Overview of Robotics Application Architectures
The Starter Kit 2.0 Roaming VI serves as an example of a robot that performs simple, repetitive
algorithms. You can insert code for acquiring sensor data, processing data, and controlling the robot
inside the Timed Loop.
An advanced robot architecture also might include Timed Loops that detect obstacles, control movement,
and measure the progress of the robot. Loops can run on different hardware targets, so you must implement
communication between processes on different targets as well as between different processes that run
on the same target.
Refer to the
Robotics Module»Communicating between Processes in a Robotics Application
book
on the
Contents
tab of the
LabVIEW Help
for more information about sending data between VIs.
Note
Select
Help»Find Examples
in LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder, where
you can find specific example architectures. The
Robotics
category opens automatically.
Deploying and Downloading VIs to a Target
Before you run VIs on an RT or FPGA target, you must deploy RT VIs and any dependencies to the RT
target and download files on the FPGA target.
Deploying VIs to RT Targets
When you run an RT VI under an RT target, LabVIEW deploys RT VIs, all items required by the VIs,
and the target settings to the target. You can deploy VIs, libraries, and shared variables to an RT target
where you can run or reference the items.
Complete the following steps to deploy and run the robotics application you created with the Robotics
Project Wizard.
1.
Right-click the
Starter Kit 2.0 Roaming.vi
under the RT target in the
Project Explorer
window and select
Deploy
from the shortcut menu to download the VI to the RT target.
LabVIEW deploys the VI to the RT target and opens the front panel to indicate that the VI is in
memory on the RT target. Closing the front panel removes the VI from memory on the RT target.
2.
Click the
Run
button to run the VI on the target.
3.
Click the
Stop
button to stop the execution of the Timed Loop in the RT VI, which stops the
execution of the VI.
Note
Deploying an RT VI does not save the VI to disk on the RT target, so the VI does not
remain on the target after the target restarts. Refer to the
Building a Robotics Application that
Runs at Startup
section for information about building and running a stand-alone application
that remains on the RT target and runs when the target powers on.
Downloading VIs on FPGA Targets
The project you created with the Robotics Project Wizard does not contain FPGA VIs. However, when
a project does contain an FPGA VI, you must compile the VI before you can download and run the VI
on an FPGA target.
Refer to the
Robotics Module»Creating Robotics Applications»Deploying, Downloading, and
Running VIs and Applications
topic on the
Contents
tab of the
LabVIEW Help
to access information
about compiling, downloading, and running FPGA VIs.
©
National Instruments
13
Getting Started with the LabVIEW Robotics Module