1. Using the Cyton Viewer
Intro to the viewer

2. Agenda Introduction to the Cyton Viewer Changing the view
Moving the end effector
Moving the gripper
Joint Control
End effector sets
Programming with the action manager

3. Introduction to the Cyton Viewer
The Cyton Viewer can be used to both simulate motion of the robot and to directly control the robot.
It has many powerful features that allow for real time end-effector or joint level control the Cyton hardware.
The initial configuration is as shown. The arm should have the same configuration as the hardware.
This interface can be customized and will change as additional plugins are loaded.

4. Initial Configuration

5. Layout This can also be seen from the “Help -> Button Icons” menu
Run, Pause, Stop
Load, Save
View, Guide, COI mode
Numerical Configuration
Estop, Hardware Status
Snap to HW, and Assistive Mode
Switch EE Set, Reset EE, Move Gripper
Cyton Model
Coordinate System
Status Bar

6. Changing the view of the model
To change the view of the model using the mouse, click on the “eye” button to enter view mode
When in view mode, you can use the mouse to click and drag the model to change the view.
Dragging with the left mouse button rotates the view of the model about the viewer’s center of interest.
Dragging with the right mouse button translates the view in the viewer plane.
Scrolling up and down zooms the view in and out.
Alternatively, if you are in guide mode, you can press the shift key and use the mouse to change the view of the model.

7. Manipulating end effectors
An End Effector is a set of constraints attached to a link of a manipulator
To manipulate the active end effector of the model, click on the button to enter guide mode
In guide mode, there will be a red, green, and blue dragger at the active end effector of the model.

8. Manipulating end effectors
You can think of this dragger as the desired position of the active end effector of the model.
You can move the position and orientation of the dragger by clicking and dragging the mouse.
Dragging with the left mouse button changes the translation of the dragger.
Dragging with the right mouse button changes the orientation.
Scrolling the mouse wheel moves the dragger towards and away from the screen.
The robot model will not try and move unless the simulation is running. Run the simulation and the robot will follow the dragger.

10. Opening/Closing the gripper
Use the + and – keys to open/close the gripper fingers of the Cyton, or the gripper buttons.

11. Controlling the joints individually
The manipulator configuration dialog allows for joint level and end effector level control numerically.
This dialog will appear after clicking the slider button in the viewer toolbar.
From the Joints tab, you can move each joint individually using the slider bars, or by inputting the joint position numerically in the Joint Position column.

12. Manipulator Configuration

13. End Effector Sets
End effector sets are used to conveniently store configurations of end effectors on the same manipulator (robot).
For example on the Cyton, the most commonly desired end effector is located on the Wrist Roll link.
If we want to constrain its position and orientation we would use a frame end effector.
If we want to just constrain its position we would use a point end effector.
Since we don’t want to edit the end effector each time we wish to switch between them, we create an end effector set for each configuration.

14. Switching End Effector Sets
There are a number of different ways to switch between them.
One way is through the position control system dialog.
To get to it, navigate in the menu bar to Edit -> Position Control System -> Control System Parameters.
A dialog will appear, and
in the bottom right corner
is a menu to switch between,
create, delete, and rename
end effector sets.

15. Switching End Effector Sets
A fast way to switch sets is through the toolbar.
Alternatively, you can bring up the active control parameters dialog from the menu bar under Edit -> Position Control System -> Active Control Parameters.
Here you can change between active end effector sets, end effectors, and control system descriptions.

16. Switching End Effector Sets
The third and fastest way to switch between end effector sets is using the “s” key on the keyboard.
Pressing the “s” key will instantly switch to the next end effector set, with the exception of the special “Joint control end-effector set” which you cannot control with the dragger.

17. Assistive Mode
In this mode a user can train the arm to move in any desired trajectory.
This can be recorded by the Cyton Viewer as a path action, joint frame sequence, or waypoint sequence as part of the Manipulation Action Manager

18. Assistive Mode To enter assistive mode, first stop the simulation.
Then press the Assistive Mode button
A warning dialog will appear, accept to disable torque to the servos

19. Plugins
The software includes a number of different plugins for many different purposes.
The viewer includes plugins to add keyboard shortcuts, interface with joysticks, simulate the workspace, program sequences of actions, and more.
These plugins have the extension .ecp, and can be found in the bin directory of your installation location. They can be loaded from the menu bar under Plugins  Load Plugin.

20. Programming using the Manipulation Action Manager Plugin
The Action Manager allows you to create and script actions for the Cyton to preform.
Load the manipulation Action Manager Plugin, and open the dialog by clicking on “Manipulation  Edit Manipulation Actions”

21. Programming using the Manipulation Action Manager Plugin
There are a number of different types of actions that are suitable for different types of movements. We will focus on a few common ones used for common pick and place applications.
To create a new action, click the green “+” button, then select the type of action you want to create.

22. Programming using the Manipulation Action Manager Plugin
jointFrameSequence: Allows for the movement to exact joint states.
waypointSequence: Allows for the end effector movement to individual waypoints. The speed, acceleration, tolerance, and position of the waypoints can be edited individually.
gripperAction: Allows for the movement of linear constraint end effectors, such as grippers.

23. Joint Frame Sequence
The joint frame stores the position of each joint, and if you playback this action the joints will move to where they were in the joint frame that was created.
Right Click on the box and add a joint frame, to save the current joint state.
If you right click on the joint frame in the list, you can choose to delete it, move to it, or add another joint frame after it.

24. Joint Frame Sequence

25. Joint Frame Sequence
If you select a joint frame from the list, you can edit the joint level tolerance of the joint frame, and you can also edit the joint angles
Clicking “Run Action” will move the robot to those joint frames in order (bottom to top)
You can reorder them by dragging them with your mouse.

26. Waypoint Sequence
A Waypoint stores the position of the end effector, and if you playback this action the arm will move to each waypoint.
Right Click on the box and add a waypoint, to create a waypoint at the current dragger location.
If you right click on the waypoint in the list, you can choose to delete it, move to it, or add another waypoint.

27. Waypoint Sequence

28. Waypoint Sequence
If you select a waypoint from the list, you can edit parameters and tolerances, as well as the position with a dragger.
The waypoint sequence remembers which end effector set it was created with.
Clicking “Run Action” will move the robot end effector to the waypoints in order.
You can reorder them by dragging them with your mouse.

30. Waypoint Sequence

31. Poses Poses are coordinate system transformations
To manage a library of poses, open the pose dialog in the Manipulation Edit Poses menu.
Add a new pose at the current guide frame location using the “+” button, or right clicking in the box and selecting New Pose (like the waypoints and joint frames)

32. Poses
Or you can create a link relative pose by right clicking on the object or link, and adding a new pose at the link

33. Poses as Waypoints
These poses can be dragged from the pose library into the Waypoint sequences

34. Gripper Action
A gripper action allows you to set an open and closed position of the gripper, as well as a percentage to open it.
Running the action will move the gripper to the desired position.

35. Action Series You can script the actions in an action series.
Click “Edit” inside the Action Series Box
Move actions from the available actions to the action order.
Click “Run Series”

36. If time allows Manipulation Director Joystick Plugin
Remote command API