waiting time of Robot::isOperational() from the examples.
• Improve function docs.
• Increase CMake minimum version to 3.16.3.
• Rename C++ libs to all lower-case.
• Remove Ubuntu 18.04 from supported OS list.
• Format Python examples using Black Formatter.

FIX

• Fix occasional false negative of Robot::isBusy() (#26).
• Reduce mode transition time when calling Robot::setMode().
• Fix a gripper control bug where the primitive/plan loses control of the gripper after any function from flexiv::Gripper API is called.
• Fix memory leak of flexiv::Scheduler (#37).
• Fix initial timer fluctuation of flexiv::Scheduler.
• Fix a bug where the input parameter enableGravityComp of Robot::streamJointTorque() cannot disable gravity compensation (#39).
• Fix a bug where the executing plan will be terminated when Robot::setGlobalVariables() is called.
• Fix a bug in heartbeat service where the connection will be closed immediately upon reconnection after disconnected for a while (#30).
• Fix a bug in timeliness monitor (#38).
• Fix incorrect description in the function doc of Robot::executePrimitive().

v1.1

COMPATIBILITY

• Internal pre-release

ADD

• Add [Blocking] and [Non-blocking] tag to doc of all flexiv::Robot functions.
• Add maxLinearVel and maxAngularVel input parameters to Robot::sendCartesianMotionForce().
• Add Robot::resetCartesianStiffness() to replace the default parameter of Robot::setCartesianStiffness().
• Add Robot::resetNullSpacePosture() to replace the default parameter of Robot::setNullSpacePosture().
• Add Robot::setMaxContactWrench() and Robot::resetMaxContactWrench() for Cartesian motion-force control modes to maintain the contact wrench under the specified limit.
• Add script argument to thirdparty/build_and_install_dependencies.sh to specify number of parallel compilation jobs.
• Add automatic print of info, warning, error, and critical error messages that are also displayed on Flexiv Elements.

CHANGE

• Replace dynamic-sized vectors with fixed-sized array for most functions and data structures. Update examples accordingly.
• Remove flexiv::Exception, replace with std::exception. Update examples accordingly.
• Change Robot::setMode() to block for the actual time used by the robot to decelerate and come to a complete stop.
• Replace Robot::startAutoRecovery() to with Robot::runAutoRecovery(), which blocks until the auto recovery process is finished. Update examples accordingly.
• Increase joint position auto recovery distance from 5 degrees to 10 degrees.
• Rewrite Robot::writeDigitalOutput() to allow writing to one or multiple digital output ports in a single function call.
• Change Robot::readDigitalInput() from non-real-time blocking to real-time non-blocking, change to read values from all digital input ports at once.
• Increase maximum allowed input string size from 5 Kb to 10 Kb for Robot::executePrimitive() and Robot::setGlobalVariables().
• Bump CMake minimum required version to 3.18.6.
• Remove explicit linking to librt.
• Specify C++17 as one target property for examples.
• Remove setting CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD globally.
• Decrease control mode switching time from 1 second to 100 ms plus any additional time needed to decelerate the robot.

FIX

• Remove incorrect function doc from Robot::executePrimitive().
• Fix auto recovery.
• Fix a potential race condition between DDS entities.
• Fix occasional false negative returned by Robot::isBusy().
• Fix occasional delivery delay of real-time motion commands.
• Fix an issue where plan and primitive will lose the gripper control after a function from flexiv::Gripper is called.

v1.0

COMPATIBILITY

• Internal pre-release

ADD

• Upgrade to DDS based communication framework.
• Add real-time communication QoS.
• Add RPC-over-DDS.
• Add IP-less server discovery.
• Add support to set velocity scale for Robot::executePrimitive() and Robot::executePlan().
• Add option to make Robot::isOperational() verbose and print detailed reasons why the robot is not operational.

CHANGE

• Optimize network bandwidth consumption.
• Improve check logic of timeliness monitor.
• Change Robot::writeDigitalOutput() and Robot::readDigitalInput() to handle all ports at once.
• Replace exception with warning in Robot::enable() if E-Stop is not released.
• Re-write delivery logic of non-real-time commands to avoid undesired behaviors.
• Improve CMake installation interface.
• Increase clang-format column limit from 80 to 100.
• Rename "operation mode" to "control mode".
• Change digital IO data communication from non-real-time asynchronous to real-time synchronous.

KNOWN ISSUE

• Robot::startAutoRecovery() is temporarily not working

v0.8

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.10.5

ADD

• Add new API for Cartesian unified motion-force control in base or TCP frame. For real-time access, use modes RT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_BASE and RT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_TCP. For non-real-time access, use modes NRT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_BASE and NRT_CARTESIAN_MOTION_FORCE_TCP.
• Add real-time and non-real-time examples for the new motion-force control mode.
• Add new method Robot::info() to access general information of the robot.
• Add new method Robot::pausePlan() to pause or resume the execution of the current plan.

CHANGE

• Replace Robot::streamTcpPose() with newly added motion-force control method Robot::streamCartesianMotionForce().
• Replace Robot::sendTcpPose() with newly added motion-force control method Robot::sendCartesianMotionForce().
• Replace Robot::executePlanByIndex() and Robot::executePlanByName() with overloaded function Robot::executePlan().
• Remove contact_control examples, replace with direct motion force control examples.
• Remove series_operation examples, no longer relevant.
• Replace RT_cartesian_impedance_control example with RT_cartesian_pure_motion_control example, using the newly added motion-force control API.
• Add blocking check on whether the desired mode is successfully set to Robot::setMode(). Remove manual check using Robot::getMode() from examples.
• Rename StatesData.hpp to Data.hpp.
• Update enums naming of flexiv::Mode.
• Update Robot::setCartesianStiffness() to reset to default values based on detected robot model.
• Update Robot::setNullSpacePosture() to reset to default values based on detected robot model.
• Update README.
• Re-organize examples into basic and intermediate tutorials.

FIX

• Improve server-client compatibility check.
• Minor fixes to examples.

v0.7

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.10.3 and v2.10.4

ADD

• Add GitHub action for Windows.
• Add support for Python 3.10.
• Add support for the real-time scheduler flexiv::Scheduler on macOS.
• Add support for setting CPU affinity in flexiv::Scheduler.
• Add Scheduler::maxPriority() to get the maximum available priority for the user task under the current system.
• Add contact control C++ and Python example.
• Add new exception types: ClientException and LogicException.
• Add flexiv::GripperStates struct and corresponding output stream operator << to StatesData.hpp: the general gripper feedback states, update examples accordingly.
• Add Gripper::getGripperStates() to request the latest gripper states from robot server, update examples accordingly.
• Add Robot::setNullSpacePosture() to do null-space posture control during Cartesian control modes, update examples accordingly.
• Add detailed description to items in flexiv::RobotStates struct.
• Add RobotStates::ftSensorRaw: the raw reading from the end-effector force-torque (FT) sensor, if available.
• Add output stream operator << for flexiv::PlanInfo struct.
• Add URDF and mesh files for Rizon 10 robot arm.
• Add DAE format visual mesh files.

CHANGE

• Remove flexiv::Visualization and related contents: users now need to use their own visualization methods.
• Remove RobotStates::endLinkPose.
• Improve API docs.
• Improve the performance, compatibility, and stability of flexiv::Scheduler.
• Rename Scheduler::getTaskCount() to Scheduler::numTasks().
• Rename RobotStates::extForceInTcpFrame to RobotStates::extWrenchInTcp.
• Rename RobotStates::extForceInBaseFrame to RobotStates::extWrenchInBase.
• Update all examples to pass by (const) reference.
• Update primitive execution examples to demonstrate how to express target coordinate in TCP frame.
• Update the constructor of flexiv::Gripper to pass by const reference.
• Update the constructor of flexiv::Model to pass by const reference.
• Update Robot::isBusy() to also cover primitives that can auto-terminate upon completion (some primitives won't auto-terminate upon completion, for example, the [Move] series).
• Update CMakeLists to auto-detect OS and processor type.
• Update README.

FIX

• Fix a bug in series operation example where the specified plan no longer exists.
• Fix a bug where Robot::setGlobalVariables() can be used in other modes other than the plan execution mode.
• Fix a bug where Robot::setGlobalVariables() returns too soon and the processing may have not fully completed.

v0.6.1

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.10.1 and v2.10.2

ADD

• Add GitHub workflow for Ubuntu 22.04.

CHANGE

• Remove Robot::setSwivelAngle(): the swivel angle-based robot posture control is now replaced by the null space optimization-based posture control.
• Remove contents related to Robot::setSwivelAngle() from examples.
• Make all flexiv::utility methods explicit inline.

FIX

• None

v0.6

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.10

ADD

• Add ROS2 support, see flexiv_ros2.
• Add C++ and Python support for macOS.
• Add Python support for Windows.
• Add new parameter forceLimit to Gripper::move() to specify max gripping force.
• Add Robot::isBusy() to check if the robot is currently executing a task.
• Add Robot::isEstopReleased() to check if E-stop is released.
• Add check on the size of input string of Robot::executePrimitive(), cannot exceed 5kb.
• Add Robot::setGlobalVariables() and Robot::getGlobalVariables() to interact with the robot system's global variables.
• Add flexiv::utility namespace with useful helper functions.
• Add Visualization::updateScene() function overloading to update the color of a specified object in the scene.

CHANGE

• Change the C++ interface to a unified modern CMake project that can be installed and linked to as a CMake target package on all supported OS.
• Remove Windows Visual Studio project and solution file, replaced by the unified CMake framework.
• Remove m_ prefix for struct members in StatesData.hpp.
• Remove Robot::isTimeout(), connection quality is auto-handled.
• Remove Robot::getSystemStatus(), also remove SystemStatus data struct, the members are either outdated or handled by dedicated API methods.
• Change input parameters of Robot::streamTcpPose(): remove target velocity and acceleration to guarantee a passive impedance behavior; add optional parameter maxWrench to specify maximum contact wrench during operation.
• Change input parameter maxWrench of Robot::sendTcpPose() to optional.
• Change the output parameter of Robot::getRobotStates() and Robot::getPlanInfo () from pass by pointer to pass by reference.
• Increase the maximum size of input string of Robot::executePrimitive() from 1kb to 5kb.
• Re-organize C++ and Python libraries, add system and processor identifiers.
• Rename spec folder to resources.
• Improve API docs.
• Improve examples.
• Update README with compilation quick start for all supported OS.

FIX

• A command execution bug in the primitive execution mode.

v0.5.1

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.9

ADD

• Static RDK libraries for Windows on x64 and x86 processor platforms.
• Example Visual Studio projects that link to the static libraries.

CHANGE

• Re-organize lib/ directory: group libraries by OS, programming language, and processor platform.

FIX

• A bug that caused delay in the execution of a primitive command.

v0.5.0

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.9

ADD

• C++ and Python library for arm64 processors.
• flexiv::Scheduler class for users to add and run periodic tasks with user-defined interval and priority. Update all examples with this scheduler.
• flexiv::Exception class that contains customized exceptions thrown by RDK's APIs. Update all examples with exception handling.
• flexiv::Gripper class to control grippers that use the communication protocol template provided by Flexiv.
• flexiv::Robot::setCartesianStiffness() to online change the stiffness of the Cartesian impedance controller during Cartesian impedance modes.
• flexiv::Robot::setSwivelAngle() to online change the robot arm's elbow swivel angle during Cartesian impedance modes.
• flexiv::Visualization::updateScene() to update position of objects added to the visualizer scene.
• Default initialization for all members in StatesData.hpp.
• New example: clear minor fault on robot server.
• New example: gripper control.
• Fault check of robot server to all examples.

CHANGE

• Move all header files to flexiv sub-directory.
• Replace error return of all methods with customized exception defined in flexiv::Exception.
• Merge flexiv::Robot::Init() with its class constructor.
• Merge flexiv::Visualization::Init() with its class constructor.
• Change flexiv::Robot::readDigitalInput() to output result through function return instead of an output pointer parameter.
• Rename RobotStates.hpp to StatesData.hpp.
• Rename flexiv::Visualization::update() to flexiv::Visualization::updateRobot().
• Remove flexiv::Robot::loadModel(): replaced by the constructor of flexiv::Model.
• Remove flexiv::SystemStatus::m_motionCmdSuccessRate: no longer useful.
• Remove flexiv::SystemStatus::m_errorMsg: accurate error message can be found on the UI tablet.
• Remove flexiv::SystemStatus::m_ptStates: replaced with a dedicated method flexiv::Robot::getPrimitiveStates().
• Remove flexiv::Model::setTool(), the tool dynamics update is now automated.
• Remove unnecessary smart pointers from all examples.
• Replace unnecessary heap allocation with stack allocation in all examples.
• Reduce continuous network bandwidth consumption by 75%, increasing connection robustness under bad network connections.
• Increase round-trip communication latency tolerance to 1000 ms (only for non-real-time APIs).
• Upgrade Eigen library in thirdparty/ to 3.3.7.

FIX

• Missing color in the provided robot URDF.
• Compatibility issue of flexiv::Log with some versions of the fmt library.

v0.4.0

COMPATIBILITY

• Flexiv robot software v2.8.1

ADD

• Python (3.8) support for selected non-real-time APIs
• Example Python scripts under example_py
• New joint-space non-real-time API flexiv::Robot::sendJointPosition(), activated with new robot mode flexiv::Mode::MODE_JOINT_POSITION_NRT
• New Cartesian-space non-real-time API flexiv::Robot::sendTcpPose(), activated with new robot mode flexiv::Mode::MODE_CARTESIAN_IMPEDANCE_NRT

CHANGE

• Rename API flexiv::Robot::timeout() to isTimeout()
• Rename struct member flexiv::SystemStatus::m_jntLimitTriggered to m_jointLimitTriggered
• Simplify example auto_recovery

FIX

• A bug in example robot_dynamics that might block the state transition