Operations Guide

Operations Guide

Daily Operator Flow

1. Start the application and confirm robot connection status.
2. Import or sync .rob plans:
   • Automatic via configured USB path.
   • Manual via the Settings import action.
3. Load a pallet plan in the main view.
4. Verify package height, weight, start layer, clamp state, label invert, and scanner overrides.
5. Confirm the XML-RPC server is running.
6. Let the robot poll get_status() or UR_GetStatus() until ready == true.
7. Run production and monitor scanner/safety indicators.
8. Stop the RPC server when done.

flowchart TD
    Start["Start Application"] --> Check["Check Robot Connection"]
    Check --> Import["Import or Sync .rob Plans"]
    Import --> Load["Load Pallet Plan"]
    Load --> Verify["Verify Runtime Settings"]
    Verify --> Serve["Start XML-RPC Server"]
    Serve --> Ready["Robot Polls get_status"]
    Ready --> Run["Run Production and Monitor Status"]
    Run --> Stop["Stop RPC Server"]

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Runtime Files

File or directory	Purpose
settings.json	Runtime configuration.
paletten.db	SQLite palette database, unless database.path points elsewhere.
logs/	Per-launch application and server log files.
Configured USB path	Source for .rob imports and offline update packages.

XML-RPC Health Check

get_status() and UR_GetStatus() return a struct containing ready, file, and message.

ready == false
message == "XML-RPC listening; palette data not ready"

means the HTTP/XML-RPC socket is reachable, but no palette data has been loaded. Operational methods return an XML-RPC fault with code 503 until readiness is true.

Robot Dashboard Communication

The application connects to the Universal Robots Dashboard Server at robot.ip:robot.dashboard_port, default 192.168.0.1:29999.

Application function	Dashboard command
Robot mode	robotmode
Safety mode/status	safetymode
Program state	programState
Polyscope version	PolyscopeVersion
Serial number	get serial number
Loaded program	get loaded program
Load program	load <path>
Play	play
Pause	pause
Stop	stop
Power on/off	power on, power off
Brake release	brake release
Safety recovery	close safety popup, unlock protective stop, restart safety

Dashboard connection failure during startup is non-fatal. The HMI can still run and XML-RPC can still serve loaded palette data.

Logging

Channel	File name
Application	multipack_parser_<yyyymmdd_HHMMSS>.log
XML-RPC/server	server_<yyyymmdd_HHMMSS>.log

Log files are UTF-8. Each channel rotates at 5 MB with up to 5 backups for the current launch. If logs/ cannot be used, logging falls back to the user home directory.

--verbose enables debug-level application logging for the current run. The server log channel always records debug-level server entries.

UR20-Specific Behavior

• Active palette and palette-switch XML-RPC methods are available.
• Scanner override values can be set in the HMI and read by XML-RPC.
• The UR_SetZwischenLageLegen method exposes intermediate-layer state.
• Palette methods return sentinel values such as 404, 503, 0, or 1; see XML-RPC API.

Safety and Audio

• Safety monitor checks robot safety state periodically.
• Reduced mode warning repeats at a rate-limited interval.
• Non-normal safety states trigger alarm behavior.
• Scanner warning playback is rate-limited to avoid rapid repeats.

flowchart TD
    Poll["Safety Poll"] --> Unknown{"Status Unknown"}
    Unknown -- "Yes" --> Reset["Reset Alarm and Warning State"]
    Unknown -- "No" --> Reduced{"Reduced Mode"}
    Reduced -- "Yes" --> Warn["Play Warning"]
    Reduced -- "No" --> Normal{"Normal State"}
    Normal -- "Yes" --> Clear["Clear Alarm"]
    Normal -- "No" --> Alarm["Play Alarm and Raise Alert"]

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