Difference between revisions of "Allegro Hand RoboticsLab Project"

Revision as of 12:52, 24 April 2013

Included with RoboticsLab v1.12 are most of the necessary files to run the Allegro Hand. The RoboticsLab SDK includes all of the model files and device files but does not include the MS Visual Studio solution and source code. That source, along with some setup instructions, are included below.

Download Project

File:AllegroHand dist.zip

To avoid changing numerous paths in the project and source code, it is best to unzip the project into the following directory:

[RoboticsLab Install Directory]\examples\casestudy\RealtimeRobotics\AllegroHand_dist\

If the path does not exist, please create the necessary folders.

Other files

Within the AllegroHand_dist directory, you will find a folder titles "other_files". Within this folder are two XDL files used to link to the controller DLL and set properties (like left or right) for the hand controller. Move both of these files to the following directory:

[RoboticsLab Install Directory]\bin\controls\

Both of these files are identical except for the property, "whichHand", which specifies if the hand is a left or right hand.

MSVS Solution

The MSVS solution is located in the folder "msvc9" in the "AllegroHand_dist" directory.

Important: For the ability to launch rPlayer and rPlot and rLicenseManager, you must run MSVS with administrator privileges.

There are two applications included in this solution:

• simAllegroHand_dist runs a dynamic simulation of the Allegro Hand using the control_AHAS control plugin.
• appAllegroHand_dist runs the actual Allegro Hand hardware via a CAN interface using the same controller, control_AHAS.

Note: For both of these projects, you will need to set the working directory to either:

$(RLAB_BIN_PATH)

or if you put the files in the suggested directory, you can set it to

../../../../../../bin

Left or Right

Find this line in both applications, simAllegroHand_dist and appAllegroHand_dist:

string_type control_path = _T("controls/control_AHAS_R.xdl");     // For a right Allegro Hand

If you are using a right Allegro Hand, you can leave this line as is. If you are using a left hand, then simply change the "R" to an "L" like so:

string_type control_path = _T("controls/control_AHAS_L.xdl");     // For a left Allegro Hand

Using Your CAN Interface

Out of the box, Allegro Hand and Allegro Application Studio/RoboticsLab support five different CAN interfaces:

• Softing PCI
• ESD PCI
• Kvaser PCI
• Peak PCI
• Peak USB
• NI USB

The source code for all of these interfaces is included in the Allegro Hand MSVS solution above.

If you need to implement support for another CAN interface, please see the following page for support:
Allegro Hand CAN Protocol (English)
File:AllegroHandCanProtocol KR.pdf (Korean, 한국어)